Rubio says country’s ‘race-baiting’ ambassador is ‘no longer welcome’ in the US

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. was no longer welcome in the country, while calling him a “race-baiting” politician who hates America and President Donald Trump after he said the commander-in-chief is leading a global White supremacist movement.

On Thursday, South African Ambassador Embrahim Rasool addressed the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) in Johannesburg while explaining Trump’s opposition to his country’s expropriation law and its anti-Israel stances. 

He said Trump’s Make America Great Again movement was a White supremacist response to demographic changes in the U.S.

SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL LAND SEIZURE BILL, ERODING PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS 

“What Donald Trump is launching is an assault on incumbency, those who are in power, by mobilizing a supremacism against the incumbency, at home, and, I think I’ve illustrated, abroad as well,” he said. “So in terms of that, the supremacist assault on incumbency, we see it in the domestic politics of the USA, the MAGA movement, the Make America Great Again movement, as a response not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA in which the voting electorate in the USA is projected to become 48% white.”

Rubio, in a post on X, blasted Rasool over his remarks. 

“South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” the secretary said. “Emrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”

Trump has criticized South Africa over a land expropriation law that allows the government to make land seizures without compensation. In February, Trump issued an executive order penalizing South Africa.

“In shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights, the Republic of South Africa recently enacted Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, to enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation,” the order states. 

TRUMP FREEZES AID TO SOUTH AFRICA, PROMOTES RESETTLEMENT OF REFUGEES FACING RACE DISCRIMINATION

“It is the policy of the United States that, as long as South Africa continues these unjust and immoral practices that harm our Nation: (a) the United States shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa; and (b) the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”

The order also took aim at South Africa’s position against Israel, which it has accused in the International Court of Justice of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as well as reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.

“The United States cannot support the government of South Africa’s commission of rights violations in its country or its undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests,” the order said. 

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The South African government has claimed Whites of all backgrounds, not just Afrikaners, still own approximately 70% of South Africa’s land. The government is on record saying the Expropriation Act will only be used to take land needed for public purposes — such as for a new school — from people of any color when the owner refuses to sell, and even then there would be “fair and equitable compensation.”

Top House Dem’s brutal two-word response when asked about Schumer as tensions boil

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., sidestepped questions on whether he had confidence in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday.

The top House Democrat was directly asked about Schumer twice during a hastily-announced press conference to emphasize their opposition to Republicans’ government funding bill.

Early during the press conference, Jeffries was asked if it was time for new leadership in the Senate, to which he replied, “Next question.”

Jeffries gave the same exact answer when asked later if he had “lost confidence” in Schumer.

The bill passed, 62-38, averting a government shutdown. 

DEMOCRATS FACE PRESSURE TO ACT AND AVOID A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN 

Many say it’s a major public rift between the top two Democrats in Congress. Jeffries’ silence on his fellow New York liberal comes as other Democratic lawmakers aim their fury at Schumer for announcing he will vote with Republicans to avert a partial government shutdown.

Jeffries later emphatically pushed back when Fox News questioned whether he was “afraid to say anything about Schumer.”

“Do not characterize my remarks. I’m not afraid about anything,” Jeffries said.

When pressed again, he said, “Do you think that this is what the American people care about right now? Or do they want us to do everything that we can to stop this partisan and harmful Republican bill from actually becoming law? Because that’s what we as House Democrats are focused on right now.”

DEMOCRATS BLAST SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER FOR BACKING GOP SPENDING BILL

Jeffries avoided mentioning Schumer during his press conference, but reporters pressed him with questions about the growing rift between him and the senior Democrat.

He did not directly answer when asked if Schumer “acquiesced” to President Donald Trump, only pointing out the vote had not yet taken place.

“That’s a question that is best addressed by the Senate. The vote hasn’t taken place yet, and the House Democratic position is very clear. We strongly oppose any efforts to cut the healthcare of the American people, veterans benefits and nutritional assistance, all of which are in the partisan Republican bill,” Jeffries said.

Democrats are in historic levels of disarray over a Republican bill to avert a government shutdown that’s been backed by Trump.

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Progressives have been attacking Schumer for announcing he would not block the bill, but whether Republicans can find enough Democratic support to reach the necessary 60-vote threshold is still unclear.

The bill passed the House last week with support from just one House Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine.

The House and the Senate must send a bill to Trump’s desk by midnight Friday to avert a partial government shutdown.

Appeals court issues ruling after Biden-appointed judge blocks Trump’s DEI cuts

An appeals court on Friday lifted a block on President Donald Trump‘s executive orders ending federal support for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

A panel of three judges ruled the orders can be enforced during a pending lawsuit, reversing a nationwide injunction from U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore, the Associated Press reported.

Two of the judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the orders “could raise concerns” about First Amendment rights, but found Abelson’s “sweeping block went too far,” according to the report.

