Skip to main content

tv   FOX Friends First  FOX News  August 12, 2021 1:00am-2:00am PDT

1:00 am
office? >> well, i mean, there were a lot of -- obviously the pandemic. we talked to people in albany, across the state, he did a masterful job of keeping the state safe. >> ed, get a room, that's embarrassing. second worst death rate in the country. jillian: it is thursday, august 12th. the most complicated crisis, that's how officials describe the situation at our southern bore of deer as we're told -- border as we're told brand-new numbers are set to break records. todd: new fox polls send a clear warning to president biden. >> people will come, ray. people will most definitely come. jillian: the yang keys and --yankees and iowa send to iowao
1:01 am
bring a baseball classic to life. will cain will join us live from the field of dreams. "fox & friends first" starts right now. i think we're -- ♪ glory days,. ♪ well, they'll pass you by. ♪ glory days. ♪ in the wink of a young girl's eye. ♪ glory days. ♪ glory days. todd: first major league baseball game played in iowa, yankees versus white sox, only on -- i was trying to get a job as a promo guy. i'll transition over, keep my 401-k and my benefits. it will work great. you're watching "fox & friends first" on this thursday morning, i'm todd piro. jillian: i'm jillian mele. today, home land security secretary alejandro mayorkas is heading to the southern border amid calls for his impeachment over the migrant crisis. todd: griff jenkins joins us live from washington as fox news
1:02 am
learns july apprehensions are the highest in more than 20 years. griff. >> reporter: unbelievable, todd and jillian, good morning. consider this, more than a half of a million migrants have illegally crossed our southwest borders since secretary mayorkas last visited in may and today he is headed to ground zero in the rio grande valley, tweeting, quote, wheels up for south texas, dhs is executing our plan to rebuild a safe, orderly and humane immigration system, this aztecs as congressman chip roy tweets at secretary mayorkas and president biden calling for impeachment over handling of the border crisis, showing this video of overcrowded conditions inside a holding facility, it comes as the incoming border patrol chief takes the reins on sunday, confirming to fox news that the new july apprehension mum glers will be the -- numbers will be the highest in more than 30 years.
1:03 am
>> this is the most complicated situation i have ever experienced. we have heard that the official july figures for apprehensions are going to be north of 210,000. we've seen steady increases over the last four, five months. >> over 210,000? >> yeah, i believe it's going to be over that. >> reporter: mayorkas plans to meet with chief ortez and border officials. >> we need to get boots on the ground. we're working 12 hour shifts to try to get ahead of this. when we explained they were criminal trespassing, they were going to jail, they said that's impossible. >> reporter: i.c.e. will no longer deport illegal immigrants who are victims of crime. they will access support through access to benefits. todd: griff, thanks. jillian: dr. nicole saphier says the president has been inconsistent when it comes to dealing with covid-19 from foreign countries.
1:04 am
>> when it comes to infectious disease and the migrants crossing our southwestern border, that's all been an issue. it doesn't really make sense that we're going to put travel bans on the u.k. and other places across the globe because of certain variants circulating, yet we do have people coming from the southwest border. if we do not have the resources to test, trace, quarantine and to ensure follow-up, then, no, that would be i responsible and then that -- irresponsible and that could lead to further spread. jillian: 40% of migrants that were buffed in from the border tested positive for covid-19. todd: the white house vowing to flight ron de santiss threat to cut teacher salaries over mask mandates. jillian: they used incorrect data to back up the logic. ashley strohmier joins us with more as the cdc scrambles to correct itself. >> reporter: the white house denied it was waging war against governor ron de santis. take a listen for yourself. >> our war is not on de santis,
1:05 am
it's on the virus. he does not seem to want to participate to kneecap the virus, hence our concern. >> reporter: pointing the finger at the alarming spike of covid caseses in the sunshine state. >> it's adding insult to injury. we have policies implemented now that are not safe for students. we're talking about the rate in florida going up. it's dangerous. we want to make sure our schools are reopened for our students and parents feel confident sending their children to school. they've been through enough already. >> reporter: the cdc scrambled to adjust the state's number of cases after officials pushed back on the number. the website showed record high sunday of more than 28,000. the cdc's been adjusting the number to 19,584. when florida put the number at a little more than 15,000. and texas governor abbott is threatening legal action against dallas mask mandates, tweeting
