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Mayday call captures pilot's urgent warning before aircraft goes down off coast
A pilot's dramatic escape from a plane that crashed into the Pacific Ocean off California has prompted an investigation.
The plane, an MK-58 Hawker Hunter, plunged into the water after the pilot reported trouble while flying off California's Central Coast on Tuesday evening, ABC News reported.
The crash triggered an emergency response near Morro Bay, where the pilot was rescued after ejecting from the aircraft.
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday that the plane crashed near San Luis Obispo around 6:50 p.m. after the pilot reported an engine issue.
"Only the pilot was on board," the spokesperson said. "The FAA will investigate."
The Navy has since grounded Hawker Hunters operated by Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) while the incident is under investigation, according to ABC News.
The aircraft was being flown in support of a Navy and Marine Corps contract when it went down, according to ABC, citing ATAC.
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Four ATAC aircraft, including the one that crashed, were involved in the mission.
Before the crash, the pilot issued a mayday call and reported losing engine thrust, according to air traffic control audio obtained by ABC from LiveATC.net.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday. I have lost thrust in my engine," the pilot told controllers, according to the ABC report.
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ATAC operates the aircraft as part of its work supporting training for the U.S. armed forces.
The company has 22 Hawker Hunters in its fleet, according to a Navy public information officer cited by ABC.
The FAA is actively investigating the incident.
No additional details are known at this time.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the NTSB and the U.S. Navy for additional information.
The Hawker Hunter crash comes amid several recent aviation incidents that have prompted emergency responses.
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In late August, a 24-year-old man allegedly stole a Cessna 172 from an airport in Hungary while intoxicated and flew toward the area of the country’s only nuclear power plant.
The unauthorized flight prompted fighter jets to respond before the plane came down in a sunflower field, where rescue crews were dispatched.
In addition, a Delta Air Lines flight recently returned to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport shortly after takeoff due to a pilot medical emergency.
Soros-linked prosecutor faces primary challenge as fellow Democrat targets his record
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephen Descano is facing a forceful rebuke from a former federal prosecutor who extensively criticized his record after announcing her bid to unseat him.
Descano, a Democrat, has faced criticism over what opponents describe as lenient prosecutorial decisions, particularly in serious cases involving illegal immigrant suspects. Former federal prosecutor Brittany Dunn-Pirio said that if there weren’t systemic problems in his office, she would want to work there.
"If this office were doing its job, I wouldn’t be running against it. I’d be applying to work for it. But it isn’t," Dunn-Pirio said on her new campaign website after Washington, D.C.-area media reported her bid late Wednesday.
"I’m a Democrat. This race isn’t about whether reform was right. It’s about whether the office can tell the difference between a first-time nonviolent offender who deserves a second chance and a violent or sexual offender who doesn’t," Dunn-Pirio said on her website.
"It’s about whether deadlines are met, evidence is given to the defendant and victims are spoken to."
Fox News Digital reached out to Descano and Dunn-Pirio for further comment.
Descano campaign spokesman Nathan Kiker defended the incumbent's record, telling Fox News Digital that "Steve Descano has spent his tenure proving that you can reform the justice system and keep our community safe at the same time."
"Today, Fairfax County is recognized as the safest large county in the nation because Steve focused on accountability and the root causes of crime rather than failed policies of the past. We are proud to put that record before the voters," Kiker said.
Dunn-Pirio also pointed to "botched sexual assault cases" and prosecutors declining to meet with victims, along with her contention that the justice system too often favors the "well-connected."
One case that has drawn the scrutiny of Descano’s office involves Abdul Jalloh, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone charged with murdering Stephanie Minter. Minter was stabbed and killed at a Hybla Valley bus stop in February after Jalloh had cycled through the criminal justice system following numerous previous arrests.
Descano has pushed back on claims that his office simply allowed Jalloh to walk free, telling Congress his prosecutors obtained convictions against him "wherever possible."
Dunn-Pirio previously served as a prosecutor in Frederick County, Virginia, and as a federal prosecutor in the district covering Lexington, Kentucky. She said she resigned from the DOJ in 2025 after working on COVID-related fraud and similar cases.
