Federal agency to relocate from Los Angeles due to Dem mayor ‘siding with illegal aliens’

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Saturday it will relocate its regional office from Los Angeles due to the city’s lack of cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In response to an X post Friday by Mayor Karen Bass, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the agency will “immediately” be moving out of the L.A. area.

“Los Angeles is openly refusing to cooperate with ICE – siding with illegal aliens over American citizens and small businesses. Therefore, effective immediately, @SBAgov will begin relocating its Regional Office out of L.A.,” Loeffler wrote in an X post. 

“If a city won’t protect its people, we won’t stay.”

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Multiple people were detained by immigration agents Friday as seven locations in Los Angeles were raided, bringing the weekly total of illegal immigrant arrests to nearly 120.

In response, violent protests broke out across the county, including an attempted break-in at the Roybal Federal Building. The Los Angeles Police Department did not respond for several hours despite receiving multiple calls.

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More than 1,000 rioters surrounded the building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires and defaced buildings and taxpayer-funded property, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable, and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom must call for it to end,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end.” 

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In a statement Friday, Bass criticized federal immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles.

“As mayor of a proud city of immigrants who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” Bass said. “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this.”

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As of Saturday night, Bass had yet to denounce violent riots in her jurisdiction and safety concerns raised by federal authorities.

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to Fox Business’ request for comment.

Right-wing Colombian presidential candidate shot at rally: reports

A Colombian senator and presidential candidate was shot on Saturday in Bogotá, the government and his campaign said, according to media reports. 

Miguel Uribe, 39, was hosting a campaign event in a public park when “armed subjects shot him in the back.”

There is no word on Uribe’s condition. 

He is a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center party, founded by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Death row inmate killed by mob of prisoners in California facility

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials are investigating after a death row inmate was killed at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano on Friday.

Convicted murderer Mario Renteria, 36, allegedly started beating fellow inmate, Julian Mendez, 46, at about 10:30 a.m. Friday, prompting prison staff to respond. 

Officers ordered them to get down, but the men failed to comply, according to a CDCR news release obtained by Fox News Digital.

Chemical agents initially stopped the attack, but more than 30 additional inmates rushed Renteria and began striking him.

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Orders to stop were ignored, and staff used multiple blast grenades to quell the violence, according to CDCR.

Mendez suffered multiple wounds, and life-saving measures were immediately taken. He was taken to the prison’s triage and treatment area, where a doctor pronounced him dead at 11:05 a.m.

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Officials said an improvised weapon was found at the scene, though the type of weapon was unclear.

Renteria remains in restricted housing pending investigation, according to CDCR. 

Officials limited population movement to facilitate the investigation by the prison’s Investigative Services Unit and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office. 

The Office of the Inspector General was notified, and the Kern County Coroner will determine Mendez’s official cause of death.

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Mendez was received from Riverside County on Dec. 2, 2004, according to CDCR. He received a condemned sentence in 2002 for the first-degree murder of two teenagers.

CDCR said Renteria was received from Riverside County on April 27, 2022, and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder (a third-strike offense) and arson.

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Kern Valley State Prison opened in 2005 and houses over 3,100 minimum- and high-security-custody inmates.

Simone Biles faces fierce backlash after clash with Riley Gaines over women’s sports

Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles received harsh backlash on social media after the gymnastics star sparred with former 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer Riley Gaines over the debate surrounding transgender athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports. 

Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer and current OutKick contributor and host of the “Gaines for Girls” podcast, took to X on Friday to call out the Minnesota State High School League for posting a picture of the new state champions, Champlin Park High School. 

The school has made headlines because its dominant performance on the way to the title game was led by junior pitcher Marissa Rothenberger, a transgender athlete competing on the team. 

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The photo posted on X had the comments disabled. 

In response to Gaines’ criticism of the post, Biles posted a message calling Gaines “truly sick” over her stance on trans athletes. She even launched a personal attack at Gaines. 

“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser,” Biles said, referencing Gaines competing against former UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championships. 

“You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!” 

SIMONE BILES SPARS WITH RILEY GAINES OVER TRANS ATHLETE DEBATE, LAUNCHES PERSONAL ATTACK: ‘TRULY SICK’

The post went viral on social media, with Biles adding in another post, “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”

But Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history – a feat she accomplished at the Paris Olympics, faced fierce backlash for her comments on social media. 

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Many on social media also pointed out Biles’ call for open categories in all sports. 

In 2022, World Aquatics, the international governing body for swimming, updated its eligibility policy to effectively ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s events. The following year, the organization launched and debuted an open category at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin. 

The organization later confirmed that upon the close of registration, no entries had been received for the open category. 

