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War Sec Pete Hegseth shares meme of children’s book character firing on narco terrorist drug boat

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War Sec Pete Hegseth shares meme of children’s book character firing on narco terrorist drug boat

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As the Trump administration conducts deadly strikes against alleged drug boats of narco-terrorists, War Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a meme depicting the children’s book series character Franklin firing a weapon at such a vessel.

“For your Christmas wish list…” Hegseth joked when sharing the fake book cover.

The meme shows the turtle character in a helicopter, firing what appears to be an RPG at one of the boats in the water below. The RPG fired by Franklin flies toward the vessel, where there is already an explosion occurring.

HEGSETH DEFENDS LETHAL STRIKES AGAINST ALLEGED DRUG TRAFFICKERS: ‘BIDEN CODDLED TERRORISTS, WE KILL THEM’

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U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth smiles during a press conference at the Dominican National Palace in Santo Domingo on Nov. 26, 2025. ( Felix Leon / AFP via Getty Images)

“Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists,” the title on the fake book cover reads.

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who is running for Senate, blasted Hegseth. 

WAR SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SPENDS THANKSGIVING WITH US TROOPS IN LATIN AMERICA: ‘WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOU’

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., speaks during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“You’re a disgrace,” he wrote.

“There’s nothing Christian about war crimes,” former Rep. Justin Amash wrote in response to Hegseth’s post.

WAR SECRETARY HEGSETH DELIVERS THANKSGIVING MESSAGE TO TROOPS

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stands prior to the NFL 2025 game between Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium on Nov. 9, 2025 in Landover, Md. (Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images)

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“As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.’ The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” Hegseth wrote in part of a recent post on X.

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Report: Conditions at immigrant detention centers in California have worsened under Trump

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Report: Conditions at immigrant detention centers in California have worsened under Trump

A new report by the California Department of Justice found that conditions at immigrant detention facilities in the state have worsened as surging arrests under the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign led to overcrowding and insufficient medical care.

For the report, which was released Friday, California Justice Department staff, along with correctional and healthcare experts, toured all seven facilities that existed in 2025 (an eighth facility, the Central Valley Annex in McFarland, began receiving detainees in April). The team analyzed internal documents and detainee records, and interviewed detention staff and 194 detainees.

“The Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign has led to a shocking increase in detainee populations — and facilities have been alarmingly unprepared to meet this new demand,” said Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta in a statement. “During their inspections, my team found evidence of inadequate medical care and heard countless reports of disturbing, unsafe, and unsanitary conditions and a lack of basic necessities.”

Bonta was scheduled to discuss the report’s findings at a news conference Friday morning.

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The inspections were possible because California enacted a law during the first Trump administration requiring state oversight and public reports detailing the conditions of immigrant detention facilities. This is the fifth report released by the California Department of Justice since 2019.

Such reports have taken on outsized significance as the Trump administration has whittled down the Department of Homeland Security’s own oversight mechanisms; for example, it has gutted staff at the offices of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Immigrant Detention Ombudsman.

According to the report, the detainee population in California grew 162%, from 2,300 to more than 6,000 detainees, between site visits in 2023 and those in 2025. Most detainees had no criminal history and were classified as low security.

Collectively, the facilities have capacity to hold up to nearly 8,200 detainees. Six people have died in ICE custody in California since the start of 2025.

Inspectors found that staffing levels failed to keep pace with the growing numbers of detainees, particularly at the California City and Adelanto facilities. The Trump administration has limited access to bond, including for vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women and people with serious medical conditions.

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The intake process for new detainees, which includes a medical and mental health screening, is supposed to take place within 12 hours of their arrival. But detainees at several facilities reported waiting days or weeks before receiving their classification, housing assignment and medical screening, the report says. While waiting, some slept on the floor without access to water and other basic necessities.

At the Adelanto facility, detainees said water coolers remained empty for hours. Justice Department staff saw murky drinking water come out of the tap in the women’s housing unit.

At the Golden State Annex in McFarland and at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, detainees said they spent at least $50 per week on commissary items so they wouldn’t go hungry. Across most facilities, detainees reported improperly cooked food, a lack of dietary or allergy accommodations and irregular mealtimes.

Detainees at all facilities reported delays in medical treatment, including emergency care, which led to preventable crises. At Mesa Verde, for example, the report says that “Medical care delays, including specialty care and referrals, were widespread and appeared to be caused by delays in approvals by ICE Health Service Corps and cancelled or dropped referrals due to transfers between facilities.”

Basic necessities are also an issue, according to the report. At the California City facility, detainees said they got so cold that they cut the ends off socks to make improvised sleeves and covered the air vents in their cells with sheets of paper.

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According to the report, Otay Mesa is the only detention center in California with a policy requiring that detainees be strip searched after being visited by anyone other than their attorney. Detainees there have long said the practice is dehumanizing and invasive.

The state law requiring the detention facility inspections expires next year. A bill by State Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) would make the inspections permanent. Another state bill, by Sen. Steve Padilla (D-San Diego), would prevent the excessive markup of products sold at detention center commissaries, where many items are sold at an inflated value.

