Author: Rick Amato

EXCLUSIVE: Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden blasted the Biden administration for targeting his state’s lobster industry with eco regulations while ignoring the environmental impacts of offshore wind projects.In an interview with Fox News Digital, Golden said the federal government has held Maine lobstermen to an unfair standard over their impacts on the endangered North Atlantic right whale species compared to how it has treated offshore wind developers and other ocean-based industries. He added the administration’s actions were aimed at appeasing environmental groups that have similarly targeted lobstermen.”The hypocrisy part is what pisses me off because we know that right whales, other whales, get struck by freight vessels all the time. Cruise ships that are out there carting people around hit them,” he told Fox News Digital. “You see very little effort by the federal government to do anything.””And yet they see a small business lobster fishery up in Maine that’s not politically important to them and they try to crush it just to try to prove to the environmental groups that they’re actively trying to protect the right whales,” he continued.DOZENS OF NJ MAYORS CALL FOR IMMEDIATE OFFSHORE WIND MORATORIUM AFTER LATEST WHALE DEATHS Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, is pictured during a congressional hearing on March 6, 2019. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)In recent years, federal agencies have attempted to crack down on Maine’s lobster fishery despite scant evidence of whale impacts. Lobster industry groups, though, have pointed to federal data which shows that there has never been a recorded right whale death caused by lobster fishing equipment in Maine and the last recorded whale entanglement in fishing gear came more than two decades ago. Industry groups and lawmakers including Golden have also said the rules, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) first rolled out in May 2022 with more set for 2024 and 2030, would threaten thousands of blue-collar jobs. Maine’s lobster industry — which by state law is made up entirely of small business operators — provides the U.S. with about 90% of the nation’s lobster supply, making the industry a top economic driver in the state, and boosting other related industries as well.At the same time, the government in recent months has repeatedly defended offshore wind projects in the face of an unprecedented uptick in whale deaths and widespread calls for a moratorium on offshore wind development until the deaths are further studied. More than 20 whale deaths have been recorded along the East Coast since December with most coming in New Jersey, New York and Virginia where large wind projects are under development.NJ CONGRESSMAN AIMS TO FORCE BIDEN ADMIN TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER WIND PROJECTS ARE KILLING WHALES”Am I concerned about hypocrisy in how the federal government deals with like the Maine lobster fishery, as opposed to big energy projects?” Golden continued. “The answer is 100% yes, because for four years now, I have been constantly harassing the federal government to show us one piece of evidence that Maine’s lobster fishery is at all responsible for any kind of entanglement of whales let alone a death of a right whale.” “They can’t show any field-gathered data,” he said. “All they have are these computer-driven formulas that show risk even though it’s been almost 20 years since there was a whale entanglement associated with the Maine lobster fishery. Despite the complete lack of any data they’ve tried to regulate that fishery nearly out of business.” Maine lobstermen haul in their latest catch off the state’s coast. (Maine Lobstermen’s Association/Marketing Collaborative)Last week, Golden joined Reps. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Andy Harris, R-Md., in writing a letter to federal officials demanding more information about the risks offshore wind projects pose to marine wildlife. They noted that wind leases occupy more than 1.7 million acres of waters along the Atlantic coastline, a vast area that will become a large wind turbine construction zone over the next decade.The letter also highlighted a 2022 internal memo from Sean Hayes, NOAA’s chief of protected species, who stated that “oceanographic impacts from installed and operating turbines cannot be mitigated” and would particularly impact the dwindling right whale population.GREEN GROUPS TARGETING BLUE-COLLAR LOBSTERMEN ARE LARGELY FUNDED BY DARK MONEY”Offshore wind development and deployment stands to be a consequential national undertaking, which is why our approach should be done correctly the first time, with full consideration taken in order to mitigate negative impacts on marine species such as the North Atlantic right whale,” the letter concluded.In addition, Golden directed his ire at environmental groups that have maintained attacks on Maine’s lobster industry. Last year, California-based Monterey Bay Aquarium — which has commitments from companies like Blue Apron, Cheesecake Factory, Hello Fresh and Whole Foods — downgraded Maine lobster from “good alternative” to “avoid,” citing risks the state’s fishery poses to endangered North Atlantic right whales. A dead endangered North Atlantic right whale is pictured beached last month in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was the third dead whale found miles from an operational offshore wind farm in less than a week (WAVY-TV/Video screenshot)”I put a bill in last year to try and take away all their federal funding because their designation that the Maine lobster fishery is not sustainable because of right whales is not based on science,” the Maine Democrat told Fox News Digital.”If they’re going to be a scientific organization that’s going to receive federal research dollars, then they should have to actually put out real science,” he added. “It’s just more bulls— coming out of these groups who I think — it has more to do with their fundraising circles and it’s a real insular group of people.””They go in and out of administrations, they work in NOAA, they leave NOAA, they go work at these aquariums, etc.,” Golden said.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPWhile the Monterey Bay Aquarium has maintained its “avoid” red-listing of Maine’s lobster fishery, after pressure from Golden, his fellow Maine congressional delegation members, state leaders and industry groups, a bill prohibiting the government from implementing additional regulations targeting the lobster industry for six years was included in the appropriations package President Biden signed into law late last year.

Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a new bill into law allowing a pro-life monument to be installed near the state Capitol to remember the lives lost to abortion.The privately-funded “monument to the unborn” would mark the number of abortions performed in Arkansas before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a decision that allowed states to make their own abortion laws.The bill was passed by the state House last week after being approved by the state Senate earlier in the month. The new law requires the Arkansas secretary of state to permit and arrange the placement of the monument. The law also requires the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to oversee the selection of the artist and the design of the monument, which will include input from pro-life groups.ARKANSAS ABORTION MONUMENT APPROVED BY STATE HOUSE, MUST BE APPROVED BY GOV. SANDERS Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a new bill into law allowing an anti-abortion monument to be installed near the state Capitol. (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)An abortion ban approved in Arkansas in 2019 went into effect last year after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade. Under the ban, abortions are only allowed in cases where the procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency.In 2018, Tennessee lawmakers approved a bill allowing a similar privately funded monument on its Capitol grounds, but that monument has still not been installed.ARKANSAS HOUSE PANEL TABLES PROPOSAL TO END AFFIRMATIVE ACTION A demonstrator holds a sign outside the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. on June 24, 2022, protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo, File)The Arkansas measure drew opposition from Democrats, who said it was politicized and divisive, and some anti-abortion Republicans, who argued that the proposal was counterproductive and that efforts would be better served focusing on other initiatives such as supporting pregnant women and foster children.”This monument will do nothing for the pro-life cause as we move forward together,” Republican state Rep. Jeremiah Moore said last week in voting against the bill. “It will only be used as a weapon to rally against pro-life values through fundraising and stirring up anger and vitriol.” The privately-funded “monument to the unborn” would mark the number of abortions performed in Arkansas before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. ( DAVID MCNEW / AFP) (Photo by DAVID MCNEW/AFP via Getty Images)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPOther monuments on Arkansas’ state Capitol grounds include a sculpture of the nine black students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in the 1950s and a Ten Commandments monument that was installed in 2018.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comedy icon Adam Sandler was presented with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor during a ceremony at Washington’s Kennedy Center late Sunday night.Several of Sandler’s co-stars and other comedic and entertainment stars attended including Jennifer Aniston, Judd Apatow, Drew Barrymore, Steve Buscemi, Dana Carvey, Luis Guzmán, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Ben Stiller.Sandler, 56, first rose to national prominence during his five years serving as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live.” He then went on to launch a wildly successful movie career.”Who has lasted this long and stayed this beloved?” Carvey said on the Kennedy Center red carpet, according to the Associated Press. “Nobody keeps this up for this long.”AT $900 PER TICKET, THERE’S NO CANCELING JOE ROGAN’S COMEDY MOTHERSHIP SHOWS FILE – Adam Sandler arrives at the Governors Awards on Oct. 27, 2019, at the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles.  (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)Known for top hits including “Happy Gilmore,” “The Wedding Singer” and “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” Sandlers’ movie career spans more than 30 films that have grossed over $3 billion worldwide.He has also excelled in multiple dramas including films like “Punch Drunk Love” and “Uncut Gems.”AS DAVE CHAPPELLE FIGHTS CANCEL CULTURE, 3 COMEDIANS SAY FREE SPEECH WILL PREVAIL OVER CENSORSHIP Drew Barrimore and Adam Sandler arrive for the world premiere of the movie ‘Blended’ at Cinestar in Berlin, Germany, 19 May 2014.  (Joerg Carstensen/picture alliance via Getty Images) Adam Sandler as Joey Tarentina, Dana Carvey Glenn Macera, Chris Rock as Kevin Stubbs during ‘The Bensonhurst Dating Game’ skit on October 10, 1992.   (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)Guzman, another co-star, also praised Sandler’s “total commitment to something that was so far out of his element.”COMEDIAN SARAH SILVERMAN WARNS ‘COMEDY IS NOT EVERGREEN,’ CRINGES AT OLD JOKES”He takes his comedy very seriously. I laugh hard at everything I do with him,” said Buscemi, who has starred alongside Sandler in several flicks. Co-stars Adam Sandler and Luis Guzman at the “Punch-Drunk Love” screening during the 40th Annual New York Film Festival sponsored by Grand Marnier at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center in New York City. Oct. 5, 2002. (Evan Agostini/Getty Images) Steve Buscemi jokes around with Adam Sandler at the “Mr. Deeds” world premiere at Loews Lincoln Center in New York City. June 18, 2002.  (Evan Agostini/ImageDirect)Buscemi also praised Sandler’s musical comedy, including “The Chanukah Song,” which became a multi-platinum hit.”His comedy songs alone deserve this reward,” he said. Adam Sandler accepts the award for best male lead for “Uncut Gems” at the 35th Film Independent Spirit Awards on Feb. 8, 2020, in Santa Monica, Calif.  (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPSandler is the seventh former SNL cast member to receive the Mark Twain Prize, joining Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Will Farrell, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy, and Julia Louise-Dreyfus. Other producers and writers have won the award. FILE – The cast of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” pose on the show’s set in New York, Sept. 22, 1992. From left, front row; Chris Farley, Al Franken and Melanie Hutsell. In middle row, from left: Chris Rock, Julia Sweeney, Dana Carvey and Rob Schneider. In back row, from left: Adam Sandler, David Spade, Ellen Cleghorne, Kevin Nealon, Phil Hartman and Tim Meadows. (AP Photo/Justin Sutcliffe)Recipients are each honored with a night of testimonials and video tributes. Sandler’s ceremony will be broadcast nationally on March 26.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This week, the Biden administration issued a long overdue approval of the Willow Project in Alaska’s North Slope, an oil production site within the National Petroleum Reserve. While the announcement signals the administration is waking up to the reality that fossil fuels are critical to our nation’s energy security, there is still more the administration must do – and quickly. It has been more than two years since energy prices began skyrocketing and inflation crippled the economic outlook of millions of Americans. During this time, the Biden administration tried to downplay the importance of oil supplies in restoring economic stability. Instead, President Joe Biden preferred to fan the flames of insecurity, spending trillions of dollars on increasing America’s dependence on intermittent renewable energy sourced from China and draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for political price-fixing purposes. All the while, the administration has been deaf to the efforts of a broad and bipartisan coalition of state and local officials, labor organizations like the AFL-CIO, industry and the American people. They all recognize that if America does not step up to fill the void left by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s belligerence in Ukraine, then Iran, Venezuela, OPEC, or any other nation will gladly take our place at the table of energy superpowers. BIDEN ADMIN’S WAR ON HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES WILL CAUSE HIGHER PRICES, DIRTIER CLOTHES AND DISHES, EXPERTS WARN Alaska’s Willow Project has been years in the making, and it is representative of the hindered potential of the thousands of outstanding or rejected leases under an administration at war with fossil fuels. The project has the potential to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day and generate between $8 billion and $17 billion in new tax revenue, much of which will dampen the blow of rampant federal spending, and create 2,800 jobs, 300 of which will be permanent.  