♪ . >> joey: welcome back to the last hour, the best hour i always say because i'm good and awake and ready to go. that was saint petersburg florida there, beautiful place got some buddies down there and the way the weather's been maybe

i should pay them a visit. we're hanging out on the couch with griff and rachel talking about all kinds of stuff. talking about if we should have christmas trees up, apparently there's some buses that people have been thrown under. i don't know. what do you think about it, griff? >> griff: well, i'm not even going to go into what i was accused of this idea of throwing anybody under the bus about you we've had this important debate whether you keep your tree up and of course we're getting feedback from our viewers at fox and friends@foxnews.com but we are getting schooled by rachel saying listen if you're catholic which i am so now i'm fully in line in making sure mine doesn't come down, you keep it up for 12 days after. >> rachel: the 12 days of christmas which end on the sixth of jan which is the epiphany. >> joey: i like it. >> rachel: let christmas linger on i love it. >> griff: i have a problem, though, which is, and this is disclosing information.

my wife wasn't happy with the tree. we waited really late. she was busy with her job, i was on the road doing travelling as a reporter and she said you have to get a tree, this is like december 21st, so i went to the lot and there was a tree shortage as last year and they were already packing up and leaving i said give me something what have you got? it is the saddest charlie brown christmas tree. >> rachel: it's fresh, it's fresher if you get it later, that's one thing. i want to take us, over the christmas break, my brother, who lives in the middle east, and my sister who lives in virginia, were all going to come over on christmas day but because of all the weather issues we were afraid they wouldn't make it. so i said just come early. so their family, our family, total of 20 people, all spent, you know, three or four days together. here's a picture of just the kids on christmas eve. we had 20 people, 14 teens and little ones and little kids as well. so it was a ruckus christmas.

so much fun. >> joey: 20 people is a big deal but when you start with a dozen it's not that many people. it's a couple of guests. >> griff: it's a lot actually. can we see that picture again because i have tree envy. >> rachel: i have a great tree. >> griff: it's gorgeous. >> rachel: and it goes all the way up it's like 12 feet tall. >> griff: because your husband is a lumber jack gee is a lumber jack. it's a real tree and he chopped it down. >> joey: he probably used the samurai swords. back to important things we begin with a fox weather alert nearly 60 people are dead across 12 states including 28 in western new york after the massive christmas weekend blizzard. >> griff: recovery efforts are ongoing in the buffalo area which got hit with as much as four feet of snow. >> rachel: fox weather correspondent max gordon is live in buffalo now. max? >> hey, good morning. well, folks here in buffalo woke up to several more inches of snow just not what people wanted to see as they continue to try to dig out after this monumental

blizzard. unfortunately more than two dozen people are confirmed dead and roadways here in the buffalo area are still a mess. really, there's still a travel ban in place as emergency crews still struggle to try and get around. this blizzard also caused travel mayhem all across the country. southwest airlines having to cancel around 2500 flights today. that's more than 60% of their schedule. folks who have been stuck in airports have not been happy about all this. >> ten minutes before i pulled up to the airport i got a notification my flight was cancelled so i'm just kind of like what's going to happen from here? >> my four year old granddaughter's waiting for me in chicago, i was supposed to be there yesterday. >> sorry to hear that. >> yeah. so i'm just going to go home now. >> they said that i can't even fly until the 31st. so they have like no flights, no availability at all. they're saying every seat is

taken. >> buffalo niagara international airport has had to continually push back its reopening date. it hopefully should reopen tomorrow midmorning or so. meanwhile, some signs of normalcy are starting to come back to the buffalo area with supermarkets and some restaurants reopening later today. guys? >> rachel: max, thank you so much. so as the weather is getting very, you know, so treacherous for so many travelers and so many people still digging out from under, our president is heading to the caribbean on vacation. not exactly the greatest look. let's bring in our governor from south dakota governor kristi noem. governor i seem -- first of all merry christmas to you and your beautiful family. we have lots to talk about. let's start with this. you know, the president heading to the caribbean in the middle of the disaster. a lot of itself imposed by his energy costs and what's going on

at the border. i remember ted cruz getting in a lot of heat media-wise when he took off to mexico during an ice storm in texas. >> yeah, that's what's interesting, in that situation with ted cruz was unpredicted. with the president, he is perpetuating all this himself. this is a national security threat that he's bringing on to our country and creating crisis after crisis by allowing us to have a border that's not secure, by not following through on policies that secure the american people by increasing our energy costs, food costs. people are suffering and he's going on vacation. so i honestly wish the president would go back to his basement. i think we did a little bit better when he was down in his basement rather than when he was heading off on vacation at least then he was still talking to the american people, even though it was tough to figure out what his agenda was. now we know, and it's tragic for our country. >> joey: you know, the new york post has a really interesting cover today.

