he might not come to your house. todd: we talked about that, it's not his responsibility necessarily, norad's responsibility to make sure the kids a are in bed, that's your job, children. do it, make sure you in bed, and then the big guy will come down your chimney. carley: rick, do you have a weather update? rick: hold on, he had an injury in his antler, and it got an infection, so they had to remove his last year's antlers, and it made this one grow crookinged and stopped the other one from growing. todd: also thank you in advance for providing a weather update because we have a mess across our great country. rick: so much of the country is dealing with the cold, we're talking about coldest temperatures we've seen in years. 51 degrees in miami, 49 in fort lauderdale, 45 in tampa. these actual air temperatures. then you go to north florida, and you're below freezing. 29 in jacksonville, 24 in pensacola, and we have hard freeze warnings that stretches

across parts of the rio grande valley, all throughout the deep and north parts of florida. south florida, no surprise freeze watches -- no freeze watches at all. any blue or purple temperatures are below 0. you get in toward these purple can be -- excuse me, below freezing, get in to the purples, and you've got the temps below 0. this was all part of this storm that brought the snow and the wind and the cold. it is now beginning to move in towards participants of canada, but you -- parts of canada, but notice the circulation. that's winds that'll continue to go across parts of the great lakes, and we're going to have massive lake effect snow piling up. about a month ago we saw 6 feet of snow in buffalo, we potentially have another 4 feet of snow that's going to fall across the same spot, so wind is going to track right across the lakes, lake erie, and and take a look at this. feels like -19, very heavy snow to the north of buffalo.

we also have winds at 33 miles an hour, so it's going to be blowing all kinds of snow around making things probably hard to see anywhere. so stay off the roads if you can. still a lot of power outages. take a look -- at this, 225,000 households without power in maine in this cold air. it is going to be really scary, really dangerousment all kinds of wind chill alerts across parts of north texas, cold air is here. guys, this gets better. simes you get this kind of cold, and it can stick around for a long time. but by the time we get towards tuesday, wednesday, big moderation, and by the latter part of next weekend, almost the entire lower 48 is going to be looking at temps above average. get true this weekend, stay inside if you at all can, stay off of the roads -- carley: and this is happening at the worth time for so many people hard, of course, trying to get with home for the holidays. we've been looking at the flight cancellations and delays all morning long, and they've gone up from, what, 5,000 morning

delays to now 8-9,000 delays across the country. and, but you did say that middle of next week everything's going to go back to moral. rick: it's going to be -- it's going to feel really traumatic. we've had this swing of temperatures, 50 degrees in a lot of places. we're going to have about a 50-degree swing back. carley: wow. rick: so this warm air mass is going to come in and feel really good. even if you're into the 40s or 50s, man, that is going to be welcome. todd: the fluctuations have been insane. we didn't get hit hard at all in connecticut, but i lost power for basically 24 hours because of the wind. it went from 47 to 7 yesterday. i was salting literally in the middle of a rainstorm because i knew when i had to leave in the morning, it was going to be in the single digits. rick: we had a 51-degree swing in new york city, but you're right, it was the wind that's caused all these power outages. not the snow, it's been this wind. and it takes a while to get that

power back to people when you have so many, it takes a while to get that reset. keep in mind you check in on your neighbors, a lot of people who might not have power or a way to get their house heated, and becomes dangerous really quickly. for anybody who's out on the roads if you get stuck,you have an accident, there's a lot of areas that had rain first and then it flash froze and there may be some snow on top of it, so the roads are really slick, and if you get suck out there, you can't sur -- stuck out there, you can't survive for long in temps in this cold. carley: so many variations of things that can go wrong. rick, appreciate it. all right, so kamala harris is making some muse morning. i guess we should start this you have off by faking a look at all of -- taking a look at all of her responsibilities as vice president. she's been tasked with handling the border crisis, she's also the national space council chair. she has a handle in election reform. she's also the ambassador to small businesses and improves access to high-speed internet, i