1:06 am
any school district, public university or government official which defies will be taken to course. in california governor newsom makes it the first state that requires teachers to be vaccinated. >> we think this is the right thing to do and we think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open and to address the number one anxiety that parents like myself have, i have four young children, and that is knowing that the schools are doing everything in their power to keep our kids safe. >> reporter: so, todd, jillian, a lot of things going on in a lot of different states right now. jillian: we were talking about covid-19 mask mandates, different restrictions, things like that we had griff talking about what's going on at the southern border and all of this is interesting when you put it together and take a look at this fox news poll that shows the president's approval ratings here with a various different
1:07 am
topics. let's start off from the bottom, work our way up. i want to be a little different here and -- todd: wow. jillian: go off course. if you look at immigration, the approval there is 35%, crime, 39%, the economy coming in at 47%, coronavirus, this is interesting, because 54% of people in the poll approve. however, if you take a look at something else, while that looks positive on its face, you'll notice that a lot more people are disapproving as of late because numbers are down 10 percentage points from june of 2021 and this all leads to those thoughts of what are people going to be voting for in the midterms next year because immigration, crime, covid-19, all of these are in the forefront of people's minds. i think it depends where you live. but as we've seen with things like crime, that is affecting people all across the country right now and a lot of people are not happy with what they're seeing. todd: let's break this down, start with coronavirus. that was a thing you left off on. yes, biden is above water on
1:08 am
coronavirus. but that dropped 10 points over the course of a month. really harkens back to people are confused. they don't understand why their freedoms are being impinged while the people at the border can do whatever they want and it's just the beginning there. now let's go through the rest of them. people are tired of prices skyrocketing. this is something we haven't seen in a long time. a lot of people who weren't alive for the carter administration have not seen this in their lives, period. not feeling safe in the communities, that's not just reserved for the inner cities, it's spreading to the suburbs. finally, a border situation that as president trump has articulated an i happen to agree with this would be 100% better if president biden did absolutely nothing. with that as the backdrop, you mentioned 2022. republicans need to take advantage of this. ally fleischer highlights -- ari fleischer highlights this. >> republicans have the ability to communicate what's wrong. when president biden allows
1:09 am
people to come into the country illegally, not handling covid properly, republicans have a case to make why the democrats and joe biden should be thrown out. jillian: i want to show you this, most registered voters find that vice president kamala harris is unfavorable at this point, this is among the registered voters, august 7 through 10. we've taken a look at this through different points too, her favorability is 45%, compared to 51%, viewing the job she is doing as unfavorable. todd: miranda divine looking at 2024 and saying, look, democrats have a huge problem on their hands. this was a scathing op-ed that she wrote in the new york post. and let me read part of it. quote, the problem for democrats is that she, kamala harris, is unelectable. it's the fake laughter, the hand maidenly comportment around biden, the car crash interviews and the inability to succeed at
1:10 am
tasks she has been handed. she is so unpopular that hillary clinton staffers have been consulted for likability lessons. jillian: todd came into my office this morning and said that article was scathing. todd: it highlights a problem that kamala harris has had since the primaries. americans by and large, based upon the numbers, i don't want my personal opinion, don't seem to like her. you typically vote for somebody you like. people liked biden. people don't like kamala harris. joe biden's going to -- jillian: there are also the group of people out there who voted not because they liked kamala harris or joe biden, it's because they did not want to vote for donald trump. there is a handful of people out there. todd: in 2024, what if there's a tim scott, somebody that everybody likes, running for republicans. jillian: we have more important news to get to. overnight the taliban seizing its tenth afghan city as the u.s. official warns the militant group could take control of the country's capital in 90 days.
