‘Your World’ on Tropical Storm Elsa, unemployment

on Jul7
by | Comments Off on ‘Your World’ on Tropical Storm Elsa, unemployment |

This is a rush transcript from “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” July 6, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Elsa is on the move right now, a tropical storm, but bearing the winds in excess of 65 miles per hour.

It could, in fact, prove to be a Category 1 hurricane, if it still follows that trajectory to hit the western coast of Florida. In Key West, they’re already feeling its wrath. We will have the latest from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on the storm, as well as the ongoing rescue efforts in Surfside.

We will have Steve Harrigan as well in Clearwater, Florida, with the latest on this storm, Adam Klotz on the — well, the view of the weather and how long this hangs around, especially if it hangs around for a while.

Let’s go to Steve Harrigan first in Clearwater with more.

Hey, Steve.

STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, the heart of that storm still more than 150 miles away from where I am, but we’re just starting to feel the beginnings of it, some of the rain and wind just beginning to pick up.

There’s still a few people out on the beach trying to squeeze in that last day. As you mentioned, wind speeds approaching 70 miles per hour from those hurricane trackers. This could be up to us Category 1 hurricane when it finally hits shore here.

Key West got hit pretty hard in the morning, four inches of rain, 60 mile- per-hour winds. Here, where we are in the Tampa area, there’s been no mandatory evacuations, but some voluntary, especially in low-lying areas. When you talk to people here who’ve been planning and come down for their vacation, they say, most of them we talk to, intend to ride this storm out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY PRINGLE, MEMPHIS RESIDENT: Hoping it stays further offshore and doesn’t strengthen, but just going to kind of stick to the plan or vacation as best we can.

JEFF HUBBS, ILLINOIS RESIDENT: We’re on the fifth floor, so we ain’t worried about getting flooded out. We’re just worried about the rental car.

GINA BUBBICO, ILLINOIS RESIDENT: We are going to drink, watch the storm from our balcony and say some prayers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIGAN: The worst of it here is likely to come after 8:00 p.m. We could see as many as five inches of rain and a five-foot storm surge — Neil, back to you.

CAVUTO: Steve Harrigan, stay safe, my friend.

Let’s go to Adam Klotz now, FOX Weather meteorologist, get his gauge on where this thing is going and what it might portend for the busy hurricane season — Adam.

ADAM KLOTZ, FOX NEWS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Neil, as you said, a very powerful tropical storm, 70 miles an hour. At 74 miles an hour, this becomes a hurricane. It very well could become a hurricane before it eventually makes landfall.

And actually the most recent forecast does indicate that it perhaps will, but there’s your center of circulation, starting to see some of those outer bands of very heavy rain running up to the Naples area stretching up towards — getting up towards Fort Myers also.

But, again, this entire system is going to be drifting to the north overnight, bringing with it all of that rain, that storm surge and, yes, even at risk for isolated tornadoes. The red box there, the polygon, that is an area where you have the ingredients in place to see small tornadoes spin up as this system continues to drift its way to the north.

It’s also a rainmaker, I think fairly widespread. We’re going to look at three to five inches of precipitation as this runs along the coast, runs its way north, isolated areas, maybe up to eight inches of overall rain. That could cause some localized flooding.

Now, mostly tropical storm warnings in southern portions of the state, but you get up to Tampa, and then you run up to the Big Bend and that is a hurricane warning, because that’s where they’re going to see the strongest winds.

You will see that here in the next graphic. And then that is our wind field. And as the storm starts to get closer to the coast overnight tonight, getting up towards the Tampa area, and then the Florida Big Bend, well, that brings those stronger winds with it. And you could start to see some of those hurricane-force winds that are up to 75, maybe 80 miles an hour for your gusts.

This is your future radar. And you do see mostly overnight tonight is when you start to see this really hug the coast, eventually hitting perhaps north of Tampa and then working its way across the northern part of the state, likely weakening once it makes landfall.

This is our forecast and tracking. And I will leave you with this. And the most recent update does take this up to a Category 1 hurricane before we eventually make landfall, weakens, becomes a depression as it works its way up into the Southeast. And that will take a couple of days.

But, of course, we will be watching it from now until then — Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Adam Klotz, thank you very, very much.

Let’s go to the governor of Florida. He has had a lot to deal with over the last couple of weeks, if you think about it. Ron DeSantis joins us right now.