FEDERAL JUDGE TEMPORARILY STOPS TRUMP ADMIN FROM FIRING 11 INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS ASSIGNED TO DEI PROGRAMS

Abelson, a Biden nominee, previously ruled the orders violated the First Amendment right to free speech and were unconstitutionally “vague,” as they did not define DEI.

The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by the City of Baltimore, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the American Association of University Professors and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which alleged the executive orders were presidential overreach and anti-free speech. 

They argued the president’s power “is not limitless.”

TRUMP SCORES BIG LEGAL WIN AGAINST PULITZER PRIZE BOARD MEMBERS AS LAWSUIT MOVES TO DISCOVERY

Trump’s orders directed federal agencies to terminate all “equity-related” grants or contracts, and required federal contractors to certify that they don’t promote DEI. 

The administration argued in court that the ban only affected DEI programs violating federal civil rights laws. 

“What’s happening is an overcorrection and pulling back on DEI statements,” attorney Aleshadye Getachew said in a hearing. 

While the president secured a win with the latest injunction, a similar federal lawsuit was filed in D.C. U.S. District Court on Wednesday challenging DEI executive orders including: “Ending Radical and Wasteful DEI Programs and Preferencing;” “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government;” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” 

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The second complaint was filed by NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Lambda Legal on behalf of nonprofit advocacy organizations. 

White House spokesman Harrison Fields told the New York Times that “the radical leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump to advance his wildly popular agenda.”

BLAST OFF: SpaceX crew rockets into space to bring stranded astronauts home

SpaceX’s Crew-10 launched into space Friday to bring home two NASA astronauts who have been stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) since June 6.

The crew of four geared up in the “suit-up room” amid photos of the Apollo crew, before driving to the launchpad in multiple Teslas adorned with “LIF10FF” license plates — an ode to the mission number.

Each astronaut received a medical check before being briefed by SpaceX and NASA. Later, they partook in various traditions, including a card game to eliminate any bad luck.

SPACEX MAKES HISTORY WITH SUCCESSFUL TEST OF ‘MECHAZILLA ARMS’ 

The launch to rescue Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams was initially planned for Wednesday, but a hydraulic ground issue halted the mission just minutes before takeoff.

NASA livestreamers said there was a 95% chance of favorable weather conditions Friday afternoon, the same probability announced by SpaceX on Wednesday prior to the previous delay. 

Following the launch, NASA officials said it was the right decision to delay the mission until weather conditions were optimum.

SpaceX launched its Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket just after 7 p.m. from the U.S. space agency’s Kennedy Space Center, in collaboration with NASA.

Commander Anne McClain, pilot Nichole Ayers, mission specialist Takuya Onishi, and mission specialist Kirill Peskov will replace SpaceX’s Crew-9, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksanr Gorbuno, who arrived in space in late September.

TRUMP SENDS SPECIAL MESSAGE TO STRANDED ASTRONAUTS, JOKES HE MAY GO ALONG FOR RESCUE: ‘WE LOVE YOU’

They also aim to rescue Wilmore and Williams — who were only slated to be at the ISS for about a week in June before an issue emerged with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which returned to Earth unmanned in September.

Hague, Wilmore and Williams have completed more than 900 hours of research during their time on the ISS, NASA announced late last week. 

In August, NASA said the additional time the stranded astronauts would spend at the station enabled it and Boeing to “continue to gather testing data on Starliner during its upcoming flight home, while also not accepting more risk than necessary for its crew.”

The Starliner had “helium leaks” and “issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters” while docking with the ISS in June, according to previous reporting.

A two-day “handover period” will take place with Crew-10 before Wilmore, Williams, Hague and Gorbunov leave the ISS, NASA reported. Crew-10 and Dragon are expected to reach the ISS around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

They will return to Earth, in another SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, as soon as Sunday, according to officials.

While in space, Crew-10 will “perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance activities aboard the microgravity laboratory,” NASA said.

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Friday’s launch was Dragon’s 10th operational human spaceflight mission. The nearly 27-foot spacecraft was built with room for up to seven passengers.

In a news conference Friday following the launch, officials said NASA, a nonpartisan agency, appreciates the support from the current administration.

“Our presidents always care a lot about what happens at NASA, and it’s great to see that that trend continue with our current president,” one NASA official said. “He injects a lot of energy into our thought processes and that’s been helpful for us.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had not commented on his social media platform, X, about the successful launch as of 10 p.m. Friday.

Pro soccer team changing its name after transgender backlash to marketing slogan

The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Boston-based expansion team announced Friday that it will be changing its name. The change comes after a wave of transgender backlash to a marketing campaign it abandoned back in October. 