1:11 am
todd: trey yingst joins us live from overseas with the developing details. this is not good at all. >> reporter: todd, jillian, good morning. it's not good at all. we are learning that the taliban could take over afghanistan's capital of kabul in 90 days. that according to one u.s. official. this is based on american intelligence and it comes as the taliban took over its tenth provincial capital yesterday. overnight they received gazni, 80 miles southwest of kabul. the group now controls 65% of afghanistan. the map shows you how far they've come since the beginning of the year, amid intense battles with afghan security forces. according to the united nations, more than 1,000 civilians have been killed over the past month amid an uptick in fighting as the biden administration has shown no indication it will reverse the u.s. troop withdrawal. a pentagon spokesperson, john kirby, weighed in last night. >> we're watching this with
1:12 am
deep concern, there's no question that the security situation on the ground is deteriorating. we're obviously concerned about any resurgence of al-qaida or any other terrorist network in afghanistan. >> reporter: we've heard from a number of biden administration officials, calling on the taliban to respect a 2020 peace understanding but so far the group does not appear to be open at all to any sort of cease fire, at least right now. todd, jillian. jillian: trey yingst, thank you. todd: we were discussing how many questions we have. rebecca heinrich will break down the taliban gains in afghanistan, hopefully she can answer what is going on there more in the next half hour. jillian: it is 12 minutes after the hour. a group backed by members of the squad is celebrating cop killer as freedom fighters, and organizers are looking for support to get them out of jail. plus -- >> everybody outside this state is [bleep] about this state because of our success.
1:13 am
todd: stop yelling at me, gavin newsom. the california governor going off as the efforts to remove him from office continues, we'll have a head-turning interview, next. ♪ (struggling vehicle sounds) think premium can't be capable? think again. ♪ (energetic music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing the first ever at4 lineup. premium and capable. that's professional grade from gmc.
1:14 am
do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate
1:15 am
cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. our friends sold their policy to help pay for their medical bills and that got me thinking. maybe selling our policy could help with our retirement. i'm skeptical, so i did some research and called coventry direct. they explained life insurance is a valuable asset that can be sold. we learned that we can sell all of our policy or keep part of it with no future payments, who knew? we sold our policy. now we can relax and enjoy our retirement as we had planned. if you have one hundred thousand dollars or more of life insurance you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit conventrydirect.com to find out if you policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance.
1:16 am
introducing xfinity rewards. our very own way of thanking you just for being with us. enjoy rewards like movie night specials. xfinity mobile benefits. ...and exclusive experiences, like the chance to win tickets to see watch what happens live. hey! it's me. the longer you've been with us... the more rewards you can get. like sharpening your cooking skills with a top chef. join for free on the xfinity app and watch all the rewards float in.
1:17 am
our thanks. your rewards. todd: welcome back. it appears taxpayers will be footing new york governor andrew cuomo's lifetime pension, the disgraced democrat is still eligible for the $50,000 per year payment despite his resignation. the governor in waiting, kathy hochul, vowing to clean house following the probe that found cuomo sexually harassed several women. >> no one will ever describe my administration as a toxic work environment. no one was named as doing anything unethical in my report will remain in my administration. my administration will be fully transparent when i'm governor. i'm not governor yet. todd: a new poll reveals cuomo will leave office with a 30% job approval rating. a group praised by progressive democrats now honoring convicted cop killer, the movement for black lives sent a text message
1:18 am
to supporters praising, quote, freedom fighters and requesting clemency petitions for multiple cop killers. alexandria ocasio-cortez and rashida tlaib have expressed support for the radical left wing coalition on their social media accounts. jillian: governor gavin newsom caught on camera snapping at reporters as the recall effort against him heats up. >> it would be damn nice if our home-grown team started focusing on what's right. everybody outside this state is [bleep] about this state because of our success. jillian: that comes as leaders in oakland's chinatown neighborhood demand newsom declare a state of emergency to help fight rising crime plaguing the state. tom del vacarro weighs in. thank you for being here. >> good to see you again.
