Shocking footage shows thousands of migrants crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas – despite Joe Biden vowing to crack down on the influx.

More than 2,200 people crossed the river from Coahuila into Eagle Pass in a tactic pushed by drug lords to deliberately overwhelm U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

By tying up crucial resources, it leaves Mexico’s cartels free to carry out human trafficking and smuggling operations uninterrupted.

As midnight approached the group could be seen wading through the deep waters to reach the other side, much to the surprise of some local Mexican residents.

One could be heard on camera exclaiming how only a small portion of the group were crossing at that one moment – with hundreds more following behind. 

By the time daylight arrived, the group were being rounded up by Border Patrol as they huddled under a bridge in Eagle Pass.

The footage was shot in Piedras Negras, the Mexican town which lies directly across the river from Eagle Pass.

The flagrant breaking of immigration rules took place next to the port of entry as those crossing the border thumbed their noses at the Biden Administration.

It was March 2021 when Biden pleaded with those thinking of making the journey to the U.S. ‘do not come’ with the threat of  ‘consequences’ for those crossing illegally.

‘I can say quite clearly: Don’t come. We’re in the process of getting set up, don’t leave your town or city or community,’ Biden said.

This latest wave of migrants who are mainly Venezeulan are believed to have travelled up through Panama.

Similar scenes have been witnessed along the border with towns and federal processing centers are now at overcapacity as a crush of crossings cripples the nation.

Last week there were more than 7,000 illegal crossings across the U.S.-Mexico border on several days. 

Nearly 500 miles away from Eagle Pass in El Paso, a similar surge was experiences as 1,700 migrants crossed in a 24-hour period. 

The migrants would then line up along the border wall and surrender to officers to then claim asylum in the US.

About 500 asylum-seekers mainly from Venezuela lined up at El Paso on Monday, reported KVIA.

Over the last week the region has seen a spike in encounters with 1,200 on average coming over each day. 4,200 migrants are being housed in local hotels rather than shelters.

Across the border as a whole, as many 9,400 migrants have crossed into the US in a single 24-hour period – almost equalling figures seen in May before the end of Title 42 which saw 10,000 people come into the country each day. 

‘The way it’s being orchestrated through the cartels, I believe it’s meant to overwhelm the system. The [places] that are being impacted the most are border communities,’ former El Paso City Councilmember Claudia Rodriquez told The New York Post. 

No street releases have been made in the El Paso region unlike in California and Arizona. 

Last week, photos depicted at least three white unmarked Border Patrol buses filled with migrants parked in San Diego.

It led to several hundred people being released onto the streets. One migrant was even told by an agent: ‘You’re free to go on and do wherever you want. You’re free.’

He asked: ‘It’s no problem if I go to Chicago?’

‘You can do whatever you want,’ the official replied. 

Border Patrol in San Diego has reportedly been dealing with 20,000 migrants in custody last week – 5,000 more than facilities can manage.

It can’t accommodate more than 15,000 migrants and migrants are being released onto the streets to fend for themselves after being processed at the border.

Similar migrant releases took place in Tucson, Arizona, with agents coming across 2,000 people a day and dealing with packed shelters. 

In Texas, State Representative Eddie Morales says the migrants made the trek by hopping on trains.

‘It’s obviously a security issue, we have concerns over their safety and we need to address this in the most – expeditious manner,’ Morales said to News4SA. 

‘Under U.S. immigration laws, most non-citizens coming to our border are not eligible to remain in the United States. Asylum laws do not provide for relief solely for economic reasons or for general violence,’ U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) tweeted on Monday.

After the public health order known as Title 42 was lifted in May 11, CBP says the U.S.  ‘returned to fully enforcing Title 8 immigration authorities to expeditiously process and remove individuals who arrive at the U.S. border unlawfully and do not have a legal basis to stay.’ 

Texas Congressman also Terry Gonzales also shared similar frustrations.

‘Eagle Pass is completely overrun right now. El Paso is getting overwhelmed right now. Arizona is getting overwhelmed right now.

‘The only way we can regain control of the southern border is by enforcing the laws that are on the books. That’s exactly what the administration needs to do. That’s exactly what Congress needs to focus on.

‘All Americans deserve to feel safe in their own communities and right now they do no. A lot of folks see it on TV and they think it will never happen to them. Well I’m here to tell you it’s already happening, whether you’re in New York, whether you’re in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles.

‘These folks that are coming over illegally, they’re coming to all parts of the country. It’s only going to get worse.’

One day earlier, a cargo train filled to the brim with migrants was spotted speeding toward the Mexican border with the United States. 

Astounding footage of the FerroMex train was shot as the locomotive with hundreds in tow could be seen coming out of the Central Mexican city of Zacatecas as it made its way northbound on the 750-mile journey toward the U.S.

Container after container could be seen filled with migrants getting an easy ride as the goods train zoomed by. 

There was whistling and cheering from those on board as the group hitched a ride. Some of the travelers could even be seen hanging out from the sides of the train.

The train was headed for the U.S. southern border – where in the southwest, roughly 2 million migrants have already made their way into America in 2023. Border towns have been crushed by the influx thanks to the lax border policies of the Biden administration. 

The migrants looked to have prepared themselves for a long journey with many having erected tents and canvas over portions of the containers in a bid to shield themselves from the elements. 

The videos comes as the latest figures from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol show a rise in the number of encounters with migrants at the Southern Border.

In July there were almost 184,000 migrant crossings into the U.S. – up from 144,000 encounters with border patrol from June.

Although the figures rose on a month-by-month basis, the numbers are still well below that of previous years when in 2021 and 2022 more than 200,000 crossed into the U.S. from Mexico.

The U.S. border has seen a flood of migrants from across the world, not just Central and South American nations such as Venezuela and Mexico. There have been migrants from China and other places entering via the porous southern border.