"I couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected while prosecuting average Americans for the same conduct," she said, according to a release obtained by FairfaxNow.
She also said Descano’s office has spent too much time "failing the people I care about."
A carousel on her new campaign website highlights cases that have drawn public scrutiny of Descano, including:
"We need a Commonwealth’s Attorney who can make this office work," Dunn-Pirio said. "Every person in Fairfax should feel safe, and every person in Fairfax should be able to trust the office that’s supposed to protect them."
Descano’s campaign did not immediately respond to an additional request for comment on Dunn-Pirio’s criticism.
Dunn-Pirio, most recently an associate at the civil litigation firm Harman, Claytor, Corrigan & Wellman, served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Kentucky for two years before resigning in November 2025. At the Justice Department, she specialized in COVID relief fraud and public corruption cases, according to her LinkedIn profile.
"Most recently I was a federal prosecutor, and I resigned from the Justice Department because I couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected while prosecuting average Americans for the same conduct," Dunn-Pirio said.
Before becoming a federal prosecutor in 2023, Dunn-Pirio served as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Frederick County, an assistant attorney general in the state criminal appeals courts and a law clerk to Judge Randy Bellows in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
Dunn-Pirio emphasized that she is a "cradle Democrat," distinguishing her candidacy from a challenge to Descano from the political right.
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She said she volunteered for former Vice President Al Gore at age 9, helped lead the College Democrats at the University of Notre Dame, remains active in local Democratic groups and previously managed a campaign for Virginia Del. Marcus Simon, D-Falls Church.
Republicans hold only one seat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, while Democrats hold the remaining seats. Dunn-Pirio’s challenge to Descano will be decided first in the Democratic nomination contest ahead of the 2027 election.
Why Yankees ace Cam Schlittler is in the AL MVP conversation and could join an exclusive club
If you shoot for the moon, you will land among the stars. In Cam Schlittler’s case, however, he and his blazing fastball may take him past the stars and straight to the moon.
The New York Yankees ace has been nothing short of dominant this season. The swashbuckling 25-year-old is all but a lock to win the American League Cy Young Award.
But why stop there? He should win the American League MVP too. Schlittler should become just the 12th player in MLB history to win the Cy Young and MVP in the same season.
Heading into his final start of the year against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, Schlittler leads all American League pitchers in ERA (1.94) and is tied for first in WHIP with Drew Rasmussen (0.91). He has been durable, making all his starts, and is second in the AL in innings pitched (190 2/3).
With a devastating combination of cutters, sinkers and fastballs, the young right-hander has racked up 234 strikeouts, third in the AL behind Cleveland Guardians ace Gavin Williams (244) and likely Cy Young runner-up Dylan Cease (239).
Schlittler has set a Yankees franchise record by allowing one or no runs in 21 starts this year. He became just the third pitcher age 25 or younger in the live-ball era, which began in 1920, to achieve the feat, joining Dean Chance (1964) and Blake Snell (2018).
Schlittler also leads the AL in bWAR with 7.0, ahead of other MVP contenders such as Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez (6.6), Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. (6.5) and Rays phenom Junior Caminero (5.6).
The numbers for Schlittler are outstanding, but they don’t tell the full story.
Schlittler has been the pillar of the Yankees' pitching staff, which leads all of baseball with a 3.21 team ERA.
While the pitching staff has been fantastic, it has have dealt with plenty of injuries to the starting rotation.
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Gerrit Cole didn’t make his season debut until May 22, as he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. Carlos Rodón began the season on the IL after undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur and loose bodies and didn’t debut until May 10. That was just his first stint on the IL. He returned to the IL on July 3 and didn’t come back until Aug. 18.
Rodón was not the only Yankees ace to land on the IL twice, as Max Fried did as well. Fried first went on the IL with a left elbow bone bruise on May 13, right after Cole returned, and was activated on July 22. He went on the IL for a second time on Aug. 17 with the same injury and returned Aug. 29.