The team was set to be named BOS Nation FC, which it announced in a branding event in the fall alongside a marketing campaign that featured the slogan “Too Many Balls.” The slogan prompted intense backlash from the transgender community, including an NWSL player. 

A transgender player who goes by the singular name Quinn, who plays for the Seattle Reign, spoke out against the team’s branding announcement in a post on Instagram. 

“Feels transphobic. Yikes,” Quinn wrote. 

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The team quickly abandoned the slogan, issued a public apology for it, and even thanked those who spoke out against it. 

“We fully acknowledge that the content of the campaign did not reflect the safe and welcoming environment we strive to create for all, and we apologize to the LGBTQ+ community and to the trans community in particular for the hurt we caused,” the statement said. 

“Thank you to all who have held us accountable by calling for us to do better. We hear you and we will, together,” said another statement.

HOW TRANSGENDERISM IN SPORTS SHIFTED THE 2024 ELECTION AND IGNITED A NATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE

Earlier this month, the club hired new chief revenue officer Amina Bulman, the former chief brand and strategy officer for the NFL’s Washington Commanders since September 2020, when the team was in transition from its previous “Redskins” branding, 

Now the Boston-based women’s soccer team is erasing all traces of the branding that came out of its October announcement by opting to change its proposed name as well. 

“The club extends our heartfelt thanks to our supporters, whose passionate voices we deeply value — not just for their unwavering support but also for their honest and critical feedback,” majority owner Jennifer Epstein said in a statement.

“We could not have completed this process without your input. We aim to build a lasting legacy that makes all our fans feel welcome, connected, and proud to wear our colors and cheer our name for generations to come.”

The issue of trans inclusion in women’s sports proved to be one of the most contentious political topics of last fall and the start of 2025, as multiple lawsuits and federal investigations have been prompted by situations involving trans athletes in the last six months alone. 

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Data suggests the majority of Americans oppose trans inclusion in women’s sports, and the issue even played into the 2024 election results. 

A New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports, as 79% of participants said that biological males who identify as women should not be allowed in women’s sports. Of the participants who identified as Democrats, 67% said that transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. 

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls’ and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls’ and women’s bathrooms” as important to them. 

Additionally, 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”

Tornado Watches spread through Midwest as powerful storm system unleashes

A widespread and dangerous severe weather outbreak began on Friday evening after numerous tornadoes were spotted traveling through Missouri, causing significant damage.

More than 150 million people were under a heightened risk of severe weather, with the potentially most dangerous days of the outbreak still ahead.

“This storm has it all,” Bill Bunting, operations branch chief for NOAA and the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center, told FOX Weather. “The moisture is plentiful, and our concern is that all of these ingredients – wind shear, moisture, and lift – will combine to produce a highly explosive and potentially deadly storm, beginning this afternoon, continuing overnight, and extending into Saturday as the system moves south and east.”

On Friday, severe weather watches stretched from outside Minneapolis to near New Orleans, but it was the nation’s heartland that bore the brunt of the worst of the storms.

Tornadoes were reported in communities such as Rolla, Hartville and areas outside St. Louis. Fortunately, despite significant damage, no fatalities were reported in Missouri following the event.

Dramatic video out of Rolla, Missouri, showed powerful winds sweeping over a gas station where two men came face-to-face with one of the tornadoes.

“We are in a tornado!” Tad Peters could be heard yelling on video.

Heavy rain and debris lashed their truck, but not significantly enough for the pair to drive off when the coast was clear.

Emergency management encouraged residents to stay away from the storm damage until authorities could assess the situation.  

“Our thoughts are with the community of Rolla tonight, as they experienced a tornado touchdown. We kindly ask everyone to avoid the area and allow first responders to carry out their essential work,” Maries County Emergency Management said after seeing the supercell sweep through.

Several tractor-trailers were reported to have been flipped along the Interstate 44 corridor, but as of Friday evening there were no reports of missing people first responders were searching for.

The SPC put portions of nearly half a dozen states underneath a ‘Particularly Dangerous Situation’ Tornado Watch, ahead of the severe weather outbreak.

A PDS Tornado Watch is issued when forecasters have high confidence that multiple violent tornadoes will occur in the watch area.

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Multiple intense, long-tracked tornadoes possible Saturday

On Saturday, the powerful storm system will continue tracking east as a tornado outbreak is possible across the central Gulf Coast states and Deep South into the Tennessee Valley.

A Level 5 out of 5 on the severe storm threat level is impacting 2.7 million people in major cities like Birmingham, Alabama, Jackson, Mississippi, Tuscaloosa and Hoover in Alabama and Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

WATCH VS. WARNING: HERE ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE WEATHER TERMS THAT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE

The storms will develop along the Mississippi River and quickly move east from midday to the afternoon, according to the FOX Forecast Center. The line of supercells is then expected to swing through central and southern Mississippi into northern Alabama, central and east Tennessee and north Georgia. 