1:19 am
he's losing it. jillian: he did appear to snap there. you have an op-ed on foxnews.com, it says, quote, gavin newsom's big government union and policies have predictably failed california, why do you think that to be the case? >> well, you don't have to believe me. 65% of registered voters in a blue state say that crime is rising. that's a staggering poll. 48% of the state is registered democrat. the homeless situation, democrats give -- 41% of democrats give him a d or f on homelessness. the wildfires, they are environmentally based because they won't let us manage the forested. it's his own record that is failing him and he is so tense that he gives interviews like that. jillian: let's look at some of the numbers, violent crime is surging in oakland, carjackings
1:20 am
up 95%, homicides up 51%, robberies up 15%. question for you, do you think that gavin newsom and other elected officials out there just don't think it's a problem or do you think they don't know how to solve it? because those are different things. >> well, they're following this social justice trend. he let out 20,000 felons and wants to let out another 70. they had a proposition 47 which downgraded crimes. so this was a predictable result by being so soft on crime and letting out some serious criminals and so the answer is i think they don't believe that they need to be tough on crime and this is the result. jillian: before we let you go, i want to take a look at this. voter preferences in the governor's recall election and i'm curious if this surprises you. 47% of respondents say yes for the recall but 51% say no to retaining him. are you surprised by those
1:21 am
numbers? >> i'm not. there was also a poll out 51/40 in favor of the recall. he's been sliding no matter how much money he spends, he seems to be going further down in the polls. you can recover from bad policy but you can't recover from bad personality. you saw it just now on tv. and he's going to be recalled on the 14th of september. jillian: we will seem you can read tom's op-ed on foxnews.com and you can pick up a copy of his book, the divided era. good to see you this morning. go back to bad. have a good day. todd: tom's a rock star. time now, 21 minutes after the hour. a tribute to chicago police officer ella french was reportedly rushed, in a heart breaking development for her brothers and sisters in you blue. we'll have details coming up. students in college facing a $750 fee for not getting the vaccine. we're talking to a student,
1:22 am
next.
1:23 am
look, this isn't my first rodeo and let me tell you something, i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. it's just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, it's helped over a million americans. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. find out how reverse mortgages really work with aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage guide. eliminate monthly mortgage payments, pay bills, medical costs, and more. call now and get your free info kit. other mortgages are paid each month, but with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait,
1:24 am
and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. discover the option that's best for you. call today and find out more in aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage loan guide. access tax-free cash and stay in the home you love. you've probably been investing in your home for years... making monthly mortgage payments... doing the right thing... and it's become your family's heart and soul... well, that investment can give you tax-free cash just when you need it. learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse mortgage loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve your portfolio, and so much more. look, reverse mortgages aren't for everyone but i think i've been 'round long enough to know what's what. i'm proud to be part of aag, i trust 'em, i think you can too. trust aag for the best reverse mortgage solutions. call now so you can... retire better
1:25 am
1:26 am
jillian: good morning, and welcome back. president biden says he is saving americans money as he spends more cash. the president addressing inflation and rising gas prices while pitching his climate change and social program agenda. take a listen. >> the price spikes will reduce as our economy continues to heal. we will keep a careful eye on inflation each month and trust the fed to take appropriate action if and when it's needed. jillian: the president says he's asking opec to increase oil production to lower gas price as americans respond to a fox news poll saying skyrocketing prices for necessities are creating financial hardships for their family. the so-called squad including a of oc is threatening to derail the infrastructure bill unless the senate passes the separate reconciliation package. it's being dubbed bernie's budget. in a letter to speaker nancy pelosi the progressive caucus
1:27 am
writing, quote, a majority of members would withhold votes in support of the bipartisan legislation until the senate has passed budget reconciliation legislation deemed acceptable by the congressional progressive caucus. and florida congressman byron donalds joins us live to react to the president's spending spree coming up in the next hour. todd: unvaccinated students at a west virginia college facing a $750 fee for the upcoming fall semester, they will have to pay for quarantine on campus if they get covid-19. joining me now to discuss, west virginia state delegate and alumni robby martin and junior at west virginia, logan. you take issue with this fee. why? >> i take issue with it because a couple days ago it was spurred on us that we have to pay $750 per semester and that makes it hard for me because a big reason
1:28 am
i chose the school is because it's the best financially for me and i live close to home so i can commute and i work throughout the semester. it takes away three, maybe four weeks worth of work. i can imagine people coming from out of state or out of county, trying to pay the $750 fine. todd: here's the explanation. the fee is going to be used to cover expenses that come from increased testing and other resources the college have to utilize and deploy to keep every student safe. is that rational justified in your opinion, robbie? >> i'm not sure about that. you know, in our area there's plenty of free testing that's being done. so i don't understand where the college is coming, saying that they're going to use the money for testing. and i also worry about if one person decides to have a lawsuit, i mean, that right there is going to cost them more than what they're going to be making off of these tests.