Governor, very good to see you.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Thanks, Neil.

CAVUTO: How are things looking from your end, Governor?

DESANTIS: So, we have seen it pass Key West. It passed west of the — west of our further westernmost key.

And there were some power outages, some localized flooding, but certainly nothing along the lines of a catastrophic storm, which obviously we have seen in our past. It’s going to continue going up the west coast of Florida. We do anticipate that it will become a Category 1 hurricane.

We think there’s going to be impacts up and down the coast. It’s going to obviously make a turn northeast, probably in Florida’s Big Bend. And then it’s going to continue through the northern part of Florida. So, of course, there will be some wind impacts. There will be some storm surge along the coast.

But we have also had a very, very wet past couple of weeks, particularly north of I-4. So all that area is going to — is going to get more rain in the storm. And so you could have flash flooding even without that, but then the combination of the two, we’re bracing for that.

So we think that there will be more power outages. And we obviously think that there will be some flash flooding. So we’re just urging people. There’s not any type of widespread evacuation. Obviously, we want people to listen to their local emergency management folks. There hasn’t been — there’s probably going to be some shelters open up and down the west coast.

I have spoken with county officials all up and down Florida’s west coast. Not a huge demand as of right now. And so that’s fine, but so people know it’s coming. And we’re getting out the information as best we can.

CAVUTO: Governor, this looks like it will skirt Surfside on the other side of the state, but I am wondering whether it will complicate rescue efforts there.

DESANTIS: So, what we did recently was actually tear down the remaining portion of the building, because what had happened was, it was very unstable.

There were certain parts of the pile that were effectively inaccessible because of the hazard posed by the building. We didn’t know exactly what track this would take. Even tropical storm gusts would potentially knock the building over. And, obviously, if it got knocked over on top of the existing pile, that completely complicates the search efforts.

So, we brought that down. People are now able to access the parts that were inaccessible. The building that was brought down through demolition, that can be carted off with kind of heavy machinery, where there’s not really the same evidentiary value as when you’re trying to search for folks who are in the rubble.

So, we think we handled that the right way. There has been some rain, and there has been a little bit of wind, but certainly nothing that we were bracing for just a few days ago. The storm kept being pushed further, further west in each update.

So, that actually — as much as you don’t want to see it impact these other areas, at least for Surfside, the track has probably been about as beneficial as we could have asked for.

CAVUTO: I would like to get your take on how the rescue effort is going.

We have heard reports, Governor, that among some of the latest victims, they’re being mostly found in that original rubble. Can you update us on that?

DESANTIS: Right.

So, if you look at the whole original rubble, the part that was closest to the standing structure that was still standing, that had basically been inaccessible because of the hazards involved with it being so close. So they were searching, by and large, in other parts of the rubble.

Of course, early on, they were digging tunnels underneath. The fact that they were able to — we were able to take down the building, that hazard was gone. So they have been focusing on that part of the original pile, where they hadn’t been able to do — dedicate a lot of rescue effort, just given the hazards involved.

That happens to be the place where most of the master bedrooms were. So, of course, this building, tragically, came down when most of these people were sleeping. And so they have been able to identify more and more folks.

And so I think you’re going to probably continue to see more of those identifications, given that they have essentially 100 percent access to all the areas of the original pile.

CAVUTO: We’re told, Governor, that rescuers on site are not hearing the noises they were the day or two after this collapse.

Is that so? Among those at the site, as well as families waiting to hear on what’s happened to their loved ones, it is it looking grim?

DESANTIS: Well, Neil, what I would say is, as long as there’s people missing, they’re going to search. We need to account for everyone.

But I can tell you, the first day, any time they thought that they had a lead, they pursued it. Unfortunately, they weren’t — except from the very beginning, they weren’t able to identify anybody that had survived.

You don’t have a lot of indications of that. And that’s just a very unfortunate thing. But that’s the reality. When they’re searching through rubble like this, they’re really looking for voids where you could potentially have a survivor.

And I think, unfortunately, when you get out there really close, this thing came down, pancaked one floor on top of another. And so there haven’t been the types of voids that you would hope to see.

To the extent they found voids, they search. They will send people. They will do video. They will do all kinds of tools to be able to rescue somebody. But they just haven’t been able to identify anybody, certainly in the recent time, that’s been alive. And it’s a tragic thing. It’s not because of a lack of effort.