it says welcome matt, feds build massive tent city outside el paso for biden's open border. what this gets to the heart of is the fact that the administration's completely unprepared for what will happen after title 42 is pulled back. we reported earlier we're looking at 400,000 migrants a month potentially coming across. you're a governor of a state. we've seen greg abbott try to do some things down in texas but i just don't think a governor can do enough. and, you know, tell us what you think about what greg abbott's trying to do as opposed to what the administration isn't doing at all. >> listen, it's not a governor's job. it's the federal government's job to secure our border. greg abbott is doing what he needs to do down there spending billions of dollars a year to secure the border because of the failure of the biden administration. so you talk, joey, about them building a tent down there on the border. i think that that is just showing the agenda that the federal government has. this isn't unexpected. this isn't something that they

didn't foresee happening. this is on purpose. this is on purpose. but they are destroying our border because they want to remake this country into something that is not built on the trust that our founders gave people themselves. listen, personal responsibility was something that our founders wanted to give to the people of this country. they wanted them to be able to defend themselves, to make choices for their families, to be able to have liberty and freedom. they didn't envision what joe biden wants for this country. >> griff: governor, you mentioned sort of the motivation that you believe why this is happening, and obviously we covered the border a lot, new video this morning of migrants being dropped off in north san diego county. they don't have anywhere to put them the ngos happening in el paso with the tents being put up and this is going on for more than two years essentially now. yet we talk to these border patrol officials, particularly people like rodney scott who was

the former border patrol chief, he says this isn't just a humanitarian crisis, this is a national security crisis because of the threat that it poses. do you believe this is a national security crisis and, if so, why would they allow that to occur. >> look at the amount of people being trafficked, the amount of drugs that are coming into the country and they're ending up on our streets even here in south dakota. then you look at the amount of dangerous people that have gotten into this country that we know about, people on the terrorist watch list that we have been able to catch. those that we know we have not apprehended over and over again. we know there are people coming into this country that want to destroy america. so, yes, it's a national security threat. it's only truthful and honest to call it what it is. and the biden administration is doing this on purpose. i think it's time that the american people, whether you're republican, democrat, independent or not even

political, that you recognize what this president is doing is trying to remake america. >> rachel: yeah, and without the will of the people. there's no way if you put this policy for a vote that the american people on the left, the right, the independents, no one would vote for this. this is sort of like an ngo george soros policy being pushed and our federal government is doing the bidding and people are getting rich off of this, off of what's happening with children, the sex trafficking, the drugs. i mean, governor, what would you tell our president right now? what should be done about this? >> well, i think we need a new president first of all. this one obviously doesn't listen to the american people. and he'll never get reelected again, he just won't. because he's tone deaf. he's -- i don't even know if he's aware of what his job is and if he's even listening to people that truly believe in freedom anymore. listen, all of this started,

rachel, title 42 started because of a pandemic, because of a public health emergency where government learned truly the power that it had. the government would tell people in this country what to do and that they would just do it. that they would roll over and give up their freedom of speech. they give up their freedom of assembly, their freedom of religion because the government told them to do it. that's the danger that we face. that's how we lose our republic. and for hundreds of year people fought and died for the freedom we enjoy every day. our kids woke up in their bids this morning safe ready to go out and pursue every opportunity because of what people before us have done and what they sacrificed. boy we better not lose it on our watch >> joey: governor on a very serious topic, we have breaking news. you're wrapping up a season of pheasant hunting in south dakota, i've been there twice this season already, give you a chance to brag on that. but i guess you're trading in your shotgun for a flame

thrower. explain that to me. >> oh, my goodness. >> joey: yeah, tell me about this. >> did you see my flame thrower? i got one for christmas. yes, it's amazing. i don't know why anybody wouldn't want a flame thrower. it has our state motto even on it which is under the god the people rule. >> joey: oh, wow. >> so they even had it personalized specifically for me. my son-in-law went outside with me with the rest of my family and we were burning all of the christmas boxes but also looking around the ranch to see what else needed -- >> rachel: what else needed burning. >> yeah. it's a little like what else needs to be burned up today. yeah, it really is. i would just recommend getting one because they are super handy. i'll tell you what our christmas wrapping was gone in record time. >> that's funny. >> rachel: you know christie i actually threw my phone away in a bag with extra wrapping.