Ryan Weathers, who had been key in stepping up during the absences of Cole, Fried and Rodón, went on the IL on Aug. 23 with a left forearm flexor strain.
For the Yankees, not only was it paramount that Schlittler make every start, but it was also essential that he remain dominant to help keep the rotation afloat.
Adding to the pressure on Schlittler and the pitching staff as a whole, the Yankees’ offense cratered after Aaron Judge was placed on the IL at the beginning of June. Since June 1, the Yankees have hit a paltry .229 with a putrid .297 on-base percentage.
The Yankees’ offensive ineptitude put further pressure on Schlittler and Co. to win games without Judge.
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In 2023, the Yankees’ season went off the rails when Judge suffered a torn ligament in his toe. They went 25-31 without the captain and missed the postseason. The Yankees’ pitching staff in 2023, led by Cole, who won the AL Cy Young Award that season, had a 3.97 ERA, which was not enough to save the Yankees from finishing 82-80.
In 2026, the Yankees went 48-41 without Judge in the lineup, buoyed by the pitching staff’s excellence. Carried by the Schlittler-led pitching staff, the Yankees made the postseason and secured home-field advantage in the American League Wild Card Series.
While the Yankees didn’t catch the Tampa Bay Rays and win the American League East, they might have missed the postseason entirely if it weren’t for Schlittler.
By the award’s definition, Schlittler has been the most valuable player on his team.
Alvarez has been dominant in his own right. The hulking left-handed hitter, with a .316 batting average, 41 home runs and 102 RBI made a bid for the Triple Crown, but that seems out of reach.
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Alvarez has been primarily a designated hitter, filling that role in 131 of the 154 games he played this season. Shohei Ohtani is the only player to win an MVP as a primary designated hitter, and he did so after becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season.
Unless Alvarez surges to win the Triple Crown, nothing he is doing this season is unprecedented or historic.
Alvarez’s Astros, who are 78-80, might miss the postseason despite playing in the American League West, a division that has been historically bad.
Bobby Witt Jr. has been his usual superstar self but missed 11 games due to injury and has also taken a slight step back from last season while playing for the AL Central-worst Kansas City Royals.Caminero, the linchpin of the AL-leading Rays’ lineup, trails Schlittler in bWAR by more than a full win. Still, his .274 average and 41 home runs leave him in the thick of the AL MVP race.
Despite the excellence of Alvarez, Witt and Caminero, Schlittler should become the first pitcher since Justin Verlander in 2011 to win the American League MVP.
Verlander, like Schlittler this year, led the American League in bWAR with 8.6.
Without Schlittler, the Yankees do not survive Judge’s absence. When the Yankees could hardly scrape together three runs a game in the dead of summer, Schlittler made sure it was enough to hold on.
Without Schlittler’s dominance and durability, the Yankees do not have the second-best record in the American League (91-67).
Without Schlittler, Yankees fans are in a complete state of panic because they might still be trying to secure a Wild Card berth in a weak American League.
At the sportsbooks, Schlittler is a long shot to win the American League MVP. But odds be damned, the award should be his. He has landed on the moon.
Devils' new concession contraption lets you play hockey with a popcorn puck while watching actual hockey
Have you ever been at a hockey game and thought, "Man, I wish I could be playing some sort of hockey-like game right now with a piece of popcorn as a puck?"
Me neither, but on the off chance that you have, the New Jersey Devils have gone into the lab and made your dream a reality.
Behold! The official Devils-branded popcorn bucket with some kind of pinball hockey game on top!
It's the work of the mad scientists at Levy Restaurants, and it could be the biggest salvo in the ongoing war for novelty stadium concession vessel supremacy.
There's no denying that we live in the golden age of stadium food novelties. From beer sticks, skates, sabres, and horns to small-plastic Zamboni-brand ice resurfacers stuffed full of chicken tenders, it's one of those things that makes you proud to live in the present.
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I'll take beer skates over rampant tuberculosis and no air conditioning any day.
But this one troubles me a little. It's groundbreaking, but when the goal is to get people watching hockey, why would they need something to entertain them in the stands?
