Saturday, February 22, 2025

Pope at Gemelli hospital: Respiratory crisis on Saturday morning

Although more fatigued, Pope Francis spends Saturday sitting in an armchair, as blood transfusions were necessary and the prognosis remains guarded.

By Vatican News

The Holy See Press Office issued the following medical update on Pope Francis on Saturday evening:

The condition of the Holy Father continues to be critical. Therefore, as explained yesterday, the Pope is not out of danger. This morning, Pope Francis experienced an asthma-like respiratory crisis of prolonged intensity, which required the administration of high-flow oxygen.Today's blood tests also revealed thrombocytopenia, associated with anemia, which required the administration of blood transfusions.

The Holy Father remains alert and spent the day in an armchair, although he is more fatigued than yesterday. At the moment, the prognosis remains guarded.

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Friday, February 21, 2025

The Governor Who Stood Up to Trump

The president sees himself as national king, and every other American—including Maine Governor Janet Mills—as one of his quavering subjects.

By Jonathan Chait

The Trump administration is enmeshed in a long and rapidly growing list of legal challenges to the novel powers it has claimed for itself. But to try to understand the situation in terms of the individual cases, and the legal questions they implicate, is to miss the forest for the trees. The larger picture is that Donald Trump refuses, or is simply unable, to grasp any distinction between the law and his own whims.

That conflation was on display once again today at a meeting of governors at the White House. As Trump lectured the audience on his executive order banning transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports, he paused to single out Maine Governor Janet Mills.

“Are you not going to comply with it?” he demanded of her. “I’m complying with state and federal laws,” she replied. To this, Trump shot back, “We are the federal law.”

It is entirely possible that, if the state of Maine challenges the executive order, Trump will prevail legally. But what is important about this exchange is not whose interpretation of Title IX and the Administrative Procedure Act has a better chance to win five votes on the Supreme Court. It is that Trump is treating the law as coterminous with his own desires.

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Elon Musk says millions in Social Security database are between ages of 100 and 159

Elon Musk delivers remarks as he joins President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to the Social Security Administration for comment on Monday.While the U.S. population count in the 2020 census was more than 331 million, the count of people ages 100 and older was more than 80,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
DEMOCRATS LOVED IDEA OF DOGE BEFORE TRUMP, WHITE HOUSE QUIPS
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"The logic flow diagram for the Social Security system looks INSANE. No one person actually knows how it works. The payment files that move between Social Security and Treasury have significant inconsistencies that are not reconciled. It’s wild," Musk declared in a post on X.
In another post, Musk said "there are FAR more ‘eligible’ social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA. This might be the biggest fraud in history."
TREASURY DEPARTMENT RECOUPS $31 MILLION IN IMPROPER GOVERNMENT PAYMENTS TO DEAD PEOPLE
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President Donald Trump tapped Musk to spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency, an effort to uncover waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

FBI nominee Kash Patel confirmed in narrow Senate vote Patel has suggested his top two priorities were 'let good cops be cops' and 'transparency is essential'

FBI nominee Kash Patel confirmed in narrow Senate vote

Patel has suggested his top two priorities were 'let good cops be cops' and 'transparency is essential'

The Senate on Thursday voted 51-49 to confirm Kash Patel as FBI director.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted "yes" on the conservative firebrand's confirmation, even while moderates Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted "no."

A vote to invoke cloture and begin two hours of debate on the nominee passed 51 to 47 earlier Thursday.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted earlier this month, 12 to 10, to advance Patel to the full floor for a vote.

Still, Patel faced a rockier path to confirmation, even in the Republican-majority chamber, after Democrats on the panel used their political weight to delay Patel’s confirmation vote earlier this month.

TRUMP FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL PICKS UP SUPPORT FROM KEY GOP SENATORKash Patel, President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin claimed on the Senate floor that Patel had been behind recent mass firings at the FBI, citing what he described as "highly credible" whistleblower reports indicating Patel had personally directed the ongoing purge of FBI employees prior to his confirmation.

But that was sharply refuted by Senate Republicans, who described the allegation as a baseless and politically motivated attempt to delay Patel's confirmation, and by a Patel aide, who described Durbin's claim as categorically false.

This person told Fox News Digital that Patel flew home to Las Vegas after his confirmation hearing and had "been sitting there waiting for the process to play out."

Patel, a vociferous opponent of the investigations into President Donald Trump and one who served at the forefront of Trump's 2020 election fraud claims, vowed during his confirmation hearing last month that he would not engage in political retribution against agents who worked on the classified documents case against Trump and other politically sensitive matters.

But his confirmation comes at a time when the FBI’s activities, leadership and personnel decisions are being closely scrutinized for signs of politicization or retaliation.

Pam Bondi, an FBI agent and Donald Trump in a split image

Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Donald Trump have promised to reform the FBI and end political "weaponization" of law enforcement. (Getty Images | iStock)

Thousands of FBI agents and their superiors were ordered to fill out a questionnaire detailing their roles in the Jan. 6 investigation, prompting concerns of retaliation or retribution.