i lost my phone for a day and a half and sean went through and dug through the cash. we could have taken all the wrapping paper out and burned it and that probably wouldn't have happened. >> that's very true. one year we accidentally -- booker got a brand new vikings jersey for christmas and we burned it up accidentally with all the wrapping. >> rachel: well done. >> nothing was burned this year except for ole miss that needed to be. but yes get yourself a flame thrower it will make a very merry christmas. >> joey: we'll talk about this online, we could go pheasant hunting and before the bird hits the ground it's ready to eat. >> i never thought of that. >> rachel: i'm going to rename her governor bad ass. can i say that on tv. >> it's okay with me. >> griff: you just did. governor kristi noem, thank you so much. go play with that flame thrower. >> i will. merry christmas. >> joey: thank you very much. >> griff: you know who else may have a flame thrower? carley shimkus >> carley: i don't but i hate breaking down boxes.

hello take a flame thrower to that. >> rachel: make it fun >> carley: i need to borrow yours. i don't think you can travel with it though, right? probably not. that's probably on the no-no list. hilarious advice get a flame thrower. i have more news the fda fast tracking the review for a new over the counter opioid reversal drug, revive is a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of a suspected overdose. the fbi has granted priority review for the drug but is not expected to make a decision until the end of april. it comes as fentanyl seizures at the border continue to shatter records up by over 435% just this year, if you can believe that number right there. a restaurant outside buffalo new york turns into an ice castle this week after the historic blizzard this weekend. the restaurant's co-owner joined us earlier. >> what happened is exactly what we wanted to happen, so it forms kind of an igloo and it actually

protects the building as a second later. if that didn't happen then the windows break and that's when the lake just destroys your building and homes. >> interesting, pretty, too. buffalo could see even more snow today. >> a new report is highlighting the most recession-proof jobs of 2022. topping the list waiters and waitresses. those jobs are considered to be the least likely positions to be impacted by a recession with the current 30% wage increase compared to last year. number two is a private banker followed by the role of media director for all the media directors here at fox. police, fire and ambulance dispatchers took the number four spot. sales consultant rounds out the top five. interesting >> from flying fire jets in the top gun sequel to his latest cliff jump that he's calling the most dangerous stunt ever, tom cruz does it all, doesn't he? so the question is, is he the last true movie star?

we ask you, the viewers, four your answers and your e-mails are flooding in. of melissa writing, harrison ford all the way. well, gary calling cruz the john wayne of today. and jerry agreeing with joey what about keanu reeves. earlier joey mentioned the actor's stars intensive tactical training including this work he did for the john wick series. cool i like the top particular. i think they're all great action stars. >> rachel: agreed. and john wayne, i love john wayne. >> griff: cruz is the john wayne. >> rachel: i agree. >> joey: real quick jimmy stewart was in real life what you wanted john wayne to be. so if you don't know much about him, you talk about governor bad a. he was a general in the air force, fought world war ii, lost a son in vietnam. james stewart is one of my personal heroes. and i like john wayne but jimmy stewart is the real deal. >> rachel: is the real deal. i agree with you on that. >> joey: not more of an action

star he was more of a rom-com guy. >> griff: our movie reviews of the late 50s. coming up more movie reviews from joey plus new twitter files reveal the white house encouraged the tech giant to suppress covid content they didn't agree with even from medical professionals. >> rachel: but first, from firing a professor for making his class too hard to claiming the word american is harmful. bill bennett gives his final grade for this year's classroom's highs and lows. ♪ ♪