Climate activists hold a demonstration to urge President Joe Biden to reject the Willow Project at the Department of the Interior headquarters on Nov. 17 in Washington, D.C. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Sunrise AU)The federal government created the National Petroleum Reserve for precisely this moment, and it’s high time the administration got on board. Sadly, Biden seems only to be doing the bare minimum. Biden’s approval of only three out of five leases in the North Slope demonstrates this, but that’s not all.  Just as soon as his administration reluctantly gave a partial green light to the Willow Project, Biden turned around and indefinitely removed 16 million acres of Alaskan territory from ever being developed in the future. For a state that relies on its energy resources, this places the economic future of Alaska and our nation at risk. CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTERAlaska is not alone in being the victim of an administration so detached from the reality facing millions of Americans. In 2021, the Biden administration halted all onshore oil and gas leasing – a move that sent shockwaves through a vital industry already reeling from the impact of COVID-19. The Biden administration is full of inconsistencies. First, the president canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on Day One, then boldly asserted at the State of the Union we will only need fossil fuels for “at least another 10 years,” and now his administration approves a project that will become fully operational at the twilight of Biden’s 10-year countdown for oil. The project has the potential to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day and generate between $8 billion and $17 billion in new tax revenue, much of which will dampen the blow of rampant federal spending, and create 2,800 jobs, 300 of which will be permanent. 

Spring breakers have gathered near the southern border, seemingly unaware of safety concerns for both travel and crime happening nearby in Mexico. The U.S. Mission to Mexico posted a fresh warning last week, noting that “Each year, thousands of U.S. citizens visit Mexico during spring break.” Among the various concerns ongoing in the country, the mission listed violent crime, drugs, unregulated alcohol and sexual assault. The mission also pointed to a travel advisory from October 2022 in which the U.S. State Department warned against travel to the states of Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas, while suggesting that Americans reconsider travel to another half-dozen states. But spring breakers continue to gather near the border, some of them seemed aware of the dangers ongoing in Mexico while others appeared to not know or even care.US ISSUES TRAVEL ALERT FOR SPRING BREAKERS IN MEXICOFox News Digital spoke with some of the vacationing college students in South Padre Island, Texas, which ranks as the fourth-most popular spring break destination after Cancun, Miami Beach and Jamaica, according to U.S. News. Revelers enjoy the surf and sand on San Padre Island, Texas, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. The beach is a popular destination for spring break. Photo: KR/Mega for Fox News Digital (KR/Mega for Fox News Digital)Nicole from McAllen, Texas, told Fox News Digital that she doesn’t currently plan to visit Mexico but that she does go over the border from time to time to get cheaper products, saying it’s “just business.” Revelers enjoy the surf and sand on San Padre Island, Texas, on March 15, 2023. The beach is a popular destination for spring break. (KR/Mega for Fox News Digital)”They’re doing what they got to do – got to sell, promote – they got cheaper stuff on that side,” she said.GEORGIA COLLEGE STUDENT ON LIFE SUPPORT WITH BRAIN BLEED AFTER SPRING BREAK TRIP TO MEXICOPart of the “cheaper stuff” includes many counterfeit drugs found throughout pharmacies near the border. UCLA conducted a study in northern Mexican tourist towns, examining drugs bought at pharmacies and finding counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl, heroin or methamphetamines. The old and young gather for spring break fun in the sun at San Padre Island, Texas, March 15, 2023. (KR/Mega for Fox News Digital)The researchers were able to obtain the pills without prescriptions and found that 68% of the 40 pharmacies examined in the study sold at least one controlled substance. Other spring breakers, also from McAllen, told Fox News Digital that they were unsure if going into Mexico would be safe.”I’ve never been,” one of the girls said, saying she wouldn’t plan to go but that she “didn’t know” if it was safe.FLORIDA SPRING BREAK GOERS GIVEN FENTANYL WARNING FROM CONCERNED STREET TEAMSThe Texas Department of Public Safety also cautioned against travel, citing the recent kidnapping of four Americans, two of whom died, after they crossed the border allegedly seeking out a medical procedure. The cartel blamed for the incident turned over five individuals who claimed were responsible for the incident and acted without authority. Revelers enjoy the surf and sand on San Padre Island, Texas, on March 15, 2023. The beach is a popular destination for spring break. (KR/Mega for Fox News Digital)”We have a duty to inform the public about safety, travel risks and threats,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw in a statement. “Based on the volatile nature of cartel activity and the violence we are seeing there; we are urging individuals to avoid travel to Mexico at this time.”PANAMA CITY BEACH POLICE TO USE NEW K-9 DOGS, CRIME CAMERAS TO CRACK DOWN ON SPRING BREAK DRUG USEBut the occasion has continued to draw huge crowds to the area, with college kids eager to indulge in the annual cultural tradition and getaway. Officials reported that around 2.1 million people visited the island last year during the month of March, according to Valley Central.South Padre Island has DJs performing throughout the month, with musical artists Lil Wayne and Steve Aoki, among others, performing over the past week. Revelers enjoy the surf and sand on San Padre Island, Texas, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. The beach is a popular destination for spring break. (KR/Mega for Fox News Digital)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe U.S. Mission to Mexico advises that anyone who does plan to travel to Mexico enroll in the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program for up-to-date safety information.Additionally, the mission suggests staying together in groups, regularly monitoring credit and debit card spending for unauthorized transactions, keeping friends and family updated on all travel plans and protecting personal possessions while using public transit.