Cities such as New Orleans, Louisiana, and Birmingham, Alabama, are under a Level 4 out of 5 risk, indicating a high likelihood of supercell thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes and damaging winds. 

Final day of storms likely to slam East Coast on Sunday

By Sunday, the storm will have traversed the entire U.S. with its eye now on the East Coast, including the Interstate 95 corridor. The threat of tornadoes will be confined to the Virginia coast and south into the Carolinas. Damaging wind gusts and large hail will be the main threats.

STAY OR GO? TRUSTING YOUR GUT CAN BE LIFESAVING WHEN MULTIPLE WEATHER WARNINGS ARE ISSUED

Like on Friday and Saturday, plenty of wind shear will be present, allowing any singular storm to rotate and produce a tornado, according to the FOX Forecast Center.

North of the Delmarva into the Northeast, severe storms will also be possible.

I was a director at the SEC — here’s why DOGE really needs a chainsaw

The now iconic image of an elated Elon Musk wielding a chainsaw may be unsettling – even to dyed-in-the-wool Republicans – but it does effectively capture the daunting challenges facing the Trump administration’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

DOGE’s seemingly draconian steps to lay off federal workers in large numbers are the inevitable result of federal workers’ union collective-bargaining agreements and civil-service protections that have made it almost impossible to fire any individual federal employee based on job performance. 

These agreements and protections have made a federal job a lifetime position immune from performance assessments and other measures of employee accountability present in the private sector. Unless Congress steps in to reform federal public-employee union agreements and the civil service system, President Donald Trump’s only choice to downsize the government is to proceed with large-scale reductions in force. 

Both men understand that deep cuts in the federal payroll are the only feasible way to win back control of the government so it can serve the president’s agenda that he ran on in 2024. Trusting that new agency heads can fix the workforce of one of the alphabet soup agencies is wishful thinking. 

THE FULL TRUTH ABOUT THE GREAT THINGS DOGE CAN AND CANNOT DO

When I was a director at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2010-2015I saw firsthand how employees are nearly completely immune from performance evaluation or firing. And at that time, SEC employees could be evaluated on a performance scale of 1 to 5. 

The current publicly available 2023 union collective-bargaining agreement for the SEC states that employees will be evaluated on performance as “acceptable” or “unacceptable,” essentially pass/fail—and in many schools these days, everyone passes. During my tenure USA Today – not exactly conservative friendly – reported that federal workers are more likely to die on the job than be fired.

Moreover, when I was with the SEC, in one of the rare instances when managers succeeded in firing an employee, the little-known Office of Special Counsel ordered reinstatement. 

President Trump has highlighted the importance of this obscure office by firing the Biden appointee that heads it. The president’s action is a necessary step to re-establish control over the federal bureaucracy. The D.C. Circuit Court lifted an injunction against the firing Thursday and the office head resigned. Leaving a Biden-era official in that job would have frustrated the administration’s attempt to shrink the bloated bureaucracy. 

LET DOGE SINK ITS TEETH INTO OUR BLOATED TECH INFRASTRUCTURE

The Trump administration’s decision to fire all federal employees in their probationary period is also a direct result of the iron-clad job protection created by collective bargaining agreements and civil-service protections like the Office of Special Counsel. Federal employees in their first year generally do not enjoy the union and civil-service protections granted after one year on the job. 

Who pays the price for federal working conditions free of accountability? U.S. taxpayers. 

When I joined the SEC staff in 2010 and tried to reform the examination program that had missed Bernie Madoff’s fraud and massive Ponzi scheme despite numerous examinations, I received a plain manila envelope in my inbox with a copy of false accusations against my predecessor that had been shared with Congress and the press as a warning of what could happen to me if I pushed for change in the exam program. 

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What I soon learned was that although many federal workers join the government out of patriotism and a desire to serve, the unnatural working conditions steadily grind such employees down and they start to go along with the system where longer-tenured workers often discourage extra effort. 

Indeed, lifetime employment for employees in the federal government is contrary to the U.S. Constitution and is not available to workers in the private sector. In fact, the only lifetime position created by the Constitution is federal judges.

In addition, the Constitution prohibits the creation of titles of nobility that created a lifetime aristocracy in the United Kingdom. No one in the private sector who is working and paying taxes has a lifetime position. Federal workers should be in the same situation as the taxpayers they serve.

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As President Barack Obama was fond of saying, “Elections have consequences.” The November 2024 election showed that Americans are tired of unaccountable federal employees who fail to address their fundamental concerns, including inflation and massive spending on wasteful programs at home and abroad.

With a federal budget that comprises almost 25% of the nation’s GDP, Congress needs to reform the rules governing federal employees to help rein in profligate government spending and waste. All Americans would be more comfortable with a federal workforce that plays by the same employment rules as the rest of working Americans. 

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