actually did not know that last one. but she recently had some interesting comments to washington post reporter where she feels like her press coverage is unfair. she said already things that i've done as vice president that fully demonstrate the strength of my leadership as vice president that have not received the kind of coverage that i think the dobbs decision did receive. i -- interesting, those last comments. i think her overall statement is because she's treated unfairly. todd: and as you know, i talk about a california a lot, and during the time that i lived out there, obviously, kamala harris was a.g. and then senator. there's no politician more coddled by the media. her entire career, than kamala harris. that goes for her boss, joe biden. i mean, at least joe biden has been the target of some arrows and barbs during the course of his time coming up in moll ticks those 50 -- politics those 50

years. but she was treated by the media with a hands-off approach, and that is finally catching up to her because in the national spotlight sometimes -- not always with the mainstream media being in the pocket of the democrats, but sometimes you're going to get called out. yet she says this is our fault in the media because we don't recognize her strong leadership. we can top off that list that carley mentioned earlier, what she is highway -- has she done swimmingly that shows strong leadership? start at the top, the border crisis. democrats and republicans all to a man and to a woman with the exception of a few far leftists say the border is an absolute disaster. national space council chair, i don't know one way or the other, seems like that's a slam dunk if you're chairing that, you should be able to make some big news. all i remember is that horribly awkward press avail where she talked to children. election reform, i'll ask you out there, do you think our

elections are perfect? and the list goes on and on. carley: that's right. you mentioned some of the more awkward moments, we actually have a compilation of moments from kamala harris that have been caught on camera over the past two years if you need a remind every. listen here. >> -- to advance specific rules and norms in space. regarding rules and norms, more specifically regarding rules and norms and international rules and norms. you guys are going to see, you're going to literally see the craters on the moon with your own eyes. [laughter] i just, i don't know whats about those craters on the moon. so we invested an additional $12 billion into community banks because we know community banks are in the community and understand the needs and desires of that community as well as the talent and capacity of community. >> do you have any plans to visit the border? >> i, at some point, you know, we are going to the border. we've been to the border --

>> you. >> so this whole, this whole thing about the border, we've been to the border. we've been to the board. >> you haven't been to the border. >> and i haven't been to europe. [laughter] carley: i think we ended off on the best one there, maybe the worst depending on how you look at it. we've gone to the border, i've been to the border, no, you haven't. well, i've been to europe. todd: she hasn't been to europe. we can guarantee one thing, we will be here tomorrow morning wishing you a merry christmas live from the couch. for those of you celebrating christmas eve today, enjoy. carley: merry christmas, everybody. see you tomorrow. ♪ frost i the snowman was a jolly, happy soul. ♪ with a corn cob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made owl -- out of coal. ♪ frosty the snowman spend quali, at the same time? lowe's, actually.

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♪ griff: there's no place like home for the holidays; that is, if you can get home because of a whole lot of folks still digging out and trying to get on those planes to fly out. so far more than 34,000 flights canceled or delayed since thursday. road travel in many areas not much better. and it's all a creating chaos for those last minute deliveries as well. merry christmas eve, i think, everyone. i'm griff jenkins in for neil cavuto, welcome to a special edition of "cavuto live. " let's begin with the chaos at the airports. mike tobin is at chicago's o'hare airport. how wad is -- bad is it out there? >> reporter: well, you know, it's not that bad. one of the things you'll notice is that i've got an empty airport 'emal bekind me. the chaos really seems hike it's behind us in the middle of the country anyway. it looks like it's moving east.

there's a lot of red indicating cancellations on the board still but significantly down from yesterday. let's take a look at your major air carriers. american airlines has now only 89 cancellations. delta, which is based in atlanta as the storm is moving east, they're seeing a bit of a bump up with 330 cancellations. southwest has had a rough go in no small part because of the southwest flight patterns just happen to be where the weather got the worst, and heir still seeing a lot of cannes -- cancellations, 380. united is down to 190. total domestic flight cancellations right now, talking about just the flights within the continental u.s., 1700, and that's down from some 6,000 this time yesterday. people really did have to struggle to get home. >> i told my mom, mom, please pray for me. i said pray for me because i want to be home for christmas. >> so we are trying to make some backup plans with the flights, and everything is sold out. so, unfortunately, if we can't make it out today, we're not