I think it’s really just because of a lack of luck and the fact that this was a real catastrophic collapse.

CAVUTO: You know, Governor, I know residents in the north tower were told to evacuate and clear stuff out of their homes. And they did.

Is it your understanding that that will be permanently uninhabitable, that it too might have to be demolished?

DESANTIS: I think it’s too soon to say that, Neil.

I can tell you, I have spoke with the mayor of Surfside. And I have asked. They have not identified the same types of problems that had been identified with the south tower. Now, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems with it. There’s people inspecting every portion of that building right now.

We obviously support it, if someone chose to evacuate, to be able to make some of these relief funds available to those folks. And we understand how that could be something that that’s very, very just scary to think that it’s basically the same build at the same time just a couple doors down.

But there were serious, serious problems with the south tower. I think we know that now. And I think we will probably learn even more as the days and weeks ahead go forward. And my hope is, is that north tower, that those same level of defects are not found.

But, obviously, you have got to be safe when you’re dealing with stuff like this.

CAVUTO: You know, all this comes at a time when Florida has been booming. It’s unequivocally one of the most successful states in the country.

And I’m wondering, with this incident and certain counties in your state, I understand not all, but certain counties, Miami-Dade among them, with this 40-year certification process, is it your understanding or would you want to see that certification statewide in all counties for all buildings of a certain age, maybe old buildings, period?

DESANTIS: Well, I think we need to figure out, what was the actual cause or causes of this? And then I think, once we know that, then we can try to figure out what would make sense from a policy perspective.

Obviously, people get involved in buying a unit here, to have a building collapse is like a catastrophic thing. And so it just doesn’t happen in the United States. It shouldn’t.

I will say this, though. We have some of the strongest building codes in the country, particularly in Southern Florida. If you go up and down that stretch, all this stuff, particularly some of the newer stuff, is very, very sturdy. It’s meant to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

So I’m confident that — we have kind of a construction boom going on in Florida. I’m confident that these buildings that are being put up now are very, very high standards and high quality.

Now, Champlain Towers was in the early ’80s. That’s not necessarily very old. And there were pretty good building codes then. Whether this was built according to the codes in existence at the time I think is something that is going to be investigated.

And, obviously, I have heard certain different things reported to me. We will let that investigation play out. But I do think it’s important. Why did this happen? What could have been done to prevent it? And if we — if it has implications for Miami-Dade County, we have got to understand that. If it has implications statewide, then, obviously, we would have to understand that as well.

CAVUTO: Governor Ron DeSantis, thank you for taking the time. We appreciate it, sir.

DESANTIS: Thanks, Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.

We will be exploring that in a little bit more detail here. Again, the latest figures are, sadly, what you have already learned, 32 known dead. We have now reports of 113 that are still missing.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, we knew that a lot of bosses were desperately trying to find workers, so they have upped the ante by increasing the hourly rate, the salary level to find those workers.

And now, according to an Axios report, so many are doing so that it could lead to higher prices for, well, let’s stuff that they’re selling.

Let’s get the read from Steve Moore, the former presidential adviser to Donald Trump and bestselling author. Angelica Gianchandani joins us right now — Professor, I hope I did that — explained that correctly or announced it correctly — University of New Haven Professor.

If I could first to you, Steve, get your sense on what was revealed here. We know bosses have to pay more to attract workers. And we know they have to pass along those costs. Sometimes, they will try to absorb them. And they are, right?

STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Yes, so look, the unemployment — the extra unemployment benefits have had exactly the negative effect on the economy that a lot of us predicted, that a lot of workers wouldn’t go back to work.

Now, one of the positive things is that you are starting to see some wage increases to get more of these workers in — back into jobs. And I’m in favor of that. I think it’s good when workers get higher pay. There’s two quick problems with that, though, in this current situation.

One is, because inflation is rising so rapidly, the wages may not even be keeping up with the higher prices. So, for workers, they may not even be getting a real purchasing power increase in their pay. And the second problem is, if you’re Amazon or you’re Walgreens or Walmart or Target, with a huge work force and huge amounts of profits, you can afford to pay workers more.

The businesses that are really suffering right now are the small mom-and- pop shops and restaurants that maybe have eight or 10 employees that really can’t raise their wages. And these higher wages would require a lot of them to just go out of business.