♪ >> rachel: which 22 was the year

parents took charge over their children's education and from fighting woke curriculums to historic learning losses, we're looking at the highs and lows from this year in america's classrooms. here to review is former education secretary and fox news contributor bill bennett. always great to have you on secretary. so, tell me what you think is the high this year on education. let's start with some good news. >> well, i think the big high is parents getting involved and engaged in the education of their children. i used to, you know, when i was secretary of education, people would ask me, what should i do ? i want to make education better. i would say run for the school board. >> rachel: yeah. >> and people would laugh as if that were nothing. now people take it seriously and a lot of parents are getting much more involved in their kids' education. covid gave parents a look over their child's shoulder of what was going on in the schools and in a lot of places, rachel, people did not like what they

were seeing in the schools and they had very good reason. >> rachel: yeah, and that's why we're seeing home schooling, charter schooling doubling. >> that is correct. >> rachel: and a lot of people finding out about classical education for their children. >> that's correct. >> rachel: and starting to get involved with the curriculum, something you've been talking about for a long time. let me ask you, because this might be one of the lows, more than 1700 universities will now not require sat or act scores for the fall 2023 admissions. i know that started with covid, for some reason covid caused some schools to go oh, you know, it's been tough no sat scores and now we're seeing that continue. i'll tell you, bill, my sat score did not reflect how well i did in college. so, you know, i didn't go take a course, my parents couldn't afford that but i did well in college. so tell me why you think this is a bad idea? >> well, it's part of the self debasement of universities.

sats turned out to be in most cases not yours but in most cases a pretty good predictor of how students will do. but i think it's more generally an attack on meritocracy, on the idea of achievement and the fact that the schools are saying, well, we really don't care how much you know or how smart you are, we're going to do it a different way. part of this, of course, is under the name of equity and equality. but it's not a good thing for universities. you know, we call it higher education and it should be higher, there should be some high standards we should try to meet. >> rachel: we're running out of time but we're going to cover a professor who got fired because his class is too hard. so this is the trend that you're concerned about and so many of us are also. >> right. >> rachel: you know, i can't let you go without talking about your book, the book of virtues.

it is in its 30th anniversary this year. >> right. >> rachel: i remember when this book came out. i guess that makes me old, too, bill. tell me why it doesn't -- >> no, it doesn't. >> rachel: so, you know, i can't think of -- virtues, we need that now more than ever. why is this book so important today, maybe even more so than when it was published 30 years ago? and also talk to me about the family. because that is where virtues are passed on. >> sure, sure. that's exactly right. well, this is an updated version of the book of virtues, lot of new stories and things in it. as people look under the christmas tree and maybe see a lot of plastic, maybe try something that has some lasting value, you know, if you know a young person, maybe you think could have gotten them a better gift, this book will work. it teaches the virtues, what the virtues are, and that hard work continues to be required of adults, of parents. and this book will help students and parents, grandparents, in

the guidance that they need to discover the importance of things like perseverance and honesty and work. you know, we have a certain disposition against work these days. so i would say, you know, in addition to getting a flame thrower, as governor noem was talking about, and burning up some of the plastic and the boxes, take a look at the book of virtues 30th anniversary edition it has lasting value. >> rachel: of laking -- >> can i say hello to our new granddaughter born yesterday? couple weeks early but mom is doing fine and we're very excited about young stella. so we're very pleased. you know about this stuff. >> rachel: well, congratulations grandpa bennett. get that girl a book of virtues and a flame thrower. [laughter]. >> we're going o you know, we have that expression in washington that guy's a flame thrower. now we have the real

personification. god bless that governor, you know. thank you rachel >> rachel: merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas. >> rachel: twitter files part ten exposing the biden administration's push to deplatform accounts that contradicted their message on covid. vivek ramaswamy sounds off on big tech information censorship next. ♪

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♪ >> griff: the twitter files part 10 supposing covid censorship finding countless instances of tweets labeled misleading were taken down entirely simply because they veered from cdc guidance or differed from establishment views. one internal twitter e-mail even revealing quote the biden team was not satisfied with twitter's enforcement approach as they wanted twitter to do more and to deplatform several accounts. they were very angry in nature. well, here to react is strive asset management founder and author of nation of victims, the vik, vivek ramaswamy. what's your reeks to this latest twitter dump? >> it is yet another episode of the government doing through the back door what it cannot do directly through the front door under the constitution and that is to censor speech so they're

delegating that dirty work to this private company instead. and it sacrifices the basic idea that free speech is a precondition for the pursuit of truth because if you censor the wrong ideas about covid or any other topic, inevitably you're going to find out that some of those wrong ideas end up being the right ones in the end. and that's the lesson of this story. we would have gotten to a lot of the answers to these covid puzzles, think about the debate of school closures more quickly had the government not been tipping the scales of public debate yet that is exactly what happened and i hope we learn that lesson going forward. >> griff: there is an actual exchange, and this is quite lengthy independent journalist dropping in about 40 posts but in what specific instance we see an e-mail and this is saying -- it's from jim baker, who was of course the fbi's council, now the council for twitter, saying why isn't this potus tweet,