going to get there for the holidays. >> we'd love to be at home with our family at home. >> reporter: now, plightaware.com puts out their misery map. red is the delays and the cancellations on that map. well, if you could see it, one of the things it would show you is that the misery has really moved to the east of the middle of the country. the temperature is rebounding. yesterday we started at -10, today it's 1, but the wind chill still puts you back into the negatives. griff, back to you. griff: very, very cold, and it looks like travelers must bring their patience, indeed. mike tobin, be safe. merry christmas eve to you, my friend. all right, well, that bomb cyclone is causing temperatures to plummet to dangerous levels in many places in the this christmas weekend. joining us now from the fox weather center is craig herrera. hey, craig, tell us about these cold temps. >> reporter: hey there, griff. it's the cold temples -- temps

and that wind chill. you see the temperature on the thermometer maybe reading 8, but the wind chill makes it feel like negative numbers. as a result, the storm moving east, we have 1.6 million customers without power. we're seeing some rolling power outages in places like tennessee, north carolina, south carolina. north carolina, 443,000 customers would want power. major concern, and a lot of this due to the gusty winds. you factor in the cold air, tough to stay warm. in fact, we've got 168 million americans that are impacted by wind chill warnings or advisories, and look how far south they go, all the way down into florida and south texas. how about, right now it is 30 degrees cooler than it was in the time yesterday in jacksonville. new york, no surprise, 39 degrees cooler. the cold air funneling all the way down to the south. right now it is 37 degrees in orlando, 13 in. you factor in the -- 13 in atlanta. we've got some gusty winds

rolling across the great lakes and into portions of new england, the mid-atlantic, and we could see some record cold highs. pensacola today will only reach about 38 degrees, and that would be a record cold high. 60 cities up and down the eastern seaboard could see some records today all the way down through south florida. that's however this -- that's how far this has extended. we cohave a good chance to see a white christmas over a good portion of the country. the great lakes, we've got the lake effect in full swing. the center of the storm, that bomb sign clone, now has moved up into -- cyclone, has moved up into canada. giving us strong winds, and this is what it feels like, feels like -13 in biz mark -- business mark. bitter cold all the way down to the south, and look at these numbers through the afternoon, feeling like 26 degrees in pensacola at 5:00 today. what a christmas over, right?

as we go through christmas day feeling more like 20 in pensacola, 19 in knoxville. amarillo, 30. it's going to feel warmer in amarillo than it will in pensacola. the bitter cold air continues to spill well to the south. houston feeling more like 23 degrees. you can see why it's a concern when we've got the pour autoage -- power outages in place. all of this air will start to warm up next week but, boy, it is a cold day right through the weekend. and, griff, over the great lakes places like buffalo have already received 27 the inches of snow over the past 2 two days, looking to add another 2 feet of snow there as well as high waves because of the strong winds moving all of lake erie and lake ontario, michigan also dealing with lake effect snow. griff: wow. craig, eiffel -- i'm a surfer, but i don't think i would want to surf anywhere near 27 inches of snow. craig herrera, thank you very much. you can stay up-to-date by

downloading the fox weather app or stream fox weather on your favorite connected tv device. now, as we mentioned, there are some 34,000 flight delays and cancellations since thursday. airlines are actually offering vouchers to passengers affected, but lots of them having trouble finding a flight to rebook. so what can they do? well, travel analyst -- is joining us now to fill us in. merry christmas, lindsey. >> happy holidays to you too. give give this is a terrible time to have this problem, right at the holidays. we have seen in the reports the travelers trying to get home, some may not make it. but in terms of the vouchers, in terms of what passengers, fliers can do, what do you say to them? >> what i would recommend is, number one, check out what the status of your flight is before you go to the airport. there are a lot of folks who are having flight ares canceled before they even leave, so it's better to check and realize it's

canceled than stay home and deal with it from the comfort of your own home. second of all, i would recommend travelers visit the department of transportation's airline customer service dashboard web site. it's something that was launched this year and gives an overview of what travelers are entitled to if their flight is delayed or canceled. you can search by airlines, see all of the customer service plans, and it'll really give you a sense of what you could potentially be entitled to if your flight is delayed or canceled. just be prepared to have some patients, wait on line probably for a long time either in the terminal or on the phone. there are probably going to be long waits. but if you can have some patience, hopefully you'll be able to get to somebody who can help you either rebook or get a refund. griff: you need a lot of patience, actually, to get through this. if i were thinking about traveling in the very near future or, maybe on christmas day or after, what do you think is the likelihood of that also being interrupted? >> well, it looks like the worst