CAVUTO: You know, Professor, I believe in Chicago today a $15 minimum wage was implemented, and that it has longed been telegraphed.

But I’m just wondering, in this environment, is it something that does have a spillover effect? In other words, you pay workers more, the customers for those institutions, restaurants, businesses, small stores, medium store, whatever, will pay more? Is that inevitable to you?

ANGELICA GIANCHANDANI, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: Well, for me, I think the pay increase is important.

It will — what it will do is, it’ll make your employees feel valued. They will also be more loyal to that company or that business. And they will — rather than jumping and going to another business or company, they will look for growth opportunities within that organization.

And this is the spillover, what it’ll have. The companies will have more employee retention. They will have employees that are more motivated, and it’ll give them a competitive edge.

CAVUTO: But doesn’t it also hurt the smaller guys, who can’t compete with the larger guys, or let’s say in the retail, Professor, the Walmarts and Targets that have a decided edge over that the small business owner or small restaurant owner who simply cannot compete?

GIANCHANDANI: Yes, I agree that the small — the small business owner will have a challenge competing, but, at the same time, your employees are your superpower.

They are the ones that are on the front line, and they create the innovation that will impact your bottom line and create opportunities for growth within your business.

CAVUTO: But that depends on the business still growing, right?

So, Steve Moore, you really want to see that, if you can pass along those costs, your customers are absorbing it, they have no problem, that’s one thing. But we know from history, sometimes, they balk. Sometimes, they move on. Sometimes, they look for cheaper places. Could that boomerang?

MOORE: That’s right.

And, look, I think the professor is right that, obviously, employers want employees and workers who are diligent, who work hard, and they’re willing to pay them more.

One of the reasons I have opposed a $15-an-hour minimum wage is, the vast, vast majority of people who make the minimum wage, it’s their first job. It’s the starter job. And that’s when the employer finds out in six months’ time, hey, is this a great worker? If it is, the studies show very clearly that employers do raise those wages for precisely the reason the professor was talking about.

By the way, the non-performers, they fire those workers because they’re not up to speed. So I think the natural free market process is working here. But there was a famous story in the 1970s when the UAW, United Auto Workers, gave their workers an 8 percent pay raise, and they were celebrating this as such a great moment for American workers.

And it turned out that year the inflation rate was 10 percent. So the workers actually lost money. So I think these higher inflation rates are something really for workers to worry about.

CAVUTO: Yes, we don’t know if they’re transitory or not. We will have to keep a close eye on it.

Guys, thank you both very, very much.

Well, it is the strong economy that’s really the wind of the back for all this, and propelling all these higher labor costs and some of the other costs associated with them.

If you have any doubt, take a look at how crowded airports are these days. Jeff Flock is there to see it for himself.

Hey, Jeff.

JEFF FLOCK, FOX Business Network CORRESPONDENT: It is good news, Neil, that people are flying again.

But the bad news is, you know what happens when a lot of people fly on airplanes that are tight and not enough of them? We will be back in a moment to tell you all about it.

Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Grow up or pay up.

If you’re not going to behave in the skies, then maybe these cute little ads featuring kids, maybe your own, will get you to change that, because, if you don’t, you’re going to have to pay.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, if you were flying this long holiday weekend, you were not imagining it. Airports are more crowded, in fact, volume-wise, building toward the best levels we have seen since the pandemic began.

Jeff Flock at Chicago’s O’Hare with more on all of that.

Hey, Jeff.

FLOCK: You know, the only good thing, Neil, I will say, for those of us who flew during the whole pandemic was that, during it, the airports were easy. You didn’t see poor guys like this carrying everything by himself. Oh, this poor fellow. Beautiful daughter, though.

And the TSA lines were not a problem. I got to put my mask on as we walk inside, because that is the rule.

But look at this TSA line now, yes, backing up. And this is not even a busy day.

I will show you what a busy day looked like, or at least in terms of the numbers. These are the latest TSA numbers that we got just this morning from yesterday. And then we had the numbers for Friday, which was a record, as you point out, 2.1 nine million people, almost three times what it was last year, and even more than it was in 2019, before the pandemic.

So what do you get when you get all of those people? You get delays and you get cancellations. Take a look at the numbers for Sunday, 4,000-plus delays across the U.S., 2,000-plus cancellations.