I thought that was the game's job.
Now, I don't have kids — just a dog and a little bit of disposable income — but I would be so annoyed if I bought my youngsters NHL tickets, popcorn at stadium prices in a souvenir bucket, and what do they do?
Ignore the world-class athletes on the ice before them in favor of flippering a piece of Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet popping corn back and forth.
It's like if you needed your kid to stop playing video games to power wash the deck, and when you went to unplug their PlayStation, you realized they were playing "PowerWash Simulator."
Having said that, I feel pretty confident that I would be a very good popcorn hockey player. I just have shockingly quick reflexes and am good enough at geometry to track the bounces when the irregularly shaped popcorn piece hits the boards.
So would I buy one? No, but I'd school anyone who bought one and then sat next to me.
Macklemore slammed as 'performative' after announcing 'Free Palestine Tour'
Macklemore is taking his views on "Free Palestine" on the road.
The rapper, who was dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour earlier this month after stirring controversy with his politically charged performances, announced Thursday that he's going on a new tour he's calling the "Free Palestine Tour."
"If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years. There has been a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now," he wrote on Instagram.
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He continued, "It’s 2026. Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore. People are asking artists to show up, educate themselves and be in community. To use the stage for more than entertainment. To push back when the call for a Free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it."
Macklemore wrote that "what happened to me is bigger than one artist or one stage," and that "when the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear, everyone should be paying attention."
He added, "So, as you all know, my schedule freed up a bit."
He wrote that for the past week, he's been in touch with artists who have also been vocal about their support for Palestinians, "regardless of the consequences" — artists who he says "understand that our platforms mean very little if we’re only willing to use them when it’s safe."
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The "Thrift Shop" rapper also noted that because things are moving so quickly, schedules and details are still being worked out. As of now, he has three shows scheduled: in Dublin on Oct. 26, in Paris on Oct. 29 and in London on Oct. 30.
None of the other performers have been named, but he did state, "All proceeds will benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement."
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The announcement has already made waves, with some critics wondering why he's not performing in the Palestinian territories. One person wrote on social media, "So f---in performative, let's see these 'brave' artists actually go to the countries they're so supportive of."
"If virtual signaling was in the olympics hed get a gold medal," another said.
Others took issue with Macklemore making his music so political, with one X user writing, "I'm pretty sure people just want artists to stfu & do the art....."
Another agreed, saying, "When will celebs learn to stay out of politics? Most of them are vacuous morons who don't know what they're talking about. Sing your little songs and f--- off home. It's not difficult."
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"So why he didn’t do it before?" another person asked. "Was it so necessary to involve Ed Sheeran and damage his career? Something fake and sleezy about this guy."
Many people praised Macklemore for his decision to do a tour based on his beliefs.
"Macklemore is nothing but a hero and a role model for all of humanity. so damn proud of him," one fan shared.
"Seriously, mad respect to you for standing up for what you believe. I truly believe we are on the precipice of change and you may have been the bright spark that we needed to set this off," another posted.
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Several fans requested that he add more shows, especially in the U.S. cities where he was scheduled to perform before he was dropped from Sheeran's tour.
On Sept. 4, Macklemore opened for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and he used part of his time onstage to perform his anti-Israel song, "Hind's Hall." He repeatedly chanted "Free Palestine" while a slideshow played on the screen behind him, showing video from the war in Gaza.
WATCH: WHY MACKLEMORE GOT KICKED OFF ED SHEERAN'S TOUR
The controversy surrounding Macklemore's stage appearance continued after the MetLife Stadium performance. He later posted a video on Instagram addressing the crowd and said performing on Sheeran's tour gave him the opportunity to deliver his "Free Palestine" message to a massive audience.
He doubled down in the caption writing, "Wanting all humans to be treated equal should never be controversial."
He was later dropped from the tour altogether after venues told the tour's promoters that they would "not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup."
Fox News Digital's Stephanie Giang-Paunon contributed to this report.