1:29 am
todd: lawsuits are expensive. >> the fines. todd: lawsuits are expense i've, even if you win. any time you get sued it costs money no matter what. logan, do you think something bigger is at play here, is there something we're missing behind the scenes? >> i'm not sure, honestly. it's not just a wesley ann problem, it's a problem throughout the country. we've been looking at other colleges throughout the state and rose college makes you pay $1,500 a semester and birmingham southern university makes you pay $500 a semester. they are forcing you to take take a vaccine that's not fda approved fully. i have a friend that took the vaccine and last week tested positive for covid. was do they want to -- what do they want to put in our bodies? is it helpful or not. todd: robbie, critics are going to say you don't agree with this
1:30 am
policy, fine, you have the freedom to go to another college. your response to that? >> i mean, that's very true. and wesleyann themselves they are a private college, they don't receive state funding directly. but they do receive some monies from the state, from something like the promise scholarship. so wesleyann, they have the option to do what they're doing and who knows, maybe the state legislature decides they want to pull the funding from them. it's their choice to do this. so you can see it both ways. todd: it is a fluid situation, not just on that campus but on campuses throughout the country. robbie and logan, thanks for your time this morning. keep us posted. >> thanks. todd: jillian. jillian: it is 30 minutes after the hour. still to come, the hunter biden bombshell, did another one of his laptops end up in the hands of russians? the newly surfaced video that's raising serious national
1:31 am
security questions. plus, a credit card company thinks capitalism is race it. the admission -- racist. the admission coming from american express, when we come back. ♪ do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol.
1:32 am
1:33 am
1:34 am
narrator: eva-marie smoked 12,000 packs of cigarettes over 15 years. she quit and now there's a new lung cancer screening that could save her life. you stopped smoking. now start screening. no matter how much you smoked, early detection could save you. talk to your doctor or learn more at savedbythescan.org
1:35 am
jillian: good morning, welcome back many hunter biden appearing to claim that russian drug dealers stole another one of his laptops for blackmail. those comments are part of an explicit video obtained by the daily mail. we have chosen not to show it due to the graphic nature. here is audio from 2019. >> [ indiscernible ] jillian: the video was all over the internet if you want to watch it yourself. hunter claims it was taken when he was on drugs in 2018. it's one of three laptops he lost. todd: inappropriate for the morning, if you will. the family jet and wouldn't it be fun to have one of those of climate envoy john kerry has emitted 30 times the amount of
1:36 am
carbon than an average car does in a year. the jet was taken on at least 20 trips between january 10 and august 6. fox news reviewed the data. it emitted carbon on the trips, the average car emits 4.6 metric tons in a year. this weakerly called for action on climate change, tweeting the climate crisis is not only here, it's growing increasingly severe. jillian: the capital of afghanistan could fall to the taliban within the next 90 days as taliban forces continue to make rapid gains in the region. todd: with two thirds of the nation under taliban control, how should the u.s. move forward. here to discuss, hudson institute senior fellow, rebecca heinrich. before we get to how we should proceed, the biden administration admits it did not see this happening this fast. did you? >> yes, of course. this is what every single person who studies this issue knew was
1:37 am
going to happen. it's why president trump didn't finally go down to zero even though he did want to go down to zero. he still had a few thousand troops remaining at the end of his term. it's the same problem the obama and bush administrations ran into. the second you pull everybody out of the region, it was u.s. troops even a small level that was standing between loose order and complete chaos and back to where we were before the united states went in, the taliban's going to completely take over. and what a sad, tragic ending after a couple of decades of u.s. forces being in the region. jillian: it really is. you take a look at this map and this just kind of feels like a punch to the gut when you look at this. the black areas there you see are taliban controlled, the gray areas are government controlled and the red areas contested at this point and you look at the numbers here, you'll see taliban in control of 223 districts whereas the afghan government only has 65 at this point, all of this as we approach the