Baghdad, Iraq, March 20, 2003 – At 5:34 AM, the United States, joined by British, Australian, and Polish forces, launched the “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq, opening one of the deadliest military engagements of the 21st century. The war would define then-President George W. Bush’s legacy and change the Middle East’s geopolitical landscape.As Bush addressed the American people from the Oval Office, hellfire missiles reigned down on key governmental offices in the capital of Baghdad and forced citizens to seek shelter. The brutality and violence of the war were captured by 24-hour news channels broadcast to millions of people worldwide.”We were running 24 hours the entire time, and I still remember the night the bombings of Baghdad began. That’s really when it started, and [the coverage] never stopped after that,” said Fox News Digital’s Gary Gastelu, who was the bureau chief for Fox News in Kuwait before and in the months after the Iraq War. “We had reporters in Kuwait doing live reports from a studio we had set up in a hotel. But then we had several teams embedded with various military divisions. It was quite an operation.”The invasion came off the heels of the “Axis of Evil” State of the Union address from Bush five months after the September 11 attacks. During his speech, the former president called for action against foreign governments he accused of sponsoring Jihadi terrorism and stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. The term was well received, and while there was some opposition to the war in the early stages, the American public overwhelmingly supported an overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime.DEFENSE SECRETARY LLOYD AUSTIN MAKES UNANNOUNCED VISIT TO IRAQ On March 20, 2003, United States forces bombarded the Iraqi capital of Baghdad with aerial strikes and coordinated a military offensive across the country. (Getty Images)A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted four days after the war began found that 72% of Americans supported the invasion while only 25% disapproved. At the time, nine out of 10 Americans believed that U.S. forces would find conclusive evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, with 41% thinking it would be necessary to find the weapons to justify the war.Over the coming months, coalition forces worked with Kurdish Peshmerga allies to cut off the regime from the north and moved through the south, seizing oil fields and capturing urban centers. Iraq’s most critical oil assets were in the Al-Faw Peninsula along the Gulf Peninsula. British and U.S. Marine groups successfully captured the fields and the Umm Qasr port within days of the invasion before Saddam’s forces could destroy them, causing a potential ecological disaster. The land, aerial and amphibious invasion of Iraq had put the Baathist government on the run. A core element of the coalition forces’ plans was to quell resistance by eliminating high-value military targets with precision airstrikes. However, the United States also sought to capture and prosecute Iraq’s longtime government leaders, so the former regime could be discredited as they prepared to usher in a new era of western-backed democracy.Meeting the Delta Force teamKey to this mission were the members of the most elite fighting force in the U.S. military – 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta, also known to the world as Delta Force. During the war, these men coordinated counter-terrorism operations, eliminated high-value targets and regularly engaged in direct enemy combat in some missions that remain classified today. The night former President Bush unleashed the dogs of war, Delta Force operators 25-year-old Chris VanSant and 33-year-old Craig “Chili” Palmer crossed over the western desert of Iraq in search of the country’s infamous weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and to capture or kill longtime dictator Saddam Hussein.Both men did not come from a long line of family who served in the military, nor were they pressured to enter service growing up. The call of duty came naturally to them when they were 18. SOLDIER DIES NEARLY 20 YEARS AFTER SUFFERING SEVERE INJURY IN IRAQ, LAID TO REST WITH FULL MILITARY HONORSFor VanSant, a Delaware native, the urge developed while listening to his grandfather, Charles Calloway, reflect on his service in the Asian-Pacific for the Army Air Corps in World War II. “He was gone for nearly four years during World War II, and although it created a lot of issues in his life, he still talked about it in such a positive light about the people that he served with and what he got to do for his country,” VanSant told Fox News Digital. “And I think that’s probably the biggest contributing factor to why I went into the military.”Right after high school, VanSant entered the Army and, not long after, enrolled in Airborne school to join the army’s 75th Ranger Regiment. After being convinced by a friend, the 21-year-old VanSant signed up for the Delta Force selection process. However, he failed to make it into the unit during his first round, but recruiters encouraged him to apply again in a year. When VanSant tried again for a spot in the Army special forces, the country was reeling from the fallout of 9/11, and the idea of going to war suddenly became a reality for the 22-year-old Army Ranger. “It was an incredible motivator. At the same time, I was probably a bit nervous in that I knew that if I was successful, I was probably going to war immediately upon completion of training.”In early 2002, VanSant formally joined the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta after being trained as an operator during selection. Two weeks later, the 23-year-old VanSant was deployed to the first of his 11 combat deployments during the early days of the war in Afghanistan, landing at Bagram Airfield to meet his team for the first time. The moment was surreal for VanSant; most of the operators he met that night had formal combat experience, and the closest to his age was 30.  