Missouri's redistricting mess created an election problem Supreme Court has days to untangle
Missouri’s congressional map fight is hurtling toward another potential Supreme Court showdown, with courts at odds over which districts should govern the November election after more than 1.2 million Missourians voted in the August primary under a different map.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Monday that Missouri must use its 2025 congressional map in November, finding that switching to the state’s 2022 districts after the primary would violate the U.S. Constitution. But the appeals court paused its order until Sept. 28, 2026, opening a narrow window for another visit to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abhishek Kambli, a partner at Holtzman Vogel and former deputy associate attorney general at the Justice Department, told Fox News Digital the Supreme Court’s previous intervention does not necessarily signal how the justices will handle the latest ruling.
"It’s unpredictable how they’ll rule, mostly because we didn’t get their reasoning in the last order," Kambli said. "So, we don’t know the precise reason why they decided to stay at that time."
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The Supreme Court previously stayed a federal district court's temporary restraining order requiring Missouri to use the 2025 map. The Eighth Circuit has now directed the lower court to enter a permanent injunction requiring the newer districts, putting the dispute in a different procedural posture.
"So unless the Supreme Court steps in again, the state will be required to use the seven-one map for this election," Kambli said.
Missouri held its Aug. 4, 2026, primary under the 2025 map. Roughly a month later, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that voters could challenge the map through a referendum, leaving the 2022 districts in place for the November election.
Kambli said switching congressional maps between the primary and general election raises serious constitutional concerns.
"You would have had a large number of Missourians who would have been disenfranchised because they voted for one set of candidates in the primary and will be voting for another set in the general," Kambli said.
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"And what's even more concerning is sometimes those candidates are unopposed so that they miss their only chance to vote as a result of what the Missouri Supreme Court did here," Kambli continued. "So that's what's really at issue — is whether everyone gets an equal voice in a situation where the primary election is integral to the electoral system of the state."
But Yale law professor Akhil Amar and University of California, Davis, law professor Vikram Amar have argued the opposite. After the Supreme Court’s earlier stay, Vikram wrote on SCOTUSblog that using the 2025 map in November would not protect anyone’s right to vote if those lines were never legally in effect. Akhil agreed with his analysis.
"HB1’s district lines lack the force of law, full stop," Vikram wrote. "These lines cannot be used wrongly in November just because they were previously used wrongly in the primary. Two wrongs do not make (or vindicate) a right (to vote)."
Meanwhile, Kambli placed much of the blame for the eleventh-hour legal scramble over which map to use on the Missouri Supreme Court, arguing the turmoil was "entirely preventable."
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Kambli argued that the Missouri Supreme Court could have resolved the map dispute earlier, noting that the issue remained unsettled even after the candidate filing deadline passed.
Alicia Bannon, senior director of the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, pointed instead to delays by Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins as a key reason the dispute dragged on.
Opponents of the 2025 map submitted more than 300,000 signatures in December 2025, but Hoskins did not formally reject the referendum petition until Aug. 4, the day of the primary.
"Time passed. And passed further," Bannon wrote for State Court Report. "As early as December 2025, Hoskins asserted in separate federal litigation that a referendum on redistricting was not authorized by the state constitution. But he held off on issuing a certificate on that basis — which would have triggered judicial review — instead going through a lengthy process of verifying petition signatures."
Bannon wrote that the Missouri Supreme Court’s criticism of Hoskins’ delays stood out, particularly the court’s rejection of his argument that it had waited too long to intervene.
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The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the referendum could proceed and faulted Hoskins for the delay, saying he had "created the confusion, expense, and practical difficulties of which he complains."
Kambli argued the Purcell principle, under which federal courts generally avoid changing election rules close to Election Day because of the potential for disruption, weighs in favor of keeping the 2025 map because Missouri already used it for the primary.
"The Eighth Circuit said that the Purcell principles support the injunction, not go against it," Kambli said.
Bannon also warned that courts being too cautious can create its own problems.
"It’s an approach that’s understandable in some circumstances but can also incentivize shenanigans to evade judicial review while harming voters’ rights," Bannon wrote.