Biles is an 11-time Olympic medalist. She holds 30 world championship medals, including a record 23 gold. She has not responded on social media following her initial posts aimed at Gaines. 

Former Disney star speaks on being shot in face during husband’s birthday celebration

Christy Carlson Romano is speaking out about nearly losing an eye after she was shot in the face four months ago. 

During an appearance on the upcoming June 10 episode of the “Not a Damn Chance!” podcast, via a sneak peek by People magazine, the 41-year-old former Disney star recalled the terrifying incident while she was shooting clay pigeons with her husband, Brendan Rooney, for his birthday.

Asked how it happened, Romano explained she was not “at liberty to say specifics,” according to People. The actress previously revealed on Instagram that she was “hit in five places,” including below her eye. 

CHRISTY CARLSON ROMANO ‘SHOT IN THE EYE’ DURING CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING OUTING WITH HER HUSBAND FOR HIS BIRTHDAY

Romano shared details for the first time about what transpired.

“It’s a birdshot that got sprayed in my direction by another party, and essentially it was within 200 feet, which means really fast and hot,” she told hosts Neen Williams and Frankland Lee. 

“They weren’t malicious,” Romano clarified. “It wasn’t aggravated assault. It’s what happened.” 

CHRISTY CARLSON ROMANO ‘SHOT IN THE EYE’ DURING CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING OUTING WITH HER HUSBAND FOR HIS BIRTHDAY

The “Even Stevens” star then emphasized the importance of gun safety and described her initial response. 

“I feel very out of body about it. … It’s pretty wild,” she said. “I’m shocked, and what goes through my head immediately is, ‘Oh that’s dope, I just got shot.’ And then I go, ‘Oh now I’m gonna die,'” she said. 

“I take a knee. My husband witnessed it and was like, ‘Hey are you hit?’ because I didn’t scream. I didn’t do anything. I was just out of body.”

Romano recalled she had a knee-jerk reaction upon being shot that stemmed from her time on the third season of the FOX reality TV series “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.”

In the show, celebrity contestants take on grueling military exercises and challenges under the direction of ex-Special Forces operatives. 

Romano explained that the contestants were trained to give a thumbs-up to let their fellow cast members know that they were OK during the series’ perilous challenges.

The “Kim Possible” alum recalled that, out of habit, she gave Rooney a thumbs-up immediately after she was shot. 

“He was like, ‘Oh, you’re good.’ And I was like, ‘No I’m hit.’ He goes, ‘Oh s—,’” Romano recalled of her husband’s reaction. She remembered that Rooney rushed to her aid and had to restrain himself from retaliating against the other party.

“So, he’s running to me and making sure I’m OK, and he’s fighting the urge to hurt the person … but he’s been practicing stoicism recently, and there was something in him,” Romano recalled. 

“He was immediately into action mode, evaluating me and ran to get the car. 

“I felt this huge rush that I’d never felt before where I was starting to get really woozy. I think it was shock.”

Romano told the hosts she didn’t experience any pain initially and described the thoughts that were running through her head, including her fears her children might be affected. The actress shares daughters Isabella, 7, and Sofia, 5, with Rooney. 

“I was covered in blood from my forehead … and I said three things. I was like, ‘Am I gonna die? Who’s gonna take care of the girls? Is my career over?’” she recalled.

Romano explained that she came close to being blinded or killed. 

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“If my head would’ve been tilted in any other direction, I would have been blind in my right eye. Or if I had turned my head, I could have gotten hit in a softer side of my skull, and I would have potentially been dead,” Romano said. 

“It’s still in my eye,” she said of the pellets from the shotgun.

“I have a fragment still in my forehead, and I have a fragment still behind my eye, which is 1 millimeter away from blinding me.”

Romano previously explained on Instagram that the lead fragment behind her eye had to remain in her face because removing it could leave her blind. 

The shot fragment lodged in her skull will also remain in place because doctors said it will expedite her healing process. 

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During her podcast interview, Romano told hosts she put on a brave face at first and was making jokes about her medical crisis after she arrived at the hospital. 

“In retrospect, I was trying to be funny and not cry because I wanted the people around me to feel more calm so that they could take better care of me,” Romano said. 

The former Broadway star admitted that it has been difficult to accept she is a “gunshot survivor.”

Clay pigeon shooting is an outdoor sport in which upside-down circular disks made of limestone and pitch used as targets are propelled into the air by machines called traps. Shooters use shotguns, with each shot projecting hundreds of small lead balls to hit the clay pigeons. 

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The sport is typically not considered dangerous as long as safety measures are followed.