is hopefully behind us. there's said to be less cancellations today than there were yesterday. and in terms of the numbers of travelers that are coming through the airports, we've seen those numbers decline a little bit. so a couple of days ago they were higher than pre-pandemic levels. yesterday and the day before they were a bit lower, and that could be somewhat due to delays and cancellations. but also i think folks kind of spreading out their travel a little bit more. so, you know, hopefully people will be able to get where they need to go on time going forward. griff: and we shall hope that the worst is behind us. lindsey, thank you very much. have a safe and happy holidays. >> thank you. griff: all right. sad ily, those final few gifts might not make it under the tree if the wicked weather keeps your delivery driver from getting to your home. fedex and ups warning shoppers of just that nightmare scenario. so what should last minute shoppers do now? retail watcher hitha herzog joining us now.

so what should those last minute shoppers be doing? can you still hop on amazon and order that gift you forgot to get? >> i have to tell you, griff, a lot of these small businesses are so digitally prepared. so if you are a last minute shopper and you need something immediately, so many of these small businesses because of the pandemic have all of these digital safety innocents according to the data catalyst student. so if you need something, you can go online and get it delivered to your house. i'm not saying every single store can do this, but especially if you live in a city, the temperatures are dropping here on the east coast, i'm in new york. i tested this out yesterday, if you have delivery service for restaurants, some of these stores are even on these delivery service apps. so you can, you're certainly paying a premium, have those gifts delivered to you within 40 minutes if need be. again, you're paying the premium for that.

there's also, griff, gift certificates. i am not opposed to gift certificates especially if you are getting one specifically that suits the needs of that person. and you know what, griff? i is small children, i know, i hope none of my family's watching -- [laughter] but that art that they have, just package it and give it to people. it's from the heart, it's from the kids, you know, if you're really struggling, maybe that's something you should give to people as well. griff: gift cards, great advice and, hopefully, everybody will listen to that. thank you so much. hope you and your family have a merry christmas. >> you too. grave give the prime minister is preparing to -- the president is preparing to sign that massive spending bill, and it's not just what's in it that has create arics questioning it. how about what was left out of it? we'll tackle that coming up. all across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. so we're hard at work, helping them achieve financial freedom.

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neil: welcome, everybody, i'm neil cavuto. we had some technical gremlins, i think, folks, we've overcome hem. so for those of you who love grirvetion i i apologize that i'm back, but those of you who love me, well, i'm happy that i'm back. we'll see how long this lasts. welcome, everybody. i hope you're enjoying your christmas eve. got a lot of things done, i don't know if you got all your shopping done, but the one last, big task that that congress had to do or wanted to do, it got done last night when the house of representatives went ahead and approved that a roughly $1.7 trillion omnibus spending plan. it didn't go exactly as planned, it was a bumpy ride. republicans were snapping at each other, and democrats are rejoicing in the fact that they are. this whole spending initiative, by the way, could be very inflationary. that is another issue we'll be

debating. let's get the details what happens now. i thinkable needs chad pergram on capitol hill, the president's signature, right? >> reporter: that's right. bills this big often have all sorts of things stuffed into them. house minority leader kevin mccarthy took aim at individual projects named after lawmakers like elizabeth warren and retiring chairman patrick leahy. >> -- of the rules committee, mr. speaker. he might be at ground breaking for elizabeth warren's new $3 million swimming pool in massachusetts, because that's what americans believe we should borrow money on right now. because that's putting people before politics. i don't know if you're going to go to the leahy center that he requested. >> reporter: $75 million for family planning where population growth could harm the environment, $66 million for fisheries and money to prosecute those connected to last year's riot at the capitol. one republican called this, quote, garbage.