Bannon suggested earlier court action in Missouri could have helped avoid the last-minute dispute, including by moving the primary or setting a firm deadline for the referendum petition.
But regardless of whether the Supreme Court decides to weigh in, the referendum will still be on the ballot.
"If the Supreme Court does not stay the Eighth Circuit injunction, there's no doubt that the 7-1 map is what will be in effect for this election. There's still going to be a referendum on the ballot deciding that issue for future elections, but for this one, that's how it'll be decided," Kambli said.
While Millennials cheer Toys R Us comeback, key piece of data reveals dystopian reason for its return
If you came of age in the 80s or 90s, chances are you remember Toys R Us, the international toy retailer with the anthropomorphic giraffe for a mascot and the catchiest jingle in the business.
"I don't wanna grow up, I wanna be a Toys R Us kid."
Well, the truth of the matter is we did grow up, and about a decade ago, millennials aging out of the toy-buying demographic spelled doom for the once-titanic toy store, as Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and closed all of their stores the following year.
But then, just recently, something unexpected happened.
Toys R Us started to make a comeback, first as a part of larger retail stores like Macy's, and then, little by little, as standalone shops in malls and airports.
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Now, Toys R Us is set to open 120 stores across the country this holiday season, bringing its total number of standalone U.S. stores to 160.
Hang on just a second, though. Did you read the last part of that post?
"As toy sales surge among adult shoppers," reads like there are a bunch of losers in their 30s and 40s pacing up and down the aisles of their local toy stores while shoving kids out of the way for the last Funko Pop.
But surely that's not the case here, right? This is just a bunch of older Millennials with kids of their own passing on their love of toys and games to the next generation.
Right?
Yep, I knew it.
It looks like the only reason Toys R Us is making a comeback is because a bunch of 90s kids who are now old enough to have kids of their own took that aforementioned jingle a little too literally.
I know you "wanna be a Toys R Us kid," but you're 36 years old. It's time to let someone a little younger have a crack at the LEGO Star Wars set.
I don't know what it is with my generation and having a serious case of arrested development, but they're almost allergic to acting their age.
Listen, I'm not saying you're not allowed to have some of the same hobbies you had when you were 13.
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Hell, I will still hop on the Xbox to blow off a little steam or watch movies and TV shows from my youth.
But I also haven't been spending chunks of my salary on toys and video games for most of my adult life, and I donated all my Pokemon cards to kids at the summer camp I used to work at back in college.
If I have bought a toy in the past two years, it was for my son, and that's the disheartening thing about these numbers.
Instead of passing the "kid hobbies" torch, Millennials are just hoarding it to themselves.
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Nostalgia is a powerful agent, one that I have been known to write about frequently, but there's a fine line between showing reverence for "the good old days" and outright refusing to live in the present.
It's a ton of fun to see my son's eyes light up whenever he opens the package to a Spider-Man figure or a Bluey plushy, but I couldn't imagine someone with a beard and a car payment getting the same satisfaction from that.
It all feels weird and a little dystopian.
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I'll be excited to take my son to Toys R Us when one opens near me, just as my dad did when I was a kid, but the joy will be vicarious.
Anything more than that just wouldn't feel right.
Ms Rachel defends her activism by pointing to Mister Rogers' political legacy on children's TV
Children's YouTube personality Ms. Rachel hit back at critics of her political activism during an interview Tuesday, pointing to Mister Rogers, who she said was very political.
Ms. Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, spoke to Kareem Rahma, host of "SubwayTakes," and broke down her hottest takes.
"Mr. Rogers was political," she said. Mister Rogers, whose full name was Fred Rogers, is known for "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," a children's program that ran from 1968-2001.
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Ms. Rachel pointed to an example in the children's show in which Rogers invited Officer Clemmons, a Black character, to cool off in a small wading pool during the civil rights movement. The episode aired in 1969, at a time when some public pools still prohibited Black swimmers.
Rahma called the episode "revolutionary."