Delta Force team is pictured in front of a Pinzgauer on April 3, 2003, located somewhere east of the town of Rutba, Iraq, the day after the team lost an operator, Andy Fernandez, in battle. They decided to unsheathe their U.S. flags to show the enemy they were not discouraged one bit by their attack the day prior. Pictured from left to right, is Shawn Stevens, Craig Palmer, Mike Hefner, Brad Thomas, and Chris VanSant. (Courtesy of Chris VanSant )”I was in awe. I felt like a boy amongst men when I first got there. I looked up to them for guidance and direction, and my team as a whole really kind of took me under their wing,” Vansant recalled. “I was overwhelmed to be there, but I was excited and motivated and felt like I could bring some good things to the organization if I just paid attention and learned from the people around me.”One of the older operators who helped mentor the young VanSant was Palmer, a team leader in Delta Force with combat experience dating back to the United States invasion of Panama in 1989. Palmer was a part of the 1st Ranger Battalion at 19 before joining Delta Force in 1997. Vansant and Palmer served in a combat rotation in Afghanistan and three additional cycles in Iraq.Palmer’s experience in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda was his first time facing insurgent jihadists before his team joined the opening invasion of Iraq. For him, one of the most dangerous experiences in Iraq was during the initial opening invasion against the regime.IRANIAN-BACKED MILITIA LAUNCHES ROCKETS AT TURKISH BASE IN NORTHERN IRAQ”We were still new to combat even though we went to Afghanistan. But our element was well under a hundred people on the ground, and we were surrounded by a hundred guys trying to hit us from multiple directions. We were so far in Iraq that we didn’t have air support right away,” Palmer told Fox News Digital. “You’re woken up, and all of a sudden, you’re surrounded in an area where you don’t have anywhere to go, so it activates the fight or flight mentality. “Hunting SaddamDuring the initial invasion of Iraq, one of the essential priorities of coalition forces, besides hunting down the WMDs that were never found, was capturing the high-ranking members of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party to remove organized resistance and cripple the former regime. The U.S. intelligence apparatus created a deck of playing cards to identify the most-wanted government official in Iraq. Saddam, along with various members of his family and inner circle, was at the top of the deck of cards as the ace of spades. Task Force 121 was a multi-service force comprising operators from various elite command groups, including Delta Force, with the sole mission of capturing these high-value targets.  By the fall of 2003, Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein was still on the run from coalition forces. (Getty Images)In April 2003, Saddam’s opulent palaces across the country were raided and seized by U.S. forces. Still, months into the invasion, the charismatic dictator, who acted as the country’s iron-willed strongman for over two decades, was nowhere to be found. Saddam’s sons, Qusay and Uday, were killed that summer by operators in Task Force 121 during a raid on their compound in the city of Mosul. By September, VanSant and Palmer were focused entirely on the deck of cards, especially on Saddam, who became the main focus of the media’s attention at the point and a headache for coalition forces. “[Saddam] quickly became the story after the fall of Baghdad,” said Fox News’ Gastelu. “That was really what it was about – tracking him down.””As the months wore on in Fall 03, we were a bit fatigued from constantly pursuing this guy and coming up empty-handed,” VanSant said.However, in early December, their team received an intelligence report on Saddam’s right-hand man Muhammed Omar al-Musslit. Musslit was the gatekeeper for Saddam, relaying the former dictator’s orders to loyalist groups across the country and moving money to support those insurgents. Intelligence believed he was the key to finding Saddam’s hideout.SADDAM CAPTURED ‘LIKE A RAT’ IN RAIDOn Dec. 12, 2003, VanSant and Palmer took part in the Delta Force raid on an upstairs apartment in Baghdad that was believed to be Musslit’s location. The operators detained Musslit but were unsure if he was the correct target because he did not match the photos they had been given. However, the Delta Force team captured some interesting possessions, including serialized and sequential hundred-dollar bills. VanSant noted that after Musslit was handed over to interrogation personnel back at Baghdad International Airport, they were woken several hours later in the middle of the night by an excited intelligence analyst that said, “He’s spilling the beans. He’s giving it up. He knows Saddam’s location. You guys need to get ready to go.”Ad-Dawr, Iraq, Dec. 13, 2003 – Operation Red Dawn consisted of two groups; one to raid the house of Saddam’s personal chef in Samarra and the second group to secure the chef’s family farm outside the city in Ad-Dawr, where Saddam was believed to be hiding, according to information operators received Musslit. VanSant and Palmer were a part of the group that raided the chef’s house and were met with no resistance. Both missions were conducted simultaneously, securing the cook and the family farm. However, the operators could not find Saddam at the farm because Musslit, in a last-ditch effort to protect his leader, incorrectly identified a neighboring farm. Based on information from the personal chef, operators regrouped and launched another raid on the correct farmhouse.  Picture was taken on Nov 26, 2003, after an assault in Tikrit, Iraq. The picture is outside the team’s Mission Support Site in Tikrit roughly two weeks before the capture of Saddam Hussein. Pictured left to right, Chris VanSant, Mike Hefner, Brad Thomas and Craig Palmer. (Courtesy of Chris VanSant)Delta Force operators secured Saddam’s hideout that night and discovered a spider hole after a soldier kicked over a piece of flooring. The hole was covered by a piece of Styrofoam with a rope attached. Operators initially planned to clear the hole with a frag grenade, but a disheveled Saddam emerged, surrendering with no resistance. “I am Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq, and I am willing to negotiate,” Saddam told his captors after being pulled out from the hole and disarmed of a Glock pistol. IRAQI PRIME MINISTER DEFENDS US TROOP PRESENCE, SAYS IT’S NECESSARY FOR FIGHTING ISISVanSant and Palmer confirmed that an operator responded by striking Saddam in the face and told the dictator, “President Bush sends his regards.” Facing the insurgency and personal battles  Following Saddam’s capture, the public perception in the United States over how the war was progressing became more positive. The president’s approval number increased by numbers similar to former President Reagan’s gain after the 1983 invasion of Grenada, according to a poll taken at the time by Pew Research Centers. Moreover, some Delta Force operators on the ground believed their mission was complete and that there was a chance they would return home. “I think a lot of us felt like maybe we were going home. Our task, which was