house majority leader steny hoyer took issue with that characterization. >> from hurricanes to wildfires, natural disasters and the climate crisis, a growing threat to americans across the country. fortunately, this bill secures $38 billion in supplemental appropriations to help these communities rebuild after disasters and strengthen themselves against future ones. that is not garbage. >> reporter: now, even though congress passed the bill before last night's deadline, lawmakers still missedded hair mark. lawmakers also approved an interim spending bill, the third the one since september, to run the government through december 30th. the reason? it will take days for congressional enrollment clerks to copy the bill onto parchment and get the bill ready for president biden to sign into law. neil? neil: chad, i do want you to

think about this, the 4,000 plus pages in this, i mean, remember when it was a big deal with ronald reagan, i believe back in 1988, talking about a huge spending plan a little over 1,000 pages. i'm sure you'll recognize this quite well. ronald reagan in 1988. okay, it's just -- [applause] oh, there it is. [applause] neil: all right. he had a couple of funny one-liners about the size of this, how big it was. that's kind of how they feel about this, right? >> reporter: that's right. it's $1.7 trillion, and let's talk about what this bill actually funds. this runs the government through next september 30th. this is what we call a discretionary spending, end

spending that congress is responsible for. this is an into it -- this isn't into it with elements, this is that remaining about 30% of the federal government that is appropriated by congress. now keep in mind, i'm really going to do some math here for you, neil, 55% of this bill goes to the military. there are a lot of republicans who criticized the size of the bill, there were some republicans like lindsey graham and some others who supported the bill because it actually funded the military. there was an increase. and you might remember that a mitch mcconnell, the minority leader, he went to the president and said i'll support an omnibus bill, but we have to hold the line on what they call domestic spending, so nondefense because defense is such a major part of appropriations. democrats got an awful lot in their big covid bill last year and so on. president biden agreed to that. they lowered the numbers there, but they increased the defense side. and this is why some republicans are upset because they don't like the size of the bill, but much of that spending goes

towards the military, neil. neil: i do wonder if it has burnt some bridges within the republican party, certainly between the republicans in the senate and those in the house. they've both been pointing fingers at each other, no fans of those 18 in the senate who voted for. i believe about 8 or 9 republicans in the house did. i'm just wondering whether it's leaving lasting ill will. >> reporter: this is the first time i have heard senior republicans in the house of representatives criticize the chairman or the ranking republican leader of the appropriations committee in the senate many, in this case, richard shelby. he's retiring here. they really lit up some of these republican senators who voted for this bill. and kevin mccarthy i, he kind of tore into richard shelby. he criticized him, patrick leahy who's the chair of the appropriations committee, democrat, of course. this republican-on-republican violence is something we've really not seen. you can imagine that escalating next year.

neil: chad, thank you very, very much for that. we'll see what happens right now. chad pergram on those developments. now, a lot of republicans were saying for all the money we're providing not only in this measure, but certainly the 45 million tucked into this for ukraine, where is support for the border? well, it's in here, but it's maybe not mt. numbers that they thought. i want to get, dive into that with joe -- a city mayor. mayor, very good to have you. there are some provisions that call for hiring more at the border to deal with the migrant surge. it's already happening to say nothing of the big surge that's happening to the tune of about $3.5-4 million, allocations for temporary facilities and things like that to the tune of $7 billion. what do you think of all that? >> first of all, merry christmas, america. we are truly blessed to live in the greatest country in the world. and people the world over still believe that our great nation is the land of opportunity, the land of hope and prosperity, and

as long as people believe that immigration and border security will forever remain embedded in the fabric of our great nation. now, the border -- we are in a situation where if title 42 is lifted, we will have a surge, and our migrant processing capability will be compromised and, therefore, general jeopardizing -- jeopardizing our national security. but at the end, unfortunately, it is a talf city that congress has -- travesty that congress has failed to deliver a consequential, long-term solution for our broken immigration system which consequently places the onus on the executive. and we all know how fickle that is. it is a house of cards because border policies flow directionally with the winds of change of white house administrations. so we can go ahead at this point, deal with this in a short-term basis, and that is what this is. it's a short-term plan. it is a myopic way of dealing

with the border. bottom line is we need to take actions, consequential actions, that will deliver long-term results. so again -- neil: so, mayor, i assume by what you're saying then, sir, just to check off on this, that the administration claims tucked into this is more beefing up for forces that they say will do what you want to see happen at the border, $7 billion for the u.s. border patrol for operations and hiring. that represents about a 17% increase this year over last year. but i imagine that's just a statistical spit mt. ocean for -- in the ocean for responsibilities that will quadruple in light of the greater numbers coming in now, almost four times what were coming in last year at this time. >> the reality is that we wouldn't have to spend another dime on the border if we just simply had the border policies that would min mielz -- minimize