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"I've read that some people saw it and in their family it wasn't okay to share a pool, and they were like, 'Oh Mr. Rogers is doing it. It's okay for our family now.' And so it did make a difference and actually, people sometimes say to me or, you know, in the media, they'll be like, ‘Ms. Rachel should be like Mister Rogers and not be political.' And actually, he was political so much on the show. I think maybe they didn't watch it or maybe weren't paying attention because he did so many things," Ms. Rachel said.
Ms. Rachel also pointed to a series of episodes from 1983, telling Rahma that Rogers was against the nuclear arms race.
"He was against the nuclear arms race, and he had, in his neighborhood make-believe, he had King Friday building bombs because he thought the other neighborhood, Southwood, was building bombs, so he wanted to have 100 million and one bomb parts for his bombs and in the show. And then he was like, 'Now we don't have money for the music program because you spent it all on bombs. Queen Sarah, the wife, was like, ‘Why did you spend the tax money on bombs? We should have spent it on these other awesome things,’" Ms. Rachel said.
She noted that Mister Rogers also testified before the Senate in support of funding for public broadcasting.
"Nixon wanted to cut $10 million from the PBS budget, and he testified in front of the Senate, and he just shared from his heart how much care goes into his show and how he helps children manage, and feelings are manageable and mentionable, and it was huge and the very like-grrrrrr Senate guy was like, ‘You got your $20 million.’ And it was so touching. It's like the coolest video," Ms. Rachel said.
She added, "And so he went to Senate and was like, 'No, government, don't cut funding to PBS.' Like, how political is that?"
Author and psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert told Fox News Digital in a statement, "Fred Rogers addressed serious social issues. His 1969 pool scene with Officer Clemmons was a powerful statement about racial equality. But there’s a difference between quietly modeling human dignity and turning your enormous platform with children and parents into a vehicle for your positions on today's political controversies."
Alpert continued, "Rogers didn't need to tell his audience, 'Here is the correct political position.' He showed a Black neighbor that he was welcome in his pool. The lesson was contained in the act itself. Ms. Rachel is far more explicit about telling the public what she believes about Gaza, immigration and other politically charged issues. I think invoking Mister Rogers gives her a convenient defense: If Mister Rogers was political, then criticism of her activism can be dismissed as hypocrisy. But that's a false equivalence. You can admire what Rogers did in 1969 without concluding that every children's entertainer therefore has a mandate to become a political activist."
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Alpert said Rogers was "influential precisely because he didn't beat people over the head with his politics."
"He trusted the audience to understand the lesson. The pool scene didn't come with a lecture or a list of political demands. He showed people how to behave," Alpert said of Mister Rogers.
Fred Rogers Productions did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Ms. Rachel's other takes included one about children in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
"No child should be in immigration detention center ever," she said. "I've talked with some children, and the harm is so obvious."
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"And we don't want to be people who abuse children. It's the medical neglect is abuse. So, they're actually abusing children. And some pediatricians I've talked to have even said torture. Some autistic children in there, like keeping the lights on 24 hours, just that they've been unable to go to the bathroom, to poop for nine days. And as parents, it's like, that's so wrong. Like you can't, and there was a girl they neglected that she had this respiratory stuff, and when they took her to the ICU, she had COVID, RSV. Her oxygen was like 52. So the medical neglect is abuse in there," Ms. Rachel said.
ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Lane Kiffin caught lying about LSU-Ole Miss series while complaining about nine-game SEC schedule
LSU welcomes a Top 25 Texas A&M team to Baton Rouge on Saturday in what is being viewed as a make-or-break game between the two one-loss teams, but Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin can't seem to stop talking about his team's loss at Ole Miss.
During Wednesday's SEC coaches' teleconference call, Kiffin spoke about the challenges of his team taking on another dual-threat quarterback this week in Texas A&M's Marcel Reed after struggling to slow down Ole Miss star Trinidad Chambliss.
Or at least that's what his comments were initially focused on before complaining about his team's schedule.