Vance says Musk made ‘huge mistake’ with Trump-Epstein accusations in heated feud

Vice President JD Vance told comedian and podcast host Theo Von on Saturday that Elon Musk made a “huge mistake” by accusing President Donald Trump of being implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Vance warned that Trump and Musk being embroiled in a “blood feud” with one another will be bad for the country and will likely not end well for the Tesla CEO either.

“I think it’s a huge mistake for him to go after the president like that. And I think that if he and the president are in some blood feud — most importantly — it’s going to be bad for the country, but I think it’s going to be, I don’t think it’ll be good for Elon either,” Vance argued.

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Musk referenced Jeffrey Epstein in relation to Trump on Thursday as part of a larger attack against the president and Republican leaders over their budget reconciliation bill.

“Time to drop the really big bomb. [Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk wrote on X. “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

Vance told the comedian Trump “didn’t do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein” and that his loyalties will always be with the president.

He noted that he hopes Musk will eventually “come back into the fold,” but doubted the possibility of that coming true after his tweet accusing Trump of being involved with Epstein.

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When asked by Von why he believed Musk’s “feelings were hurt,” Vance speculated that the culmination of the violent threats against him and his company, paired with Congress’ budget reconciliation bill, may have pushed him over the edge.

“His businesses are being attacked nonstop. They’re literally like firebombing some of his cars,” he pointed out. “So I think part of it is this guy got into politics and has suffered a lot for it. But I mean, and I get the frustration there… Congress, you got this spending bill. But the main purpose of the bill is not actually spending or cutting spending, though it does cut a lot of spending.”

The vice president acknowledged Musk’s concerns over the spending bill that allegedly started the feud between the two and noted that disagreements over its contents likely caused some “frustrations.”

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“The main purpose of the bill is to prevent the biggest tax increase, but I understand — it’s a good bill — it’s not a perfect bill,” Vance said. “The process in D.C., if you’re a business leader, you probably get frustrated with that process because it’s more, you know, bureaucratic. It’s more slow-moving. So I think there’s just some frustrations there.”

TSA warns Americans to stop showing Costco cards at airport security checkpoints

The Transportation Security Administration clarified this week that a Costco membership card is not sufficient to present at airport security. 

“We love hotdogs & rotisserie chickens as much as the next person but please stop telling people their Costco card counts as a REAL ID because it absolutely does not,” the TSA wrote on Facebook Wednesday. 

The reminder comes less than a month after the U.S. began requiring a REAL ID driver’s license when flying domestically May 7. 

Aside from REAL IDs, which have enhanced federal standards, domestic flyers can also use their passports or another federally-approved form of identification like Defense Department-issued IDs (but not a Costco card). 

“Department of Defense IDs for active and retired military continue to be an acceptable form of ID at TSA checkpoints following the implementation of REAL ID last month,” the TSA wrote on Facebook Thursday. 

REAL IDs were available for years before the requirement went into effect after a 2005 law passed based on recommendations from the 9/11 Commission report. 

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With many procrastinating until shortly before the deadline, DMV centers were inundated with long lines in April and early May, and there was confusion about what forms of identification, such as a passport, birth certificate or Social Security card, were acceptable at a DMV to secure a REAL ID. 

Russia unleashes deadly attack on Ukraine after Kyiv’s strike on Russian planes

At least four people were killed in eastern Ukraine and more than two dozen were injured, including a baby and a 14-year-old, after Russia launched drone-and-missile and bomb attacks Saturday, Ukraine officials said. 

Russia launched 215 missiles and drones on Kharkiv, the war-torn nation’s second-largest city, in the early hours of Saturday, killing three people and wounding more than 40 others, Ukrainian officials said. 

Later in the day, Russia dropped bombs on Kharkiv’s city center, killing at least one more person and injuring five. 

“What the Russians want is the complete destruction of life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday after the attacks. 

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“In more than 11 years of Russia’s war against Ukraine, they have brought only one new thing to our land, the most widespread Russian ‘legacy,’ ruins and death,” Zelenskyy added. “We must continue resisting this. I thank everyone around the world who is helping. The Russians are preparing to continue the war and are ignoring all peace proposals. They must be held accountable.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would work to strengthen its air defense, adding, “We urgently need positive signals from the United States regarding air defense systems. We are still waiting for a response to our request to purchase systems that can help.”

He also thanked other European countries for sending supplies.

“We must also achieve results in joint production of air defense systems and missiles. This is absolutely essential for our whole Europe,” he added. “Only time separates us from that result, and what matters most is shortening that time.”

“This is another savage killing,” he wrote on X along with graphic photos of some of the injured. “Aerial bombs were dropped on civilians in the city — there is even a children’s railway nearby. This makes no military sense.”