these impacts. at this point, yes, border patrol needs all the resources because, by the way, we are fortunate of great men and women of cbp who preserve, protect and defend our borders 24/. , and they do -- 4/7, and they do a phenomenal job. when you're looking at the grand scheme of things, we wouldn't need to spend another dime if we had border policies that were more effective, and at this point we don't. and, again, they change with the winds of change of white house administrations which is inconsistent because bottom line we've failed to execute the border policies on a consistent basis. however, by all means, we have to support our border patrol agents. in fact, i've had several meetings with border patrol agencies, or should i say border patrol, the chief of border patrol, in fact, gloria chavez. and, in fact, we're having another meeting this coming tuesday to deal with some of these issues particularly if we're going to have, if we lose

operational control and have to release, community releases, that's going to be an an issue because then what do we do as communities? particularly we don't have the financial resources. and by the way, when -- and at that point, by the way, we would have to find ways to transport these individuals out of our communities. which inadvertently, we are aiding and abetting the cartels which is, again, so you are the -- so unfortunate because this does not have to be. bottom line is we do at this point if president biden through executive order would address this, that's the only solution at this point. we would have to address it from a short-term solution. but, again, we cannot let congress to fail to act. we have to put out the fire, and at some point they're going to have to act. if not if -- neil: mayor, mayor, doesn't the president, doesn't the president at least have to go to the border and see what's going on? >> absolutely. neil: a lot of people, even democrats who are saying that by ignoring the problem, he's

compounding the problem. where is, where is his role who? absolutely. there's no doubt you have to show up to the crisis. there's no doubt the president has to show up ott crisis. and we do have a crisis. let's call it for what it is. every we have a crisis on our hands. and in some cases, you can call it a self-inflicted because of these border policies that, unfortunately, are creating these influxes. if we at some point decide to address it truly which, again, it has to go through congress at some point and right now these border policies are creating this crisis. but, yes, absolutely, he does need to show up to the crisis. and honestly, i do not know why he hasn't, whether, again, pollices. -- politics. the border gets politicized and, by the way, it's both sides of the aisle here. democrats, republicans play partisan politics with the border and, unfortunately, we're the ones stuck with.

and we have for the last several decades, by the way. and, by the way, we are having to continually correct the false narrative of the rio grande valley as a whole. we are a great place to work, the american dream, we are more than immigration central. and if you come down, by the way, we don't have lawlessness, chaos in our community. we're a great place to live down here and in fact, again, wish you a merry christmas to all of america. we do live in the greatest country in the world. neil: fair enough. back at you, mayor. merry christmas to you and yours and those in your wonderful community. thank you, mayor villarreal for updating us on all of that. in the mean time, this massive weather storm system that has now engulfed or affected directly or indirectly some 200 million americans, it's about two-thirds of our country. let's get the latest on this widespread freeze that even incorporates the south, indeed, the atlanta area. robert ray is with us right now

from fox weather. robert, what is it looking like there? >> reporter: neil, merry christmas to you and the viewers. good morning from a suburb just northeast of downtown atlanta. it is just downright freezing here. it's single digits this morning, now we're hovering around 13, 14 degrees with wind chills below 0 or at 0. and just to put that into perspective, alaska, the northern tip of this great state of alaska, is at 12 degrees right now. so that's what we're feeling, arctic plunge here. and, you know, let's take a look at some of this airport video. o'hare international airport yesterday, i've been reporting from chicago all week as i was at o'hare yesterday, trying to get out one of the many travelers across the country that were delayed or even canceled. you see the airport there with the planes on the snowy runway taking off and landing, but

travel chaos ensues. reasons at the airports having issues moving to and from rental car facilities yesterday at o'hare, and i landed here in atlanta. i have to say, neil, i'm not sure the heat was working in atlanta the hartsfield-jackson. everyone who got off the plane realized quickly that the terminals were cold, the baggage claim was cold. telephone amazing scenario as -- it was an amazing scenario as people trying to get home to their loved ones for the 40 today -- holiday. and up in chitown, we had this incredible phenomenon by mother nature, the arctic sea, sort of a fog going through as the temperatures of lake michigan, 40 degrees, the air temperature below 0 creating this scenario where it looks like there's smoke rising from the lake. so just an incredible scene up there. and today in the state of georgia thousands of people are out of power, unfortunately. hopefully that changes quickly.