And if that wasn’t enough for these travelers to deal with, what about unruly passengers? Today, the FAA announcing new fines of more than $100,000 to nine people who were believed to have been causing a scene and being inappropriate, fighting with people, and all sorts of things on the aircraft.

The FAA today also unveiling a Psaki. That was a public service announcement that employed young children, who are perhaps smarter than we are, about how to behave on an aircraft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fighting is not good when you’re on a plane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They will go to jail if they keep doing that stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would be really scared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would not like that, if someone did that to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They should know better if they’re, like, adults.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLOCK: Three thousand two hundred and seventy-one complaints since the first of the year about unruly passengers, Neil.

And the FAA has shown that, if you want to play, you’re going to pay, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars — sir.

CAVUTO: Well, so maybe, Jeff, when you’re flying, you should be calmer and nicer. Maybe that’s the problem.

But that’s wild. That’s absolutely–

FLOCK: Works for me.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Thank you, my friend, Jeff Flock.

That one kid is not going to buy — that kid behind him is not buying this whole behave thing.

All right, you’re feeling it on the ground too. In case you didn’t check, for a while this morning, we had gasoline prices, certainly oil prices, at a six-year high. The problem seems to be OPEC and the so-called OPEC Plus countries. They can’t agree on supply.

Bottom line, there’s more than enough demand to keep prices going still higher. So, don’t think you’re out of the woods because they can’t strike a deal.

Patrick De Haan knows it, the GasBuddy petroleum analysis head, following all this very closely at the pump. He’s been uncannily prescient about these trends, which bothers me, because the trends still don’t look good, right, Patrick?

PATRICK DE HAAN, HEAD OF PETROLEUM ANALYSIS, GASBUDDY: No, they absolutely don’t, Neil.

It’s a little bit of the Hatfields and McCoys, it seems like, with his OPEC meeting. Everyone wants to increase production. But everyone wants a bigger slice of that increase in production. It came to a boiling point yesterday, with the UAE walking out of the meeting.

So here we are. Everyone agrees that more oil production is needed. Then you have bickering amongst OPEC. And, of course, oil prices, as you mentioned initially, touched nearly $77 a barrel. Of course, we closed down slightly today. But that doesn’t end it.

I think this the sky’s the limit; $80 could be coming here very shortly, maybe beyond that. And we’re just starting to get in the just of the peak of the American driving season.

CAVUTO: You know, if you think about it, to fill up a tank, I think the average now is 12 to 15 bucks more than last year at this time.

I’m just wondering, gas wise, what do you see happening.

DE HAAN: Well, price-wise, Neil, I think we could go up another 5 to 15 cents a gallon over the next couple of weeks.

And there’s no telling if that’s going to be the peak. I think, if OPEC does increase oil production, we will see a peak in the next few weeks. But until this economy really slows down and demand slows down, we’re not going to see any break at the pump.

And that could not — that may not happen until later this fall, but even then, Neil, I think the question is, do the American commuters start taking back as offices reopen this fall? That could delay a downturn in demand and thus it could delay a decrease in price.

CAVUTO: If OPEC can’t do anything — and you kind of touched on it. They can’t agree. All things being equal, they don’t budge on supply one way or the other, prices are just going to keep moving higher. Then that is unavoidable, right?

DE HAAN: Well, it looks to be that way.

In fact, if OPEC doesn’t touch it, look for shale producers and start ramping up and potentially locking in contracts at these lofty valuations. The U.S. rig count is going up. But production in the U.S. really hasn’t gone up. But if oil prices continue to advance, this gives a wide open door to us producers to fill that void.

CAVUTO: You know what is wild, though? And you and I have talk about it before, Pat. It’s not stopping consumers. They’re well aware of it. It’s not that they don’t notice what’s going on at the pump, but they’re still filling up and going out.

I just wonder what they will be doing in the fall.

DE HAAN: Yes, great question, Neil. I think people will start returning to the office this fall. American commutes will come back.

To touch on your point about July 4, a 7 percent increase in gasoline demand, according to GasBuddy data, from Memorial Day, 7 percent over the last holiday, that we’re really starting to see demand kick into high gear. The last thing we can afford right now is for OPEC to be dragging its legs behind on this.