the removal of an evil dictator, was complete. And that big service would do its thing for however long was asked of them,” VanSant said. “I think that within 24 hours [after Saddam’s capture], we were out on another mission.”Near the end of 2003, shortly after Saddam’s capture, a deadly insurgency was fueled by sectarian violence between various ethnic and religious groups inside Iraq who were opposed to the U.S. occupation. For decades, Saddam’s regime had kept the different factions at bay through sheer brutality and force. Iraq is a majority Shia Arab Muslim, while the Sunni Muslim minority accounts for over a quarter of the population and is broken up among Arabs and Kurds. However, from 2004 until the initial withdrawal in 2011, U.S. military forces and Iraq’s new coalition-backed government faced attacks from guerilla Sunni groups such as Al-Qaeda and Shia militias like Kata’ib Hezbollah, supported by Iran. Attacks were carried out against U.S. service members with improvised explosive devices, assassinations and urban warfare during street-by-street fighting in Fallujah and Ramadi. The war with the insurgency was unlike anything elite U.S. operators had faced before and forced Delta Force to change combat procedures to adapt to the new war of attrition as foreign fighters flooded the country’s rat lines. As a result of the sectarian violence, U.S. casualties were the highest between 2004 and 2007, with over 3,400 dead U.S. service members.”With foreign fighters, when someone’s sole goal in life is, is to kill Americans, and they’re willing to blow themselves up to do it, things are just inherently going to get more violent, and they did,” VanSant said while reflecting on the growing escalation in the country following Saddam’s capture.OBITUARY: SADDAM HUSSEIN, 1937, 2006The political fallout from the insurgency torpedoed Bush’s approval numbers, falling from 50% at the start of his second term to 24% by the time he left office in 2009. For Delta Force operators like VanSant and Palmer, the controversial turn of the war directly led to them being hamstrung on the battlefield by leaders in Washington.”All of a sudden, we were told to stand down from higher, which higher at that time was [Secretary of Defense] on up,” Palmer said. “It’s sad when that happens because things start shifting on the battlefield, and we lose our momentum. We start getting hamstrung, and it changes the whole dynamic of things.”As the violence increased and the war became more divisive at home, operators like VanSant struggled with the traumas of frontline action, and those feelings made it difficult during his time away at home. During his service, VanSant was married to his first wife and had two daughters waiting for him at home. Keeping out the anxieties of war while trying not to be overwhelmed by every day at home became harder for VanSant after each of his eleven deployments.  The team in front of a tank at Objective Grizzley, later FOB Grizzley, outside Tikrit, Iraq, April 12, 2003. Operators had taken control of a former Iraqi Army base. Tanks were flown into our area via the H1 Airfield to provide security for their new staging base and to provide fire support as they prepared to enter Tikrit. Pictured from left to right, Brad Thomas, Craig Palmer, Chris VanSant, Mike Hefner and Shawn Stevens. (Courtesey of Chris VanSant)”I think war got the better of me. Your life is like a rollercoaster. You live a life of extremes, these extreme highs and these extreme lows. The incredible rush of adrenaline in combat when you survive something, and then the incredible sadness of losing a teammate,” VanSant told Fox News Digital. “It takes a pretty good toll on your personal life because you know how to function in combat because you’re surrounded by a bunch of people with a single goal. So as time went by, at least for me, life at home became more difficult than life at war.”He added, “It started a vicious cycle of you come home, you miss your family, and you’re happy to see them, and you’re excited to see them. And then, as time passes at home, you get a bit overwhelmed by life back here, and you just kind of want to deploy again. And the time between being happy to be home and wanting to deploy again gets shorter as each rotation goes by until, eventually, you find yourself just preferring being at war.”Palmer, who completed 13 combat rotations throughout his carer, reiterated a similar sentiment on the difficulty of transitioning from a deadly combat environment to everyday life at home. U.S. FORCES CAPTURE SIX ISIS MILITANTS IN SERIES OF HELICOPTER RAIDS IN SYRIA”Life was so much easier when you’re dealing with one thing, and that one thing is just about doing your job is protecting yourself and your buddies. I didn’t have to worry about paying this bill or taking the car to get inspected and getting the oil changed, you know? So when you’re gone, and you’re doing this job and living with a heightened sense of reality, you come home, and all of a sudden, it was more stressful being home more it was overseas sometimes,” Palmer said. In 2010, VanSant was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury while suffering from the effects of post-traumatic stress, as well as being a severe insomniac, and he had developed an addiction to prescription pills. At this point in time, VanSant had a staff position within the organization and was no longer deployed as an operator. “I was surrounded by guys that were like-minded and had similar experiences, and we could share those experiences with each other. And I think that was all part of the healing process for me. By the time I retired in 2015, I had a good handle on my issues, and it’s one of the reasons that I post service do so many things to support, veteran charities and services,” VanSant said.Indeed, the rise of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental health issues remained an ongoing issue for service members across military branches serving in Iraq. A study by the Department of Veterans Affairs found that 15.7% of deployed Iraq and Afghan war veterans screened positive for PTSD. Meanwhile, researchers at the Costs of War Project concluded in another study that 30,177 veterans of the global war on terror have died by suicide compared to the 7,057 service members who died while deployed. Life after the Iraq warAfter retiring from Delta Force in 2015, VanSant served as the chief operating officer for Tyr Tactical, a U.S. manufacturer of body armor, ballistic shields, and tactical equipment, but stepped down after seven years to address hereditary heart issues. He currently runs his own consulting firm that specializes in government