He called the attack “pure terrorism. And this has been going on for more than three years of the full-scale war. This cannot be ignored. This cannot be turned a blind eye to. And this is not some kind of game. Every day, we lose our people only because Russia feels it can act with impunity. Russia must be firmly forced into peace.” 

RUSSIA LAUNCHES LARGEST AERIAL ATTACK OF UKRAINE WAR, KILLING AT LEAST 12

Last Sunday, Ukraine launched a surprise drone attack on Russian territory that destroyed 40 Russian planes, according to Kyiv. 

In his evening address, Zelenskyy said 117 drones had been used in the operation. He claimed the operation was headquartered out of an office next to the local FSB, the Russian intelligence agency.

On Friday, Russia launched another drone attack on six territories in Ukraine that killed six people, including a baby, and injured 80, according to Ukraine officials.

The attack came after President Donald Trump had a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the Russian leader said he planned to retaliate. 

Trump responded to the attacks Friday, telling reporters on Air Force One, “Well, they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night. … When I saw it, I said, ‘Here we go, now it’s going to be a strike.’”

On Thursday, Trump also compared the Russia-Ukraine war to children. 

“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart, they don’t want to be pulled,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.”

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Ukraine and Russia have so far held two rounds of peace talks with few tangible results. 

How Justice Clarence Thomas led SCOTUS to kill DEI

Clarence Thomas has spent his professional life trying to return American law to the Declaration of Independence’s founding promise that individuals should be judged as individuals rather than as members of racial, gender, or ethnic groups. It seems that his peers on the high court have been listening.

Thomas’ belief in individual rights precedes his time on the court. For example, in a 1985 law review article, Thomas discussed his daily responsibilities of enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws as chairman of the EEOC. He wrote: “I intend to take EEO enforcement back to where it started by defending the rights of individuals who are hurt by discriminatory practices. … Those who insist on arguing that the principle of equal opportunity, the cornerstone of civil rights, means preferences for certain groups have relinquished their roles as moral and ethical leaders in this area.”

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Justice Thomas has reiterated that American law protects individual rather than groups rights throughout his three-and-a-half decades on the nation’s highest court. In 1995’s Missouri v. Jenkins, for instance, Thomas became the first Supreme Court justice to directly criticize Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Although he called state-mandated segregation “despicable,” he said that the Court was wrong in 1954 to rely on disputable social science evidence to declare segregation unconstitutional rather than invoking the “constitutional principle” that “the government must treat citizens as individuals, and not as members of racial, ethnic or religious groups.”

Justice Thomas has made similar pronouncements in many other judicial opinions. His concurring opinion in 2007’s Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 is perhaps the strongest articulation of his conception of equality: “The dissent attempts to marginalize the notion of a colorblind Constitution by consigning it to me and Members of today’s plurality. … But I am quite comfortable in the company I keep. My view of the Constitution is Justice Harlan’s view in Plessy: ‘Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.’” 

More recently, Justice Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion in the Supreme Court’s 2023 decisions holding that colleges and universities cannot consider race in admissions decisions that “While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States: that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law.”

Last week’s Supreme Court decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services signals that proponents of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs should stop pretending that they are complying with the law. After all, one of the most liberal members of the Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote in an  opinion for a unanimous Court that the “background circumstances” rule imposed by several lower courts of appeal requiring members of a majority group to satisfy a heightened evidentiary standard to prevail on a Title VII discrimination claim is inconsistent with the text of Title VII and the Supreme Court’s anti-discrimination precedents.

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Justice Jackson’s opinion for the Court reversing the lower courts might as well have been penned by Justice Thomas himself. Justice Jackson quoted the text of Title VII that makes it illegal to take an adverse employment action against “any individual.” She further quoted a 2020 Supreme Court decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, that held that the “law’s focus on individuals rather than groups [is] anything but academic.” She added: “By establishing the same protections for every ‘individual’—without regard to that individual’s membership in a minority or majority group—Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone.”

Justice Thomas joined Justice Jackson’s opinion for the Court “in full.” But he also issued a concurring opinion in which he suggested that the “background circumstances” rule is not only inconsistent with the statutory text of Title VII but is “plainly at odds with the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.” Most important for present purposes, Thomas made clear that if proponents of DEI are hoping that the Ames decision has nothing to do with their DEI programs, they are sorely mistaken. “American employers have long been ‘obsessed’ with ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives and affirmative action plans,” he wrote. “Initiatives of this kind have often led to overt discrimination against those perceived to be in the majority.”

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When Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016, Court watchers openly speculated about who would replace him as the intellectual leader of the conservative legal movement. Clarence Thomas has unquestionably filled that role. After all, in Ames even Justice Thomas’s liberal colleagues on the nation’s highest court conceded that American law protects individual rather than group rights.

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