1:38 am
20th anniversary of 9/11 and i think that in itself hits harder too. >> it does. and this is a time for our political leaders -- and remember, the u.s. forces who signed up and went in and served courageously, some of them giving the ultimate price, many putting on the uniform and killing america's enemies, they did the right thing. there was no military error at that level. the error really is shared across american presidencies, it's political decisions. for instance, allowing safe harbor in pakistan for terrorist organizations, in iran. the obama administration putting their head in the sand aboutal al-qaida operating inside iran. there's major serious political failures that happened. the moving target, what is the goal, what is the military objective, as things changed on the ground and allowing al-qaida to exist at the highest leadership, allowing bin laden
1:39 am
to live in pakistan for a decade before president obama finally gave the go-ahead to raid afghanistan and kill som bin laden. jillian: you mentioned pakistan and all over the internet i was seeing people calling for sanctions on pakistan, specifically in the u.n. do you think it is necessary and do you think it is something that would happen? >> you know, it's hard to say that pakistan's not more deserving of sanctions than any other country. in other words, pakistan is deserving of sanctions for their harboring of america's enemies. this is a little too late. 20 years of this country that was supposed to be a partner and ally of the united states, harboring america's enemies, so it is too late but again, i'm not going to be the one that's going to stand and say that pakistan's not deserving of sanctions. they do deserve it. jillian: rebecca, thank you so much for coming on and breaking this down for us. we appreciate it. >> thanks.
1:40 am
todd: a significant ritual meant to honor slain chicago police officer ella french was reportedly rushed during her sendoff over the weekend and brothers and sisters in blue want to know what happened. jillian: carley shimkus is here with the story. carley: good morning, guys. we're talking bought controversy on top of tragedy. chicago police officers were gathered outside the medical examiner's office office on saturday night to pay the final sendoff to officer ella french, a sacred ritual that includes the playing of the bagpipes. the doesn't's second in demand, the first deputy superintendent, eric carter, reportedly ignored the tradition. according to the chicago sun times, there's a recording of him saying we don't have 20 minutes for this, we're not waiting on the bagpipes. a former chicago police superintendent, gary mccarthy says this is inexcusable and
1:41 am
explains the effects it has on other officers. >> most of them feel like they're not being supported by their leadership. it's so important the sacred nature of rituals, certainly within policing. policing is highly under attack. carley: merrell lori lightfoot is -- mayor lori lightfoot is claiming the report is not true and they skipped it for a legitimate reason. todd: the young lady gave her life, you can give her 20 minutes. the white house playing defense. carley: let's talk about the coronavirus, press secretary jen psaki was asked whether or not she thinks president biden led to some vaccine hesitancy for saying this. take a listen. >> the previous administration was rushing to get a vaccine authorized. the president said i trust vaccines, i trust scientists, but i don't trust donald trump. >> i think it's safe to say he doesn't trust donald trump. he trusts people leading the cdc
1:42 am
and fda. >> they pointed out that president biden has yet to appoint a person to run the fda. kind of an important time for that to happen. i wonder what the hold-up is. also the fda has not fully authorized the covid vaccine. president biden says that's hopefully going to happen sometime this fall. todd: clock is ticking. [laughter] jillian: it is. next topic. the next topics by the way, a lot of things have gotten political. i didn't expect credit cards to be one of them. carley: american express is reportedly subjecting its employees to critical race theory training seminars and in the seminars they're being told a vied variety of things including workers should deconstruct racial and sexual identities and rank themselves on hire -- hierarchy of privilege.