acquisition and product development with a focus on military and law enforcement programs. VanSant, along with his wife Robin, support various veteran charity operations, such as the All Secure Foundation, where Chris serves as an active board member. The non-profit works to end the stigma of veterans seeking help for post-traumatic stress and other mental health issues. As for his own trauma, VanSant notes that while the scars of war will never leave him, he has come a long way in dealing with those issues. This picture was taken at the border of Saudi Arabia and Iraq right before the initial invasion on March 19, 2003. Pictured standing together on the right are Craig Palmer and Chris VanSant. (Courtesy of Craig Palmer)”There’s no such thing as 100% recovery, or I’m cured of the cumulative effects of those things. I think the difference that time and education provides is that you discover ways to deal with it and ways to pull yourself out when it starts to get bad,” VanSant concluded. “You’re going to carry elements of that with you for the rest of your life. The key is talking about them and coming up with healthy and effective ways to deal with those issues and make your life better.”Palmer, who many of his fellow service members still refer to him by his nickname “Chili,” retired in 2014. He currently works for the Sentinel Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to ending underage child trafficking. When asked how he feels about his service over two decades later, Palmer notes that he is proud of what he did and only regrets he could not do more to protect his friends. “We wanted to defend this nation. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. I think today; we lose sight of what this country stands for. And I think people need to get back to that [unity],” Palmer added.In 2011, U.S. troops officially withdrew from Iraq but returned in 2014 to defend the Iraqi government after the start of the second sectarian civil war involving ISIS. The original coalition formally concluded its mission in Iraq in 2021, but U.S. military forces remain in the country to this day to provide aid and support the Iraqi army from jihadist threats. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPSaddam, the man Palmer and VanSant spent the prime of their career hunting, was convicted by an Iraqi court for crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on Dec. 30, 2006. 

An international effort to rebuild shark populations officially has begun.Two baby zebra sharks were released in the Raja Ampat Regency of Indonesia earlier this year as the first step in a massive re-wilding project.The new organization, called ReShark, has joined 15 countries and 44 aquariums in an effort to raise zebra sharks in captivity, then release them back into the wild, according to National Geographic.WORLD’S LARGEST, RAREST OCEAN STINGRAYS SPOTTED AND TAGGED IN MOZAMBIQUEReShark aims to release 500 zebra sharks in Indonesian waters within the next five to 10 years.Dr. Erin Meyer, Seattle Aquarium vice president of conservation programs and partnerships, told Fox News Digital in an interview that this is just the beginning of creating a shark resurgence. Scientist Nesha Ichida releases the second zebra shark of the day, a young female named Kathlyn, in Indonesia’s Wayag Islands. (David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes, National Geographic)”We’re just getting started in re-wilding the oceans, so we can ensure that we have a resilient, healthy, global ocean for today and for future generations,” she said.The international collective, which today has 70 partners, aims to restore threatened and endangered sharks as well as stingrays around the world.There are currently almost 400 species of sharks and stingrays worldwide that are deemed threatened by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, according to Meyer.SHARK TOOTH HUNTING: HOW TO FIND TOOTHY TREASURES AND WHERE TO SEARCHThe main cause of this decline is overfishing, said Meyer.”We hear a lot about [people engaging in] shark fishing for their fins, but they’re also fished for their meat,” she said of sharks. “And that meat is eaten all around the world.” An adult female zebra shark glides through the Wild Reef exhibit at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Adult zebra sharks are endangered everywhere outside Australia, but there are more than 100 in aquariums around the world. Several aquariums, including Shedd, are letting adults mate and produce eggs, which will be shipped to Indonesia. (David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes, National Geographic)Meyer added that sharks are “keystone species” within their ecosystems, which means their environments can “collapse” without their “keeping other species in check.”ReShark first launched its initiative in 2020, beginning with the endangered zebra shark.”We know what they eat and we know how to keep them alive.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing increased pressure to use his authority to unilaterally enact proposals that would dole out billions of dollars to Black residents in reparations as a way to make amends for slavery if the state legislature doesn’t act.The California Reparations Task Force, which was created by state legislation in 2020, is considering a proposal to give just under $360,000 per person to approximately 1.8 million Black Californians who had an ancestor enslaved in the U.S., putting the total cost of the program at about $640 billion.The task force’s final recommendations for reparations will be submitted to the California Legislature, which will then decide whether to implement the measures and send them to Newsom’s desk to be signed into law.According to an expert and leading reparations activist, however, Newsom, a Democrat, should be prepared to use his own power to enact such measures for the state’s Black residents if the legislature doesn’t. California Gov. Gavin Newsom pauses during a news conference after touring Barron Park Elementary School on March 2, 2021 in Palo Alto, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)NEWSOM’S CALIFORNIA PUSHES BILLIONS IN REPARATIONS PAYMENTS AS STATE FACES BUDGET DEFICIT DISASTER”The task force is doing the grunt work of preparing final recommendations, but at the end of the day these recommendations are non-binding and still require uncompromising political will to enact remedies that will begin to address centuries of compounded harm,” Dreisen Heath told Fox News Digital. “Governor Newsom has the authority to enact these recommendations, if they are in fact aligned with the entire descendant community’s wishes, following