A group of FBI agents filed an emergency lawsuit this month seeking to block the public identification of any agents who worked on the Jan. 6 investigations, in an attempt to head off what they described as potentially retaliatory efforts against personnel involved.

"There will be no politicization at the FBI," Patel told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing. "There will be no retributive action."

But making good on that promise could prove to be complicated.

Trump told reporters this month that he intends to fire "some" of the FBI personnel involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, characterizing the agents' actions as "corrupt," even as he stopped short of providing any additional details as to how he reached that conclusion.

"We had some corrupt agents," Trump told reporters, adding that "those people are gone, or they will be gone — and it will be done quickly, and very surgically."

The White House has not responded to questions over how it reached that conclusion, or how many personnel could be impacted, though a federal judge in D.C. agreed to consider the lawsuit.

4 OF THE BIGGEST CLASHES BETWEEN PATEL, SENATE DEMS AT HIS CONFIRMATION HEARING

And in another message meant to assuage senators, Patel said he didn’t find it feasible to require a warrant for intelligence agencies to surveil U.S. citizens suspected to be involved in national security matters, referring to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

"Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizens," Patel said. "It’s almost impossible to make that function and serve the national, no-fail mission."

Patel sworn in to testify before the Senate

Patel has faced steep Democratic opposition throughout the confirmation process. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

"Get a warrant" had become a rallying cry of right-wing conservatives worried about the privacy of U.S. citizens, and almost derailed the reauthorization of the surveillance program entirely. Patel said the program has been misused, but he does not support making investigators go to court and plea their case before being able to wiretap any U.S. citizen.

Patel held a number of national security roles during Trump's first administration — chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, senior advisor to the acting director of national intelligence and National Security Council official.

FORMER TRUMP OFFICIALS REJECT WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIM THAT FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE KASH PATEL BROKE HOSTAGE PROTOCOL

He worked as a senior aide on counterterrorism for former House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, where he fought to declassify records he alleged would show the FBI's application for a surveillance warrant for 2016 Trump campaign aide Carter Page was illegitimate, and served as a national security prosecutor in the Justice Department.

Trump has called Patel the right man to clean up the FBI. (AP/iStock)

In public comments, Patel has suggested he would refocus the FBI on law enforcement and away from involvement in any prosecutorial decisions.

In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, he suggested his top two priorities are to "let good cops be cops" and transparency, which he described as "essential."

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"If confirmed, I will focus on streamlining operations at headquarters while bolstering the presence of field agents across the nation," Patel wrote. "Collaboration with local law enforcement is crucial to fulfilling the FBI’s mission."

He went on: "Members of Congress have hundreds of unanswered requests to the FBI. If confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for congressional oversight, ensuring that the FBI operates with the openness necessary to rebuild trust by simply replying to lawmakers."

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Canada stuns USA 3-2 in OT to win 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game: Live updates and reaction

Canada beats United States 3-2 in overtime

Connor McDavid scored the game-winning goal in overtime for Canada, lifting them to a 3-2 victory over Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game.

Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring for Canada early in the first period, firing a wrister through traffic and beating Connor Hellebuyck up high. Team USA tied the game late in the first after Brady Tkachuk cleaned up an Auston Matthews wraparound attempt.

The United States took the lead near the midway point of the second period as Jake Sanderson flicked in a rebound to cap off a hectic sequence. Canada equalized with six minutes remaining in the second on a precise Sam Bennett shot from close range.

After a scoreless third period, this intense finale went to overtime where Connor McDavid became the hero. He broke free in the slot before beating Hellebuyck and stunning the Americans.

MacKinnon: 'It was a high stakes game'

Tournament MVP Nathan MacKinnon revealed what made tonight's championship game against the United States so special.

"It was a high-stakes game and it put a lot of the best players against each other," he said in a postgame interview on ESPN.

The Canadians lost 3-1 to Team USA in round-robin play but exacted revenge tonight in a big way to lift the inaugural tournament trophy.

"We played well in the first meeting, but that was a crazy game," MacKinnon said. "We didn't know that there would be fighting like that but that is the beauty of hockey. (Team USA) could have won tonight, they had their chances but Jordan (Binnington) made saves, and Connor (McDavid) came up clutch there with the goal."

Crosby: 'It's a great feeling to wear the Canada jersey' — Getty Images

Sidney Crosby spoke to ESPN after Canada's win: "It's special, it's a great feeling to wear the Canada jersey."

The 37-year-old won his fifth senior international trophy with Canada, and spoke about the importance of playing with the current group of players.

"It's been a long time, any time you can play for your country is huge," Crosby said. "It's been fun to play with a special group of players and makes you want to come and be part of this."

Apple debuts iPhone 16e: A powerful new member of the iPhone 16 family

iPhone 16e joins the iPhone 16 lineup, featuring the fast performance of the A18 chip, Apple Intelligence, extraordinary battery life, and a 48MP 2-in-1 camera system — all at an incredible value