1:43 am
they're supposed to rank things on an official company worksheet and trainers are supposed to provide a flow chart with rules for interacting with black, female and lgbt employees and this was reported by christopher russo. he points out that employees were pointed out about the evils of capitalism at a credit card company. american express which made $2.3 billion in profit last quarter, capitalism is so evil though. todd: it's racist, capitalism is racist at american express. i give up. jillian: you gave up yesterday. todd: you can't make that up. this is real. carley: critical race theory is part of i would say a majority of companies now, but the evils of capitalism thing at a credit card company is what's hilarious. todd: i'm out. jillian: still ahead, a freedom loving american locked in a
1:44 am
legal battle over a grand display of patriotism. the business owner explains his fight for old glory. todd: i'll come back. a baseball game two years in the making happening right next to iowa's most famous corn field. will cain will chat about it, coming up. ♪ i'm ready to play today. ♪ put me in, coach. ♪ i'm ready to --
1:45 am
1:46 am
1:47 am
1:48 am
jillian: good morning. welcome back. a 200-foot flag pole sparking a lawsuit after a business is told it's too tall. the city claiming, quote, a flag pole can't exceed the maximum height of a building in the zone and the maximum height of a building is 40 feet. meaning it would need to be reduced by 160 feet. joining me now to discuss, butter milk pike self storage owner, john huffman. thank you for being here. i will start off by asking how this transpired. we read the quote and they talk about a flag pole. i know that in your estimation that some of these zoning codes are rather vague. tell me the back story here. >> well, i've been self-employed for 42 years, this
1:49 am
is my third business and i have served as a general contractor many times and my engineers and i read through the zoning codes and i was told that i would need to get clearance from the faa because i'm so close to the nola kentucky international airport. we got clearance from the faa so we thought we were good. and we did all the engineering needed. we had a civil engineer, a jew owe technical -- geo technical engineer. i had a third engineer up in michigan. he designed the anchor, a 25 and-a-half foot feet anchor, seven feet in diameter, filled with concrete and rebar. jillian: you did a lot of work here. i'm curious what point in the process did the town or city come in and say this is a problem. >> it was about 10 days after the flag pole was put up and i had another engineer on-site to
1:50 am
inspect the concrete, the rebar, the quantity, the die am a tear. i had a -- diameter. i had an engineer on site to inspect the welding as it was happening, not only on the ground but when the two halves were joined together, the welder and inspector would literally be shoulder to shoulder in a basket 100 feet up in the air suspended by a second crane to make sure everything was perfectly done, absolutely correctly. jillian: we're looking at the images, it's absolutely beautiful. it begs the question why did you want to do this. obviously it's something that's near and dear to your heart and important to you. >> well, my mother-in-law is an amazing person. she was 12 years old when castro came in and took over you cuba. her father, my wife's grandfather who unfortunately i never met, he was actually imprisoned by castro for 83
1:51 am
days. he was actually trying to fund the counter-revolutionaries who landed at bay of pigs and she, my mother-in-law and her sister were able to escape and i've heard so many horror stories from my mother-in-law down through the years that i really became not only proud to be an american but just thankful, thankful to be here and i wanted to put up this flag pole as a tribute to the active duty military, veterans, first responders, and the freedom we all enjoy. jillian: absolutely. >> the freedom that too many americans absolutely take for granted. jillian: yeah. i mean, what a message you have today. i know you're in a lawsuit. i know you have a gofundme page. do me a favor, john. keep us updated on everything. we would love to follow this story and see how it plays out. thank you for coming on this morning. >> thank you for the opportunity. jillian: that is some pray
1:52 am
totism -- patriotism right there. i was going to say patriotic pride. todd: if you build it they will come, the yankees, white sox and will cain in iowa where mlb is bringing a baseball classic to life. jillian: will joins us live ahead of the field of dreams game tonight on fox. will is also full of patriotism. will, good morning. >> reporter: i am steps from the concella family home where kevin costner cut a baseball diamond into a corn field and tonight the yankees and white sox will take the field on fox. but yesterday, todd and jillian, and todd i know you were here a few years ago, i did a thing that "fox & friends" does. i allowed myself to be embarrassed on national television, i played a little baseball and took tips from 14-year-olds. the yankees and white sox youth teams played a game yesterday, the ace versus the dream, the aces won 8-7. before the game, they helped me
1:53 am
out, taught me how to pitch, taught me how to hit. watch. ♪ will: coach, so you're here, iowa field of dreams. that's got to be pretty exciting for you first. you saw the movie, right? >> so they shot the film in '89. i was born in '89. i don't know that i understood the hidden message of the movie, but you see it now, it's a phenomenal experience. it's a memory they will never forget, i will never forget. knowing we're the first ones to actually have a game. will: this field, this house, this setting, because of the movie. i know you saw the movie, you watched it as a team. you were born in 2006. the movie was 1989. does it hold up. >> yeah, i think it does. >> i like the baseball scenes.