the issuance of the final report on July 1, and should do so, if state lawmakers fail to act.”Heath, who’s testified before Congress and for years worked as a researcher at Human Rights Watch, noted that activists have similarly been “pressing the Biden administration to use his executive authority to immediately establish a federal reparations commission given the deliberate stalling at the congressional level.”Racial justice groups and some Democrats in Congress have been pushing President Biden for months to establish a national reparations commission by executive order. The White House has indicated Biden, who’s largely been quiet about the issue, supports studying potential reparations for Black Americans but has stopped short of saying he’d back a bill introduced in Congress that would create such a commission.As for California, however, the reparations process is well underway.Last year, the state task force made several preliminary recommendations in an interim report. A final report with the panel’s official recommendations is due by July 1 to the state legislature. March and rally for reparations, child protection, and advancement of people’s rights, June 17, 2021 in St. Paul, Minn. ((Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images))DEMOCRATS SEEK REPARATIONS, ‘NATIONAL APOLOGY’ FOR SLAVERY: ‘WE ARE MOVING CLOSER’The committee was created amid the unrest following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. None of the panel’s nine members are White.The task force had initially proposed $220,000 per person for Black Californians last year but recently increased the figure by more than 60% to $360,000 as one of many ideas being mulled to give out reparations.Economists and scholars consulting with the task force came to the latest proposal by using a model that evaluated California’s racial wealth gap, calculating damages related to injustices such as housing discrimination, mass incarceration and health harms.”We know that Black Californians have not only endured economic damage, but also psychological, emotional, and political harms too, and thus additional compensation and targeted remedies must be developed if this is to be considered a true reparations program,” said Heath, who currently works for the advocacy group Where Is My Land. “Final recommendations should include a full calculation of these cumulative harms.”It’s unclear how California would pay for such an extensive project. Newsom, who signed the bill creating the task force and appointed most of its members, announced in January that the state faces a projected budget deficit of $22.5 billion for the coming fiscal year. Supervisor Shamann Walton, member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, speaks in San Francisco, Calif., on Feb. 15, 2022. (Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)SAN FRANCISCO CONSIDERS REPARATIONS PROPOSAL TO GIVE $5 MILLION PER BLACK PERSONThe figure represented a striking downturn from last year, when the state enjoyed a surplus of about $100 billion due to federal COVID relief and surging capital gains.To make matters worse, the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), a government agency that analyzes the budget for the state legislature, estimated in a subsequent report that Newsom’s forecast undershot the mark by about $7 billion, thanks to about $10 billion less in tax revenues than expected.Newsom’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story.At the more local level, some California cities — such as Oakland, Los Angeles, and most notably San Francisco — have been pushing their own reparations proposals.On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors expressed “unanimous” support for a draft plan of more than 100 reparations recommendations for the city, including a proposal to dole out $5 million each to qualifying Black residents. The proposal of $5 million lump-sum payments would cost non-Black families in the city at least $600,000, according to Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Dreisen Heath, a leading expert and activist pushing for reparations.

A Colorado dentist was arrested Sunday following accusations he poisoned and killed his wife, according to police.James Toliver Craig, 45, had driven his wife, 43, to a hospital on Wednesday because she was complaining of severe headaches and dizziness, the Aurora Police Department wrote in a press release.Shortly after arriving at the hospital, his wife’s condition rapidly deteriorated, and she was placed on a ventilator in an intensive care unit. She was eventually declared medically brain-dead.Doctors took her off life support and contacted the police Sunday morning because they believed her medical situation was suspicious.COLORADO AVALANCHE KILLS SKIER OUTSIDE ASPEN HIGHLANDS James Toliver Craig, 45, is accused of poisoning his wife. (Aurora Police Department)The Aurora Police Department’s Major Crimes Homicide Unit launched an investigation into the woman’s death and determined she had been poisoned. “When the suspicious details of this case came to light, our team of officers and homicide detectives tirelessly worked to uncover the truth behind the victim’s sudden illness and death,” Division Chief Mark Hildebrand said in a statement. “It was quickly discovered this was in fact a heinous, complex and calculated murder. I am very proud of our Major Crimes Homicide Unit’s hard work in solving this case and pursuing justice for the victim.”ALASKA MAN ARRESTED IN COLORADO MURDER FOR SECOND TIME AFTER WITNESSES COMES FORWARD The Aurora Police Department’s Major Crimes Homicide Unit launched an investigation into the woman’s death and determined she had been poisoned.  (Aurora Police Department)CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPPolice obtained a warrant for Craig’s arrest shortly after doctors took the woman off life support.Craig was arrested early Sunday morning on first-degree murder charges in connection with his wife’s death. He was booked into the county jail.The incident remains under investigation. 

Drew Timme extended his one-of-a-kind college career by at least one more game, finishing with 28 points and eight rebounds Sunday to help third-seeded Gonzaga make its eighth straight Sweet 16 with a come-from-behind 84-81 win over TCU. Timme made his first 3-pointer since December — and only his third of the season — as part of a 13-1 run that helped the Zags (30-5) take a seven-point lead with just under nine minutes left after trailing most of the night. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Anton Watson #22 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs dunks during the second…