LANE KIFFIN SUGGESTS OLE MISS BROKE RULES WITH IN-STADIUM MUSIC DURING LSU'S LOSS TO REBELS
"Obviously we just played the best one in the country last week thinking he can hurt you even when you have the right call on and everybody covered and a guy comes free," Kiffin explained. "Obviously he (Chambliss) played great a year ago here in the stadium, so this is one of those scheduling quirks just like last week where never in that LSU-Ole Miss series had it ever been played two times in a row."
While it is both odd and rare that Ole Miss got the benefit of playing LSU – a historic rival – in Oxford back-to-back seasons, Kiffin's claim that the series had never been played at the same venue in consecutive seasons is false.
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LSU played host to the game in 2001 and 2002, and if you go back to the 1960s, Baton Rouge hosted the contest for four straight seasons from 1961 to 1964. This season and the last marked the first time in the 112-game series that the rivalry game took place in Oxford in back-to-back years. Kiffin led Ole Miss to a win over LSU in 2025 before leaving for the Tigers' head coaching gig in November.
It just so happens that Kiffin's complaint comes the same week his new LSU team gets the benefit of hosting Texas A&M for the second straight season instead of going on the road and playing in front of 100,000-plus fans in College Station.
Kiffin recognized that the schedule quirks are a part of the new nine-game conference schedule the SEC has implemented this season, but he alluded to it in a sarcastic manner.
"That (Ole Miss) game was supposed to be here, and this one was supposed to be (at Texas A&M)," Kiffin said. " So these are the scheduling quirks that come with our awesome move to nine games that has sure looked so great here lately."
Kiffin making a tongue-in-cheek comment about the nine-game SEC schedule just one conference game into the 2026 campaign – his first in Baton Rouge – is certainly bold.
Ole Miss victims identified as narcotics task force probes two student deaths
OXFORD, Miss. — The two University of Mississippi students found dead under suspicious circumstances in recent days have been identified by a university spokesman — who also said the names were being released with their families' approval.
Robert Strang, a 20-year-old from Atlanta, is the older of the two victims, his family's spokesperson told Fox News Digital Thursday. The second student was identified by the spokesman as Aidan Hamilton, an 18-year-old freshman from Colorado.
"We are heartbroken by the loss of our dear son and are trying to process this unimaginable loss," Strang's family spokesman Scott Sayres told Fox News Digital Thursday. "We are deeply grateful for the incredible outpouring of love, prayers and support by so many beloved friends and family. Their kindness has meant more to our family than we can ever express."
Both families have asked for privacy and compassion as their mourn the losses of their sons.
TWO OLE MISS STUDENTS FOUND DEAD AS PACKAGED KRATOM IS RECOVERED AT TWO SITES: OFFICIALS
Social media posts from the Ole Miss chapter of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity identify Strang as one of seven co-chairmen of the 2026 Rush, when new members are recruited.
Authorities also told Fox News Digital Thursday that foul play had not been ruled out.
Strang was discovered at an off-campus home, according to the Lafayette County Coroner's Office. The other victim, 18, is believed to have been found at Stewart Hall, a male dorm on the Ole Miss campus.
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The Lafayette County Coroner's Office previously told Fox News that an 18-year-old had been found in a dorm room and the 20-year-old victim was recovered at an off-campus home. Both deaths are being investigated by the county's narcotics task force, and it's unclear whether they were connected.
Authorities found packages of kratom, a commercially available drug that has been derided as "gas station heroin," at both scenes, however its role in either death was not immediately clear. Campus Greek life leaders have previously circulated a warning about a synthetic opioid called cychlorphine.
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Cychlorphine can be treated with Narcan but sometimes requires multiple doses, students were told. It also may not show up on common drug-detecting strips used to find fentanyl contamination.
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Students are being urged to avoid all drugs.
CHINESE NATIONALS ACCUSED OF SMUGGLING SYNTHETIC DRUGS INTO US PRISONS ON DRUG-SOAKED PAPER
Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday that state investigators were assisting local authorities, and that they would try and expedite the toxicology reports on both victims. Such reports typically take weeks to complete.
No official cause and manner of death have been given for either victim as of Thursday morning.
This is a breaking news story. Stick with Fox News Digital for updates.