i mow that officials are work -- i know that officials are working on that. it is so cold here right now, neil. back to you. neil: just incredible. as has been your reporting on, robert. thank you very much is. robert ray, the latest stop, atlanta, georgia. by the way, we mean it when we say that fox weather is the best, and it's not just because fox is in front of it. i have this app, you can download this app, foxweather.com. it is amazing. it shows the really cold spots, the spots where it isn't so cold and where there are problematic developments in terms of power outages and the like. they warn you and present it in a very easy to read, easy to follow way. so even if you're having problems, let's say you're stuck at the airport, at least you can download this to find out how long you might be at that airport. so do give it a try, because it has been a saving grace for a lot of fox viewers as a result. all right, in the meantime, not a saving grace when you do get to grand a ma -- grandma's,

will grandma be ready for you? we're seeing a spike in cases of simple flu, other respiratory ailments and the like that now have occupied or gotten to the point where about 75% of all icu beds are filled across the country. some cities more than others. what's going on here and how can you protect yourself? go to debbie, the ny urkel school of medicine -- nyu school of medicine associate professor. doctor, i'm reading this in conjunction with reports out of china that covid cases are not only spiking, but maybe a lot more than they thought. deaths are rising, i believe 5,000 a week now. nothing like it was presumably during the height of covid, but should we worry about this, all of this? >> well, it seems counterintuitive that so many things are getting better, things are opening up, but then at the same time we have the hospitalizations especially in the icu going up. but it's because the virus, covid and these other ones,

influenza and rsv, they're not equal opportunity. so what we see is the majority of people who are healthy, you know, they're getting better. they have antibodies now especially to covid. so what happens is if they get infected for the most part, they have mild, if any, symptom and they do okay. but then we have a large proportion of people who are not healthy. so if you think about it over the past couple of years, they weren't healthy, and they were disproportionately affected. so they didn't have access to medical care, maybe they developed more medical problems and stuff, and they're the ones that are really target ad by these viruses. so -- targeted. they're the ones hard getting hospitalized, they're the ones that are ending up in the icu. so as always a, you know, there's this kind of dichotomy between the people. now, if you're in that group where you are more vulnerable, you have to take extra precautions to protect yourself. and it's not worth fighting with family over the holidays. that's just an exercise in frustration. but there are things that you can do to protect yourself.

so if you have medical problems, first thing is to try to get those thicks you should -- things under control. if you're diabetic, get with your blood sugars tightly controlled, if possible, and all these precautions that we've been abe, for example, you know, social distancing, masks, even though there have been controversies about universal mandates and thing things like that, you know, mandates of course, you can still take voluntary precautions if you think it's appropriate, you know? it depends on your own medical condition and, of course, you know, your level of risk. so those are things to consider. and, of course, second dare prevention if you have any -- secondary prevention if you have any symptom, go get tested and treatment, because there are things that can speed things up. neil: well put and good reminders, all. doctor, thank you very is, very much. in the meantime here, while we're following the cold and following all this spike in flu and other respiratory ailment cases, along comes yet again another reminder of the violence in this country. the mall of america shootings,

you probably herald a little bit about them. -- heard a little bit about them.. bit about them.. we'll update you on that after this. but now i'm working for schwab. i love to help people understand the world through their lens and invest accordingly. you can call us christmas eve at four o'clock in the morning. we're gonna always make sure that you have all of the financial tools and support to secure your financial future. that means a lot for my community and for every community.

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serious allergic reaction may occur. best move i've ever made. ask your dermatologist about cosentyx®. neil: a shooting last night at minnesota's mall of america, the late from alexandria hoff. >> reporter: yeah, neil, no arrests made at this time. we're awaiting an update at some point today. a 19-year-old man, a teen, lost his life in an incident that police say lasted just 30 seconds. according to the bloomington police department, around 7:50 p.m. an officer who was already working inside of the mall heard gunshot ises from within the nordstrom's store. that officer rushed to find the victim, life saving measures were taken but, unfortunately, not successful. police say after reviewing security video, some kind of altercation had broken out among two groups of mensches about 5-9 people. the footage shows a man pull out a gun and fire. the sorrow of a family having to