that's president trump by the way, not biden, why isn't this tweet a violation of our covid-19 policy, especially the don't be afraid of covid statement e-mail from yoel roth. in short this tweet is a broad optimistic statement and doesn't fall in the scope of our policies. of course we saw the trump administration and the biden administration's efforts under both instances. was it handled differently depending on who was president vivek? >> so there is definitely a tilt in the political scales at twitter and the funny part is one thing that came out in the latest release was that actually many of the so-called flags, where there are users who flag potentially problematic content actually even came from bots. so the fact that that was not questioned by twitter's staff rerealize a lot of their systematic political bias. but this is a story that goes beyond the left leaning political bias that is part of the story. actually one of the things that was surprising in the latest set of twitter files was some of these covid related requests and

demands of twitter even came during the trump administration before the biden administration took over. so in the same way that i think elon musk has released these twitter files so there's public transparency, i think the next president of the united states needs to take a step of political reform here, too, saying that any time there is a government official that makes a quiet demand of a private company, that needs to be made public for every citizen to see in the open. and i think that's going to reveal a lot more than just what we saw at twitter. let's roll that log over, let's see what crawls out that's what the public deserves to see whether it's from a republican administration or a democratic one government officials should not be tilting the scales of public debate and then it's only worsened by the fact twitter operates with one-sided political bias. >> griff: such a good point and elon musk has teased in a recent tweet in the last 24 hours saying more is yet to come saying just getting started f

vivek ramaswamy, thank you so much for taking time. >> thank you. >> griff: still ahead it might be the understatement of this century, southwest airlines calling monday a, quote, tough day after their system meltdown left thousands stranded. more from the travel flight mare coming up. >> plus, a massive migrant tent is put up in el paso. border patrol warning of a dramatic increase with smugglers holding firearms. warnings from the front lines of the crisis as title 42 could expire as soon as today. how do i do it all? with a little help. and to support my family's immune health, i choose airborne. unlike some others, airborne gives you vitamin c and so much more. it's an 8 in 1 immune support formula. airborne. do more.

♪ >> rachel: border officials in el paso setting up a giant migrant tent as we brace for a massive surge of migrants when title 42 is expected to end today. >> griff: border patrol chief ortiz warnings agents be alert we have seen a drastic increase

in loaded firearms being carried by human smugglers never get complacent and always approach with caution. stay safe out there and remember, you have a family to go home to at the end of your shift. >> joey: our next guest resigned over the border crisis after 30 years of service former director of new york state ice removals tom feely joins us now. good morning, tom. give us your top of the line thoughts on this. this seems like it's going to be a big deal. >> good morning guys, thanks for having me. merry christmas plus day one. this is -- joey i think you talked about this yesterday. we're military guys and we're all about security and keeping people safe and i've just never seen an administration -- you know, i've been doing this since papa bush was around and i've never seen an administration be so flagrant in not securing our border or taking the security of the american people, sorry, but we are american people, and just not caring.

i do not understand this at all. >> rachel: yeah, you know, it's not just that they don't care and they're not securing the border, they're actually working with the cartels. essentially they're complicit in this entire money-making operation that is frankly, i think, on the verge of destabilizing mexico because the cartels have become so powerful. talk to me about what it means to you as somebody coming from, you know, a security, you know, law enforcement, you know, side of things, to see our own government doing the last leg for the cartels. >> it's really amazing. you know, we've got the secret flights that we reported on before with ice air moving people around the country illegally. and, you know, if we fly, you know, we have to show id. i was a member of the senior executive service one of the highest ranks you can have in the government, i have security clearance a combat disabled veteran and i have to show id to get on aircraft. an illegal alien can cross the

border, they get paperwork from the border patrol, not their fault, that says, you know, juan doe and their identify's not identified bud we're allowing them to fly commercial aircraft. so we are completing the cycle of smuggling for the cartels. they start it and we're finishing it. it's crazy. >> rachel: and double standards by the way, american citizens have to show proper id, somebody who just came and i saw myself, 24 hours in our country on a flight with, you know, who is that person? how is he vetted. sorry, go ahead. >> joey: no, no, no, it's a great point rachel and my question for you tom is, because you were in charge of ice removals, how much of a factor is the fact that people are not being removed. ice is barely even doing anything, i'm not sure what they do all day long because they're not expelling anybody how much of that is a factor of the overall numbers coming? >> each day that goes by, it's getting bad.

