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Harris-Walz present confusing foreign policy that touts successes amid a chaotic reality

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Harris-Walz present confusing foreign policy that touts successes amid a chaotic reality

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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to offer a unified foreign policy vision as the rival Trump-Vance campaign increasingly targets her record on the border, Afghanistan and other related issues.

“Kamala Harris and the DNC are turning a total blind eye to national security, a dangerous trend that shows their lack of real policy ideas,” Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. “We’ve heard Trump’s name mentioned over 150 times in their speeches, but we’ve hardly heard any mention of the national security threats facing America, and not a single mention of the Afghanistan withdrawal that took place three years ago this very week.”

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“The world is a more dangerous place under Kamala Harris: Iran is threatening to attack Israel, China is on the march, and ISIS is on the rise again,” Waltz said. “Vibes and buzzwords like “weird” won’t deter these threats or rebuild our military. They’re obsessed with slogans instead of offering solutions.”

“Contrast this with the RNC, where we dedicated two entire days to making America safe again and strong again,” Waltz added. “Biden and Harris have made this country less safe, and yet they offer no plan— and seem to have no interest—in protecting Americans.”

HARRIS DODGING FLIP-FLOP ATTACKS AS FACELESS SURROGATES FLIP KEY POSITIONS: ‘PLAYING POLITICS’

The Democrats caused confusion this week with the release of a party platform — timed with the start of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) — that still referred to President Biden and his bid to seek a second term. Mayor Regina Romero of Tucson, Arizona, co-chair of the DNC platform committee, explained that the platform was crafted “prior to the president passing the torch in an act of love and patriotism.”

In a statement posted on the Democrats’ website, the party explains that the platform was approved on July 16 — five days ahead of Biden’s historic decision to step back and let the party stand another candidate to face Trump. The party argues that it offers “a vision for a progressive agenda that we can build on as a nation and as a Party as we head into the next four years.”

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Harris addressed her foreign policy agenda during the speech accepting the Democratic nomination on Thursday: In a speech light on policy, Harris pledged to pass the border security bill Republicans killed in the Senate earlier this year. 

Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 22, 2024.  (REUTERS/Kevin Wurm)

Harris also pledged to lead the way on space-based initiatives and artificial intelligence development, promised to stand up to Iran and Iran-backed terrorists and reiterated her support for Israel while stressing the importance of Palestinian self-determination. She took shots at Trump and his relationship with other world leaders such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. She also made clear that as president she would “stand strong with Ukraine.”

“The record of the last three-plus years has been a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, a green light for Russia to invade Ukraine, maximum deference to Iran, and unprecedented hostility toward Israel,” Richard Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former NSC official, told Fox News Digital. 

“Add in a wide open border for terrorists to cross and a war on American energy that gives our enemies an advantage, and she’s helped oversee one of the worst foreign policies in history.”

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KAMALA HARRIS SLAMMED FOR REFUSING TO SPEAK TO PRESS, NOT RELEASING POLICY POSITIONS

This image from video provided by South First Responders shows charred and damaged cars along a desert road after an attack by Hamas terrorists at the Tribe of Nova Trance music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023.  (South First Responders via AP)

Republicans have repeatedly argued that Harris’ foreign policy plans are clear based on her record as vice president and tying Harris closely to Biden’s own policies. Her lack of a published platform that clearly outlines her plans for a first term has made it difficult for her to argue against that. 

Harris earlier this week told Fox News in a statement that “re-entering that deal is not our focus,” referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) “Iran nuclear deal” — a seeming break with the Biden administration’s major push to get such a plan enacted in its first two years, though that push has gone soft in the past year.

Harris did roll out a comprehensive, if criticized, economic plan ahead of the DNC in Chicago this week, and she is expected to continue revealing parts of her policy plan in a similar manner now that the convention has ended. 

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the media during the voting of Parliament Elections in Tehran, Iran, on May 10. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Harris in recent statements has reiterated her support for certain policies enacted under the Biden administration, such as how the administration handled its exit from Afghanistan. 

Republicans have decried the administration’s full drawdown from Afghanistan, which the Harris campaign has said the vice president “strongly supported” by asking “probing questions” during deliberations, although a former military official told The Washington Post he didn’t recall Harris “playing any role of significance.”

Positioning herself as a vice president who is closely involved in the administration’s key matters, Harris confirmed to CNN in 2021 that she was the “last person in the room” with Biden before his decision to withdraw U.S. troops and effectively end more than 20 years of war in Afghanistan. 