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C.I.A. Director Visits Cuba as Tensions Rise and Island Runs Out of Oil

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C.I.A. Director Visits Cuba as Tensions Rise and Island Runs Out of Oil

The C.I.A. said Mr. Ratcliffe had met with Raúl G. Rodríguez Castro, known as “Raulito” or “El Cangrejo” (the Crab), the influential grandson of former president Raúl Castro. Mr. Ratcliffe also met with Lázaro Álvarez Casas, the minister of the interior, as well as the head of Cuba’s intelligence services, a C.I.A. official said.

At the same time, federal prosecutors in Miami were working toward securing an indictment of the elder Mr. Castro, who remains a force in the country’s politics, according to several people familiar with the matter. The scope of the indictment and the number of defendants is being debated, but it could include drug trafficking charges and accusations connected to Cuba’s downing in 1996 of planes run by the humanitarian aid group Brothers to the Rescue, two of the people said.

Mr. Ratcliffe arrived in Cuba the day after Vicente de la O Levy, the minister of energy and mines, announced that oil supplies for domestic use and power plants had been exhausted.

“We have absolutely no fuel oil, absolutely no diesel,” he said. “In Havana, the blackouts today exceed 20 or 22 hours.”

The lack of oil has forced people to rely on charcoal or even wood to cook, and some people have taken to the streets, banging on pots and pans to express their frustration.

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The Cuban government has been grappling with a severe energy crisis for more than two years because of crumbling infrastructure and a dwindling oil supply from Venezuela, its longtime benefactor.

Venezuelan fuel stopped flowing to Cuba entirely in January, after the United States seized Venezuela’s leader and took control of its oil industry. Later, the Trump administration imposed an effective blockade barring all foreign oil from reaching Cuba, which had also received shipments from Mexico.

A delivery of an estimated 730,000 barrels of oil from Russia last month permitted by the Trump administration provided a brief reprieve.

The administration also has been working on the Castro indictment for months. The effort is being led by Jason A. Reding Quiñones, a Trump ally who serves as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

The Cuban government said the United States had requested Thursday’s meeting. Cuban officials stressed that their country did not constitute a threat to U.S. national security and should not be included on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, Cuba’s state-controlled newspaper, Granma, reported.

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“Once again it was made clear that the island does not harbor, support, finance or permit terrorist or extremist organizations; nor are there any foreign military or intelligence bases on its territory, and it has never supported any hostile activity against the U.S. nor will it allow any action to be taken from Cuba against another nation,” the Cuban government said.

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Trump touts ‘fantastic trade deals’ in final Xi meeting amid tariff standoff

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Trump touts ‘fantastic trade deals’ in final Xi meeting amid tariff standoff

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President Donald Trump held his final meeting with Chinese President Xi touting a big win on one of the central focuses orf the high-stakes summit after the two leaders held a bilateral tea at the Zhongnanhai compound.

“This has been an incredible visit,” Trump said to reporters. “I think a lot of good has come of it, and we’ve made some fantastic trade deals. Great for both countries.” 

The announcement comes against the backdrop of a yearslong tariff standoff between the U.S. and China, with Trump arguing aggressive duties are needed to force fairer trade terms while Beijing has repeatedly pushed back. While it is unclear which deals were reached, it was shared that China agreed to order 200 Boeing jets.

TRUMP MEETS US AMBASSADOR TO CHINA AS TENSIONS FLARE AHEAD OF XI SHOWDOWN

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Trump said summit produced “fantastic trade deals.” (Evan Vucci/Pool Reuters via AP)

U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were present for the meeting.

America’s top business leaders traveled with Trump to Beijing and met with Premier Li Qiang Thursday to discuss U.S.-China economic and trade cooperation.

“China is willing to work with the United States to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strive for more positive outcomes, achieve mutual success and promote common prosperity, and better benefit the people of both countries and the world,” reads a press release about the meeting from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

TRUMP AND CHINA CLOSE IN ON TRADE DEAL AFTER PRODUCTIVE TALKS, BESSENT SAYS

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While it is unclear which deals were reached, it was shared that China agreed to order 200 Boeing jets. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

The ministry stressed that both countries should “meet each other halfway” and “safeguard bilateral economic and trade relations.”

The White House and Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on the matter.

During an interview Thursday with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump said China was interested in investing “hundreds of billions of dollars” alongside the American business leaders visiting Beijing.

“Those business people are here to make deals and to bring back jobs,” Trump said.

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TRUMP PUSHES XI ON TRADE AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING DENTS KEY CHINA PRESSURE TOOL

A major piece of Trump’s “America First” agenda has focused on leveling the global trade playing field by holding other countries accountable for trade deficits. One of his first moves after returning to office was rolling out the “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025, which were designed to serve as leverage in trade negotiations while also generating new revenue.

“This has been an incredible visit. I think a lot of good has come of it, and we’ve made some fantastic trade deals. Great for both countries, ” said Trump. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

Tariffs have been at the center of Trump’s China strategy since his first term, when he imposed duties on Chinese imports and Beijing retaliated with tariffs of its own. The fight has remained one of the defining pressure points in the relationship between the world’s two largest economies. 

Trump’s first visit in 2017 produced more than $250 billion in announced commercial deals and cooperation pledges, but it did not prevent trade relations from deteriorating in 2018.

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Most notably, Trump announced a $12 billion deal for cellphone chips from Qualcomm and $37 billion for Boeing commercial jets, AP reported at the time.

Trump said that Xi and his wife will visit the U.S. in September. 

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