CAVUTO: All right, I’m glad you said dragging its legs there.

Patrick De Haan, thank you very much, the GasBuddy petroleum analysis head.

We will be monitoring that and some of the pressures there.

Also monitoring what is happening on the border. In case you didn’t hear — of course, you heard — Governor Abbott wants to build a wall. He’s got a lot of state governors sending troops there to help him. Here’s the problem, though. Legally, can he do it?

After this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, his overall poll numbers have not changed much, but when it comes to dealing with the border, increasingly — and this is a new poll that shows most Americans disapprove of the way President Biden is handling it, as the number of migrants flooding in continues to rocket.

Bill Melugin seeing it up front and personal for himself in La Joya, Texas.

Hey, Bill.

BILL MELUGIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Neil. Good afternoon to you.

It’s been thunderstorming out here pretty much all day long. But that hasn’t slowed down any of the activity whatsoever. Take a look at this video we shot here right where we’re standing this morning. In my four trips to the border during this surge, this was the largest single group I have ever seen apprehended out here.

This was at least 100 people all apprehended at one single time, mostly moms and kids. Actually saw some of the moms breast-feeding while they were waiting to be apprehended by Border Patrol. Some of the ones I talked to her from Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala. And border agencies have been telling us, in recent weeks, a lot of these folks have been testing positive for COVID.

But take a look at these photos right here. We heard Texas Governor Abbott calling for help from other states. And those reinforcements are now showing up. What you’re looking at is Del Rio Sector, Florida State Troopers and Nebraska State Troopers working with Texas State Troopers.

They are on the ground now helping with operations up in Del Rio. More states are on the way. That’s going to be Iowa, Idaho, Arkansas, and South Carolina. But there’s a group that’s not happy about these other states helping out. That group is called LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens.

They sent a letter to President Biden on the Fourth of July, urging him to stop these states from sending their law enforcement here to the border, with their leaders writing in part — quote — “We are being invaded by governors of the defeated Confederacy to arm the border against brown women and children. This is an insurrection by recalcitrant and rebellious states that must be stopped.”

Now, earlier this afternoon, I spoke with a Texas DPS spokesman out here, gave him a chance to respond to that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. CHRISTOPHER OLIVAREZ, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: That logic is not going to help this current crisis right now.

What Governor Abbott has done is provided all these resources to the state. And my question would be to those organizations is, if you do not agree with what Governor Abbott is doing or what the state of Texas is doing by providing all these resources for this crisis, then what solutions do you have?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELUGIN: And a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that President Biden is very underwater on the topic of his handling of immigration.

A poll between June 27 and June 30 showing 33 percent of respondents approving, 51 percent disapproving, that a survey of more than 900 adults, that also done after V.P. Kamala Harris’ trip to the border, essentially showing that trip had no impact whatsoever on people’s perception of how he’s handling the border.

Back out here live, I can tell you, we have talked to a lot of border agents on the ground here in recent weeks. A large majority of them also do not approve of the job the administration is doing.

We will send it back to you.

CAVUTO: All right, Bill Melugin, thank you very, very much for that.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of governors want to help out Governor Abbott in finishing that wall, Ohio the latest to send troops to the border to do just. The devil is in the details and how you go about this.

Not a word out of the administration as, legally, how it might respond to this. But you could probably expect lawsuits, since so much of this area would include and covers federal lands.

Mark Eiglarsh joins us right now, attorney extraordinaire. He can make sense of it.

Mark, I was looking at how the governor wants to move again at the finish this wall, but that wall would include federal lands that are beyond his jurisdiction. So I’m wondering how you think this process moves forward or if it can?

MARK EIGLARSH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, it can, but there’s going to be an avalanche, not just a few, but an avalanche of legal challenges.

The Supreme Court has made it extremely clear that the responsibility of regulating both immigration and border control lies exclusively in the hands of the federal government.

And I checked, because I do my research for your segments, Neil, and there’s no Texas exception, surprisingly. So states can’t decide what they want to do individually. And be careful what you wish for, Governor of Texas. If another state now or in the future said, instead of a wall, we want to build a red carpet, a VIP red carpet, so immigrants can come into the United States as they please, regardless of their background, if he’s fighting for the concept that states can do whatever they want, then be ready for those types of decisions.