endure christmas, and he spoke with contempt for the shooter. >> we have an incident where if someone decides that they want to pull out a gun and shoot somebody with a complete lack of disrespect for human life, i still don't know what we can do to stop that. i mean, this is absolutely ridiculous. i mean, i can't even think of another word, this is the just flat out stupid. i mean, you're going to go out here and shoot somebody? >> reporter: promised to lock up the shooter and anyone if else who helped the suspect or suspects evade capture. reporting another shopper's clothing was grazed by the bullet. the mall went into with lockdown and was evacuated following the shooting. it has reopened, neil. neil: thank you for that, al sand drink what. in the meantime, reportedly down to his last $100,000, sam bankman-frieded, this from a guy who was supposedly worth

billions little more than weeks ago. then how how did he manage to pay a $250 million bail, or did he? and if not him, who? after this. where can you go for family fun... and do your holiday shopping all-in-one? lowe's, actually. the final days of winterfest are here. save now before they're gone. after years of chasing the big idaho potato truck... i finally caught it. oh man. always look for the grown in idaho seal.

neil: we sill don't know exactly what's going to happen at border as soon as title 42 presumably goes away. the administration has said they're willing to go past christmas, but then it's got to go away. a number of republicans now in the supreme court are pushing for it to stay, and the back and forth continues. griff jenkins knows it well, he's with us right now. griff, it's good to have you. thank you, my friend, as well, for pitching in as you just did to help out with all the craziness we've been having. nothing like the craziness that you would see at the border. what are you hearing, what happens now?

>> well, more chaos and, neil, always great to be with you. you know, yesterday on your show, "coast to coast," you asked me when are we getting those november border numbers? well, guess what, dhs waited until the pretty night heading into christmas to drop the highest november ever on record. let's take a look at these numbers, 233,740 migrant encounters, shadowing -- shattering last november's record-breaking $ -- 174,000. and this is with tighten aing 2 -- 4 # in place. these official numbers come on the heels of cbp sources giving fox news this week jaw-dropping fiscal year totals. in just the first 85 days of the new fiscal year that began on october 1st, you can see cbp has encountered more than 575,000 migrants of which nearly 187 -- is 78,000, excuse me, were expelled under title 42. while more than 397,000 were

released. now, that's a lot of numbers, neil, but to put it in perspective, that's equivalent of the population of pittsburgh and buffalo combined. in fact, if you look just at the el paso sector alone, they surpassed 150,000 encounters this week, and make no mistake about it, this is an unprecedented crisis trajectory, neil, the likes of which the country's never seen. former acting i.c.e. director tom homan had this to say a little earlier this morning. listen. >> mr. president, do you -- [inaudible] >> well, that, by the way, was our own peter doocy asking the president week before he headed into the holiday can about the border, had nothing to say. well, what tom homan told me earlier today was that this is the administration choosing to not change any of those policies. i looked just for your show, neil, at the very latest last 24

hour numbers, and in el paso they had more than 1400. and in del rio, more than 2 the ,000, and i've given you -- 2,000. i've given you a lot of numbers, but bun number that bears out the real humanitarian tragedy, there have been 86 migrant deaths so far this fiscal year, 85 days into it. neil? if. neil: you know what's wild about it? you mow better than i with your coverage where you've gone into the rio grande and talked to smugglers, and enough to talked to those who have just come off buses outside the vice president's home in washington, d.c., told that there is a new life for them in america. the one thing that always amazes me and especially in light of your reporting, that they're not intimidated by you. they're not intimidated by cameras. they're not intimidated by the drones that follow their every step. your thoughts. >> yeah, and, neil, this was one of the most memorable live shots i've ever done on tv with you,

and we were there in del rio, and we spoke live on your show to this smuggler, and he was not afraid at all to talk to us, and he keeps doing what he's doing. obviously, benefiting the cartels. neil? neil: thank you, griff, and thank you for bouncing in and helping us out with all these ec call difficulties. that's griff. he's a nonstop machine. and so is this storm, after this. doits. ...

>> well, might not be a merry christmas for many this christmas eve, still trying to get home, but it's not as bad as it was. i can at least tell you that. we still have tens of thousands of flights at least the last 48 hours that have been canceled or delayed, but people are finding a way to get to grandma. charles watson is hartsfield-jackson international airport with how things are looking there. charles. >> hey, good morning