KAMALA HARRIS’ ECONOMIC PLAN IS ABOUT TAKING ON ‘NEFARIOUS ACTORS’: GENE SPERLING

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An US Air Force aircraft takes off from the airport in Kabul on August 30, 2021. – Rockets were fired at Kabul’s airport on August 30 where US troops were racing to complete their withdrawal from Afghanistan and evacuate allies under the threat of Islamic State group attacks. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP) (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images) (Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Times in 2021 reported that Harris was “at least visually” front and center of Biden’s plans in Afghanistan, attending “most of his security briefings” and attending urgent intelligence sessions as the Taliban swept into power in the wake of America’s exit from the country. 

The Times argued that Harris walked a tightrope in trying to “erase daylight” between her and Biden on policies at the time, which would mean that ultimately “the execution of the withdrawal will also be added to Harris’ résumé.” 

Harris has also stated her support for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza, reportedly telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he needs to agree a deal and bring home hostages. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives statements to the media inside The Kirya, which houses the Israeli Defense Ministry, after a meeting in Tel Aviv on Oct. 12, 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

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“I’ve said it many times, but it bears repeating. Israel has a right to defend itself and how it does so matters,” Harris said following her meeting with Netanyahu the same week she announced her bid for the presidency in July. 

“It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” she said, according to Axios. 

“As I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done. Let’s get the deal done,” she said. “So we can get a cease-fire to end the war. Let’s bring the hostages home. And let’s provide much needed relief to the Palestinian people.” 

PRO-TRUMP GROUP LAUNCHES $500K AD CAMPAIGN HITTING KAMALA HARRIS ON BORDER CRISIS AHEAD OF DNC SPEECH

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, looks at a map during his visit to Ukrainian 110th mechanised brigade in Avdiivka, the site of fierce battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Dec. 29, 2023 (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

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The subject that has proven the most contentious and cumbersome for Harris remains her role in dealing with mass immigration on the southern border: Harris has stressed during her stump speeches that she “prosecuted” transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers and “won,” while she claimed Trump “does not walk the walk.”

The Trump-Vance campaign targeted Harris for her work as the “border czar” and failing to make major impact on mass migration over the southern border and the significant fentanyl trade that still occurs in the country. 

The Harris campaign and surrogates have stressed that Harris never held the role of border czar and instead focused on working with countries south of the border to tackle the causes of that mass migration. 

Migrants walk along the highway through Suchiate, Chiapas state in southern Mexico, during their journey north toward the U.S. border on July 21. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)

The campaign claims that there are now fewer people crossing the border than before, and the figures released by Customs and Border Protection appear to corroborate: While the numbers of land border encounters peaked at around 300,000 by the end of 2023, the figure dropped to just over 100,000 in July, marking the lowest number since February 2021. 

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Harris also declared that she will “bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed” and sign it into law, referring to the bill that Senate Republicans blocked earlier this year. Republicans claimed the bill was “worse than doing nothing” while criticizing their counterparts for failing to pass a House-backed border bill addressing Republican priorities. 

Democrats have accused the Republicans of blocking the bill at Trump’s urging, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., telling reporters that they did it so “he could exploit the issue on the campaign trail.” 

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report. 

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Colin Jost Says ‘SNL’ Rejected Joke About Pete Hegseth Reading ‘Pulp Fiction’ Bible Verse Two Weeks Before It Happened in Real Life

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Colin Jost Says ‘SNL’ Rejected Joke About Pete Hegseth Reading ‘Pulp Fiction’ Bible Verse Two Weeks Before It Happened in Real Life

Donald Trump’s defense secretary Pete Hegseth was widely mocked in April after he read a fake Bible verse from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 classic “Pulp Fiction” during a Pentagon worship service. It turns out Colin Jost sort of saw it coming.

During a recent visit to “The Tonight Show,” Jost revealed that before Hegseth’s viral gaffe he told the “SNL” writers room: “Would it be funny if Hegseth just did that Bible verse that they have in ‘Pulp Fiction’ Remember, from Ezekiel, Samuel L. Jackson?”

The writers shot down Jost’s pitch, deeming it “too ridiculous” and claiming it “would take up all this time in the cold open. “And then he for real did it, like two weeks later and I was like, ‘Well, the good news is, I’m being surveilled, so that’s a relief.’” Jost has been playing Hegseth on “SNL” this season to much acclaim from critics and viewers.