CAVUTO: Now, one of the arguments that really bothered critics of Joe Biden is that this idea to shelve the wall-building that was going on midstream with moneys already allocated and committed, he has been arguing, I’m going to complete what the federal government was obligated and said it would do under Donald Trump.

Does that not hold any legal water?

EIGLARSH: No, that’s all politics, chatter, chatter.

When we get into a court of law, assuming that we can get past that constitutional issue that the decisions are in the hands of the federal government — let’s just get past that for one second, hypothetically — there’s going to be many other legal challenges.

You have got people who own private ranches and property who may have even said, in theory, yes, let’s build that wall. Next thing you know, they see the plan, they go wait, wait, that wall is going where, where on my property? No way.

So, the same way Trump’s administration faced enormous lawsuits, you’re going to get the same thing here. Whatever they think it’s going to cost, double, triple, quadruple it, because you got to add on all the legal fees.

CAVUTO: Amazing.

Mark Eiglarsh, thank you very, very much.

This is going to be a mess. I think you’re right. Just the question is, how many messes will it create?

In the meantime, we talk all the time about the rising crime going on here, but sometimes it gets very, very fashionable, dangerous, but fashionable. Did you see this, a heist with all the best stuff?

After this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: I don’t know if any of you have seen this, a middle-of-the-day theft going on at Neiman Marcus in San Francisco, these guys stealing handbags, anything they could get their hands on, broad daylight.

And then we wonder why stores like Target and Walgreens are now limiting hours in California because of incidents like these that are popping up everywhere.

Joe Cardinale is not at all surprised, the former NYPD lieutenant with us right now.

I tell you, Joe, when I see this, I mean, it’s crazy, to put it mildly. But it’s increasingly common. What do you think?

JOE CARDINALE, FORMER NYPD LIEUTENANT: Well, the stores themselves allow it by not getting the police involved, because they can’t accept the way the police want to do their job. So they keep them out of it.

And their own security guards sit there and watch them go out the doors with this. Now, you are bound to provide security for your customers. But how are you doing that when you’re allowing this to happen right in front of your customers? I mean, who wants to shop in a store where you’re spending thousands upon thousands of dollars for these items, and then somebody is walking in and walking right out the front door, running out the front door, and nobody’s challenging them?

I mean, it’s bizarre. It really is bizarre. And this is the climate we live in today. This is what has been created. And these stores actually create it for them. They don’t challenge them at all in the store, where it should be happening. Their security should be holding them.

The police should be called. And they should be prosecuted. But, on the other end, nobody wants to prosecute them, because they’re victims.

CAVUTO: I always was wondering too when I was watching this, Joe, whether anyone at the store was notifying police of what was going on, even if they weren’t and their own security people weren’t doing anything, because, if not — and maybe, if so, you can well understand the Targets and the Walgreens and some of the others that have said, either we cut back on hours or this is going that really cost us.

And Neiman Marcus isn’t some fly-by-night mom-and-pop shop. This is a major international retailer. What do you think?

CARDINALE: Absolutely.

But think about it, Neil. You don’t think that the criminals are going to change their hours to coincide with whatever hours Target and everybody does? I mean, think about it. That’s what they’re doing.

They’re going in because they know they can get away with it. But now you’re talking about high-end stores, like you just mentioned, Neiman Marcus. It’s unbelievable that they can get away with this.

Where is the security, number one? Number two, what if the police are called? What’s going to happen when the police get there? Are the police going to be able to do their job? Is somebody going to prosecute? Or is it going to be a waste of time and they’re just saying, well, we did call the police and we’re going to take a report?

Are they going to prosecute if they identify who these criminals off? I doubt it, especially in California. I doubt it.

CAVUTO: Yes, it’s just incredible, Joe.

But you outlined it not too long ago, that this was the kind of thing that happens when you just sort of turn the other way with crime.

Thank you very much, Joe Cardinale, the former NYPD lieutenant.

This is much bigger, obviously, than San Francisco or Neiman Marcus. It’s also much more violent, and we’re seeing more and more signs of that.

Just consider what they’re doing in New York, teaming up the ATF with the New York Police Department to try to deal with a problem that is just as close as you can get to out control.

Bryan Llenas in New York City with more on that.

Hey, Bryan.

BRYAN LLENAS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, good afternoon.