it takes about 6--person from the united states for the due process removal proceedings. so if we have 11 million people in the country illegally before president trump started and we've had like five million enter since biden's been president, you're talking about millions of people. and the problem is, is ice ero enforcement rule operations we have teams that are supposed to be out looking at bad guys they're not even allowed to make an arrest and if by the grace they are allowed they cut them loose again. somebody did a great analogy. if the toilet's overflowing, you don't start mopping you have to turn the water off and they refuse to do that. >> joey: thank you so much for joining us on this. you know, you resigned your job over this, obviously something you're passionate about. you're in the middle of the politics of it and i just hope there are more people like you still in the job and we can at least rely on someone to try to keep us safe. tom feeley thanks for joining

us. >> thanks guys we really could use a hero. >> thanks tom. >> rachel: wow. >> joey: we have at least one hero on the set right now. >> griff: look at that. >> that would be me. >> rachel: it is. >> you are literally making a human being that is the most heroic. >> rachel: making little humans that is the most amazing thing >> carley: you're a hero, what, nine times over? >> rachel: i'm not carrying one at the moment >> carley: i just ate a full breakfast burrito so. >> rachel: good for you carley. [laughter] >> carley: i'm going to keep it together for now because we have news to get to. the airports are an absolute mess. most southwest airlines flights have been cancelled today and the carrier's ceo is getting flack for describing the operational meltdown that began yesterday as, quote, a tough day. the holiday travel chaos comes as experts warn ticket prices for domestic flights in the first few months of next year will be higher on average compared to 2022. january flights are set to cost

an average of 208 bucks per round trip ticket. that's up 7%. prices for flights in february and april increasing almost double that. the hike explains on higher costs for labor, fuel and other goods >> at least 81 children in central ohio have the measles as a new outbreak grips part of the buckeye state. there are concerns it could get even worse due to a high number of unvaccinated children. 76 of those diagnosed in ohio have never received their measle shot. the other children that got infected were only partially vaccinated. now to monday night football, the los angeles chargers secure their spot in the layoffs after a dominate defensive display in indianapolis. despite star safety james getting kicked out of the game in the first half. >> here's another one, watch out! a flag on the hit by der win james who just laid out ashton.

>> i think derwin may be watching the rest of this game from the locker room >> carley: he was right about that. indianapolis ashlyn due land was diagnosed with a concussion after that hit. james was also treated after the league's concussion protocol after looking woozy when he walked off the field. those are your headlines adam over to you. >> carley i'm from indiana the cold span has been a rough season. give us a quarterback. enough of that rant. it's been all about cold weather here for the last couple of days. still some winter weather alerts just downwind of lake erie, lake ontario. snow still falling but promise at the very tail end of it and a little bit of lake effect, this isn't the heavy snow they've been seeing but boy winter just marches on and continue to see the very cold weather, not just for them but for lots of folks across the country. feels like negative 3 in chicago, feels like 28 degrees in houston, 39 degrees in orlando. so this cold air is still stretching to the south. but, remember, that's warmer than it was just a couple days ago and we're beginning to see a

warming trend. and i promise i'm going to end this with good news, take a look at this graphic. by friday, saturday, and sunday, and by sunday in particular, new year's day, 262 million people will see temperatures above average. we're going to be seeing highs more like the 40s and 50s much warmer than we are currently seeing. those are your weather headlines for now tossing it back to you. >> griff: and 262 million can't wait to get there fast enough because it is freezing. coming up a mission to honor our veterans this new year. we introduce to the incredible organization making it a tradition to bring hope to those returning home on the front lines. ♪ ♪ at red land cotton. our traditions are grown and sewn right here in our hometown of moulton, alabama. from our heirloom inspired sheets to our super absorbent bath towels, to our 100% cotton quilts. every single piece is made right here in america. we believe in keeping our heritage 100% american made. enjoy our farm to home products and receive

we believe at newday usa we have a noble purpose. our purpose is not just closing a loan. we want to do whatever's best for the individual service person. we want to be known as america's mortgage company for veterans and active-duty service people, and they and their families. we're the ones there to help them.

people are doing hard, arduous, difficult, dangerous things. some of them are giving their lives right now, today, for the freedoms that we have here in this country. they're willing to do that for you, for me, and for our family. so for us, at newday, to have the opportunity to turn around and help those people at this point in time. it's a labor of love, it's a noble service, and that's what we're all about.