1:54 am
when he was pitching to -- i forget his name. will: shoeless joe jackson? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. will: what did you think about the movie? >> i loved it. so nostalgic, if you build it, they will come. look at everybody here, we're coming. >> people will come, ray. people will most definitely come. >> i'm just jealous, i'm not with the yankees playing against the white sox or one of these kids that get to make their dream come true. will: tell me about the dream. tell me about the program. >> our youth academy, gives a chance to everybody in the new york state area to have an opportunity to play, to learn and to grow. will: this program, aces, tell me about the program. it's chicago based, connected to the white sox. >> i'm so grateful for the opportunity and resources they have provided to the community in chicago to provide a platform for these young boys and girls to play competitive baseball on a national level. will: cavari is going to teach
1:55 am
me how to pitch. >> a change-up is like this. will: three fingers over the top? >> yeah. will: fast ball. now time for the change-up. >> all right, will, you're up, man. do you want to give it a shot? will: no. i always said if i threw out the first pitch, i would practice. zero practice. zero warmup. >> not bad. [laughter] >> good job, will. will: that one about threw it out. how did i do? [laughter] will: i heard that laugh. i need to release here, come in here. yeah. >> work on your balance. you kind of like -- will: leaning back? >> yeah. >> rookies. will: aces showed me how to pitch. do you think you can show me how to hit. >> you're going to get a nice
1:56 am
wide stance, shoulder width apart, keep the bat up, elbows up. take a nice, level swing. will: all right. my turn. >> let's see what you got, will. that was a good swing though. there we go. contact. there you go. right up the middle, that's another hit. two in a row. there it is. there you go. will: you give me the real critique, gabriel. >> i mean, you were on balance, i'm sorry, but like -- i mean, your eyes were on the ball, you made contact. will: same thing you said about my pitching, i was unbalanced. >> the most important thing was you persisted, you kept going and the last three swings you made contact. that's all we have. will: thank you, sir. go get them, boys. there you have it. the game tonight is on fox, yankees and white sox, right here from the field of dreams.
1:57 am
that is 7:00, pregame at 6:00. make sure you tune in. it's going to look really cool. it's an awesome place. jillian: i took notes on your swings there and we'll dive into it in the next hour. will: thank you. i look forward to that. todd: we'll check back in with you. jillian: joe concha and byron donnels all live next. ♪ at spin class was brutal. well, you can try using the buick's massaging seat. oh. yeah, that's nice. can i use apple carplay to put some music on? sure, it's wireless. what's your buick's wi-fi password? it's buick envision. that's a really tight spot. i used to hate parallel parking. me too! the all-new buick envision. built around you. all of you. pay no interest for 72 months plus current eligible buick owners get $500 purchase allowance on most 2021 buick suv models.
1:58 am
1:59 am
covid-19 has changed how we vibe. buick owners get $500 now it's time to take the first step that lets us get back
2:00 am
to getting tix instead of watching flix. before we can safely get out there, we need the facts. as covid-19 vaccines become available, you may have questions. girl 1: is it safe? girl 2: should i get it? girl 3: is it free? vo: it's okay to have questions. now get the facts about covid-19 vaccines at getvaccineanswers.org so you can make an informed decision for yourself and for your crew.

163 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on