The real Hegseth was at a Pentagon prayer service in April when he read the altered version of Ezekiel 25:17 that’s delivered by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in “Pulp Fiction” before he shoots a man. Hegseth said the prayer was recited by the “Sandy 1” Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission in Iran.

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Calling on everyone to pray with him, Hegseth then read a prayer that was nearly word-for-word the line delivered by Jackson in Tarantino’s film: “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Amen.”

Watch Jost’s full interview on “The Tonight Show” in the video below.

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Several injured after car plows into Italy crowd, driver stabs passerby: report

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Several injured after car plows into Italy crowd, driver stabs passerby: report

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A car reportedly drove into a crowd in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, injuring several people. 

The vehicle slammed into a store window, and its driver allegedly stabbed a passerby who attempted to intervene, Reuters reported, citing local Italian media.

Mayor Massimo Mezzetti told Italian TV no one was killed but eight people were injured, including four who were in critical condition, according to The Associated Press.

Blood is seen next to a destroyed car on a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)

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He said a woman pinned against a shop window may require the amputation of both legs.

Financial Police patrol a scene after a car incident in a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)

The driver is a 31-year-old man born in Bergamo and raised in Modena with Maghreb origins, Mezzetti said. 

The man was detained and was being questioned at police headquarters as authorities worked to determine whether he was under the influence of substances or acted deliberately, the mayor said.

Mezzetti said the vehicle entered one of the city’s main streets and “drove onto the sidewalk, sending several people flying,” before crashing into the shop window.

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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Lampedusa migrant landing: newborn dies, probe opened

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Lampedusa migrant landing: newborn dies, probe opened

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A tragedy unfolded in the night between Friday and Saturday on the island of Lampedusa, where a newborn migrant baby girl just a few weeks old died of hypothermia immediately after disembarking and while being rushed to the island’s outpatient clinic.

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At 4.30 a.m., after being rescued by the V1307 patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza, 55 people from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone landed at Favarolo pier. Among them were seven women and six minors. The baby girl, whose condition immediately appeared critical, was taken together with her mother to the medical facility, where doctors could do nothing but declare her dead.

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Investigation opened into the baby girl’s death

The Agrigento prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry into the tragic case and ordered a post-mortem examination of the child’s body, a necessary step to confirm hypothermia as the actual cause of death.

The body is being transferred to the mortuary at the Cala Pisana cemetery, while in the coming hours the mother will be questioned by investigators to reconstruct the details of the crossing and establish exactly how and when the baby fell ill.

According to accounts from other migrants on board, the group had set off from Sfax-El Amra in Tunisia at around two o’clock yesterday morning, making the journey in a seven-metre metal boat that cost between 400 and 600 euros per person.

The baby girl’s mother, originally from Côte d’Ivoire, was later taken to the hotspot in the Imbriacola district together with her other daughter, aged around two. According to reports, the woman is currently in a severe state of shock over the loss of her child and is receiving continuous support from staff of the Italian Red Cross, which manages the island’s reception centre.

The centre’s director, Imad Dalil, confirmed to Italian media that psychosocial support measures had been activated. “The mother and the sister are here in the hotspot and are in good physical condition; for them and for the other people psychological support was activated immediately and in the coming hours the medical and psychosocial teams will continue their work,” he said.

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NGOs’ reaction

The German NGO Sea-Watch voiced its outrage in a strongly worded post on X. “While the state attacks those who save lives at sea, investigating the captain of Sea-Watch, a one-month-old baby has arrived in LAMPEDUSA, dead in her mother’s arms, after a three-day crossing. Who will be held responsible for this injustice?” The outburst refers to the news, received by the NGO after arriving in Brindisi with 166 rescued people, that a criminal investigation has been opened against the captain of the Sea-Watch 5 on suspicion of aiding illegal entry.

The UN agency specialising in the protection and assistance of people forced to flee war, violence and persecution (UNHCR) also intervened to express deep condolences and grave concern over yet another victim claimed along the Mediterranean routes.

“A mother has lost her newborn daughter, who arrived dead this morning together with 54 other people in Lampedusa. Deep sorrow and concern for the many children and adults who should not be dying in the Mediterranean,” reads a post published on social media by UNHCR, which explains that the agency is on the ground providing assistance to the mother and all the other survivors of the landing.

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