♪ >> rachel: we are back with a couple quick christmas headlines. south dakota governor kristi noem testing out the flame thrower her staff gave her for christmas, and she joined fox and friends earlier to tell us a little bit more about the surprise gift. >> and, yeah, my son-in-law went outside with me with my rest of my family and we were burning all of the christmas boxes, but also looking around like what else needs to be burned up today >> carley: great question. the flame thrower was even engraved with south dakota's

motto which is under god the people rule. the flame thrower asking in the caption if it was too late to add to her christmas list and clearly it was not >> earlier this morning we posed a very important question at this time of year. when is it acceptable to take down your christmas tree? card and in owen says your christmas tree should stay up until the epiphany which is the sunday after new year's celebration. some of you the viewers not planning to keep your tree up that long. angela from staten island says hers won't come down until the new year, michelle says january 1st and mark from orlando also keeps his tree up until new year's day with fox and friends on the tv in the background. love to see it. joey over to you. >> joey: i like that picture there. all right, the mission to honor our veterans this new year, the organization hope for the warriors is known for helping our troops return home to a fulfilling life. and now they will be ringing in

new year's in times square with 40 military members thanks to a tradition that started 16 years ago with 9/11 first responders. here with more is hope for the warriors co-founder and ceo robin kellaher. robin thanks for joining us. tell us about what you're about to do for new year's. >> good morning, and thank you so much for having us. >> joey: yes. >> so for about 14 years now we have had the opportunity to partner with the fdny and the nypd to celebrate and ring in the new year with military families from across the country. >> joey: tell us how this journey happens for them. when do they come in? how long are they here? >> so they'll begin coming in in the next couple days depending on their needs, and we will -- so we've got some coming in from florida and again from all over the country. we will celebrate and eat dinner at one of of the fires houses and then be escorted out to the ball drop where there will be a

excluded -- not a secluded area but a roped in area that's very vip and special for them get some up-close and a little bit protected from all the crowds as well. >> joey: you know what i love about this is new york police officer and fdny were really instrumental in creating this. tell us about that bond between first responders, especially those here in new york, and post 9/11 veterans. >> the most dedicated people we've met along this journey at hope, fdny and the nypd constantly opening up their hearts and firehouses to our families, gold star families and anything that we ask. they're there to help. and this is one of those very special times when people get to do something that, one, was on their bucket list but, most importantly, may have dropped to the bottom of that bucket list because they were afraid they weren't going to be able to do it. and so our escorts make it possible for them to enjoy an

evening without fear and without, you know, anxiety. we're able to bring dogs. we have all kinds of --. >> joey: oh, wow. >>-- wheelchairs. whatever they need. >> joey: tell us what else hope for the warriors has. what else does this amazing organization do for our military veterans? >> so most of what we're doing right now is really our critical needs. and i think everyone in the country would agree that there's a priority on making sure military families have food on the table, rent and mortgages are paid. they have automobiles so that they can have meaningful employment. those are the things right now are our major priorities. in addition to that we have scholarships for military spouses, we grant wishes, and we have a lot of transition employment support. >> joey: robin thank you so much for joining us as both a combat veteran and a wounded veteran myself thank you for what you do. i would encourage people to go

to hope for the warriors.org, check them out and support them. thank you robin. >> thank you joey bye-bye. >> joey: more on fox and friends just moments away. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ at booking.com, finding perfect isn't rocket science. kitchen? sorted. hot tub, why not? and of course, puppy-friendly. we don't like to say perfect, but it's pretty perfect. booking.com, booking.yeah. subject 1: i've always heard about it, listened to stories, and cried, and thanked god that it wasn't my child. and then it was my child. subject 2: nobody is thinking about, well, what if my kid gets diagnosed with cancer? it can happen. what if it does happen? what do we do? simone: in that moment, death was not an option.

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carolina and you are looking at lake hart well and a arena. >> population 28,000, anderson, south carolina, gorgeous place, i have to go see that. merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas for eight more days. >> julie: fox news weather alert on the deadly weather blast blamed for 50 deaths. tens of thousands still without power in brutally cold temperatures. search and rescue efforts in some of the hardest-hit areas like buffalo, new york, fighting to get through mountains of snow to help those in need. meantime holiday travels across the country, stranded at roads and airports. good morning, i'm julie banderas in for dana perino. >> i'm jonathan hunt wit