Over 250 people were shot and killed nationwide over the July 4 weekend, seven police officers at least wounded, over 100 people shot in Chicago, some 26 people shot here in New York City, as gun violence continues to surge in the double-digit increases this year in the nation’s major cities.

In fact, the gun violence is so bad that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared today a statewide disaster emergency, saying gun violence is a public health crisis in his state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We went from one epidemic to another epidemic. We went from COVID to the epidemic of gun violence and the fear and the death that goes along with it.

It’s been all over the newspapers. It is undeniable. It’s so bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LLENAS: And here in New York, the ATF and NYPD are partnering in an unprecedented effort to trace those crime guns and to find elicit gun traffickers — Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Bryan, thank you very, very much for that.

You have probably heard, separately, there’s been another ransomware attack. This one’s — it’s a big one. All fingers seem to be pointing to Russia. The administration has made it clear there’s a price to pay for that. So, what is it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, I want to clarify something we just reported on a minute ago about the spike in crime in California.

We talked about Target and Walgreens among retailers saying they’re going to cut back hours because of this spike in crime. But we mistakenly show you some video of Kmart. Kmart was not involved in that. Target and Walgreens are the ones considering cutting their hours as a result of this crime wave. Just wanted to clarify that if you were confused.

Also, if you are confused about this latest ransomware attack, keep in mind, so too is Washington officially, now arguing that, in the case of the president, we don’t know the exact source of all of this. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It appears to have caused minimal damage to U.S. businesses, but we’re still gathering information to the full extent of the attack.

And I’m going to have more to say about this in the next several days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, minimal damage, but it did affect some 1,500 different companies here.

Those who were behind it are demanding a $70 million ransom payable through Bitcoin, even though we can trace that sort of thing. They’re still demanding payment in Bitcoin.

Leeza Garber here, the cybersecurity attorney.

Leeza, when we talked about this, and these incidents pop up so frequently, and they’re getting more common, invariably, they point to Russian fingerprints, maybe not solely, but in coordination. If that is the case again, and the administration has promised a response, what should it be?

LEEZA GARBER, ATTORNEY: This is not a small attack to overlook, Neil.

As you said, ransomware has been growing exponentially throughout the world. And this attack is the single largest global ransomware attack. So, Biden, the United States and the international community really need to come out strong here.

We have seen from the Biden administration that Biden passed an executive order earlier this year, trying to be proactive about cybersecurity, throwing money at the problem, also trying to get threat-sharing information going between public and private entities.

But we need to see serious proactive action against what Russia is doing, which, in essence, is harboring these types of cyber criminal syndicates.

CAVUTO: So, why can’t we — you’re the great lawyer. I’m just sort of an angry American citizen hearing this. Why can’t we hack them back? We’re pretty good at this stuff, too.

We don’t do that, but if that’s the only solution.

GARBER: Well, I will tell you, many cybersecurity experts, including myself, are angry about it as well.

And the United States does have different federal agencies that are attempting to hack back. This is something that goes on, much like the Cold War did, back and forth. And we are gaining intel, for sure. We will never have exact insight into how the government agencies are doing this. But we’re certainly understanding that the U.S. does have the capabilities here.

The problem is, we’re operating by a different moral and ethical code than Russia is. And the Kremlin is basically allowing these operations to continue, many would argue, because it’s politically beneficial for them. These are highly sophisticated criminal groups that have the ability not only for espionage, but also to hack for political reasons.

That’s not to say this hack was for political reasons. It’s certainly a moneymaking machine. But there are other reasons to keep going with ransomware attacks.

CAVUTO: Leeza Garber, thank you very, very much for that, cybersecurity attorney.

And we’re waiting to see what the Biden administration’s response will be to all of this.

Sadly, I do want to pass along some news about the rescue operation still going on in Surfside. They have found four more victims, bringing the total deaths from that condo collapse to 36.

Now, we talked to Governor DeSantis at the outset of the show, who said, it is much easier now to access the rubble, particularly the original rubble site, from which all of these bodies that have been discovered have come, four more just now.

Here comes “The Five.”

Content and Programming Copyright 2021 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2021 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.



Source link



Previous postSome in US pushing for more COVID restrictions, masking, as Delta variant spreads Next postHarper leads way as Phillies hand Cubs 11th straight loss


Chicago Financial Times


Copyright © 2024 Chicago Financial Times

Updates via RSS
or Email