The 2022 fiscal year saw record-breaking numbers of encounters with migrants at the Southwest border with 2,378,944 reported crossings from October to September.

In 2023, through July, there have been 1,973,092 – many of them coming as Title 42 expired.

The number of migrant crossings in August is set to exceed 230,000, according to Fox News.  

Most migrant encounters are single adults, at 64.9 percent, but almost 600,000 are individuals in a family unit and there have been 109,298 unaccompanied minors crossing the border.

Issues of overcapacity are happening all across the southern border. Along with Tucson – street releases are happening in the San Diego sector and in Santa Cruz County, California.

Texas has also been using razor wire to block migrants illegally entering as it battles a challenge from the Biden administration seeking to stop it from building a buoy barrier in the Rio Grande.

The Lone Star State has also been busing migrants to ‘sanctuary cities’ such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles in order to give border towns some relief.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott argues that Texas cities have carried the weight of illegal immigration and ‘sanctuary cities’ need to share that burden.

‘Texas has bused over 35,000 migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities,’ he wrote earlier this month on  Twitter.

‘Over 11,300 to D.C., over 13,300 to NYC, over 6,700 to Chicago, over 2,600 to Philadelphia, over 1,000 to Denver, over 480 to LA.’

 

People from the African nations of Senegal, Mauritania, Ghana, Sudan are part of the migrants who have recently made crossings into the U.S. from Mexico.

Cochise County, Arizona, is being slammed with waves of migrants bussed from other counties after crossing the border amid President Joe Biden‘s lax policies.

‘The intellectual avoidance and abandonment with intended consequences’ by those leaders in Washington, DC, reference our southern border continues to be a slippery slope for those doing everything we can to protect our quality of life here in Cochise County!’ Sheriff Mark Dannels said.

‘The migrants being released are from outside Cochise County but were bussed to Cochise County, processed and then released,’ Daniels noted in a Facebook post.

‘I applaud the local [Customs and Border Protections] agents and their leadership for doing all they legally can during this on-going crisis.’

It’s unclear exactly how many migrants the processing facilities in Tucson can accommodate or how many have been transported to other locations such as Cochise County.

A cardiologist has sparked controversy on TikTok for claiming oatmeal has ‘no nutritional value’ and ‘is just propaganda.’

Dr Jack Wolfson, who practices in Arizona and goes by the Natural Heart Doctor on social media, posted a video earlier this month about why he never recommends eating oatmeal – known as porridge in the UK. 

The video, which has gained more than 4.6 million views, received backlash from numerous doctors and dietitians who claimed Dr Wolfson is spreading misinformation and ignoring oatmeal’s health benefits.

‘As a cardiologist, I never recommend eating oatmeal, certainly not every day as so many people do,’ he told his 448,000 followers. 

‘Our ancestors did not eat oatmeal. Neither should you.’ 

Dr Wolfson went on to say oatmeal has ‘no nutritional value’ and ‘contains a lot of anti-nutrients’ but did not provide any examples. Instead, he urged viewers to opt for eggs at breakfast rather than oats.

However, oatmeal is high in fiber and several minerals, which have been shown to ward off chronic health issues like diabetes. 

DailyMail.com reached out to Dr Wolfson’s team but did not receive a response. 

‘There’s been a lot of propaganda over the years about the benefits of oatmeal, and I think all of that really is just from the support of industry- Nabisco, Quaker Oats, Kellogg’s- about promoting us to eat oatmeal and oatmeal over eggs,’ Dr Wolfson said. 

Dr Wolfson specifically said people should eat eggs instead of oatmeal. Eggs are rich in vitamins A, B5, B12, D and E, as well as vital nutrients like calcium and protein. 

‘An egg is a cocoon for a baby chicken. An egg contains all the nutrients, the vitamins, the minerals, the fats, the proteins, that a chicken needs to come to life.

‘You can’t raise a chicken on oatmeal. You can’t raise a healthy human on oatmeal,’ Dr Wolfson continued.

However, experts criticizing him said there’s no reason to have to choose between eggs and oatmeal. 

Dr Siyab Panhwar, a cardiologist at NYU Langone in New York City, posted a response to Dr Wolfson’s video on Monday with a caption urging users not to ‘listen to alternative health influencers on social media for health advice.’

‘I’m a board-certified cardiologist here to tell you that that is garbage,’ he said.

‘Nobody should be listening to this person for any sort of cardiac or health advice whatsoever.’

He pointed to studies that have shown oatmeal can have lasting heart health benefits, such as lowering cholesterol and controlling blood sugar.

A review in the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology found antioxidants in oats could lower blood pressure by producing more nitric oxide gas. This helps widen blood vessels, leading to better blood flow. 

Abbey Sharp, a dietitian and content creator, responded on TikTok to a video Dr Wolfson made last year with the same statements regarding oatmeal’s health benefits. 

‘No, just no,’ she said.

‘Oats are actually rich in a unique antioxidant (avenanthramide) that may actually reduce blood pressure and is a prime source of the fiber beta glucan, which has been shown to reduce bad cholesterol levels, slow the insulin response, and support feelings of fullness.

‘So not only are oats clearly not bad for heart health, they’ve actually been proven…to be quite good.

‘Here’s a crazy idea: why not have eggs, coffee, and oats for breakfast? That right there would be a balanced heart-healthy meal,’ Ms Sharp said. 

Fiber counters the effects of sugar spikes and helps regulate the digestive system. One cup of prepared oatmeal has about 4 grams of fiber, about 20 percent of the recommended daily fiber intake for women and 10 percent of the intake for men. 

This fiber is also filling, which promotes weight loss because it doesn’t take as many calories to feel full.  

Additionally, a half cup of dry oats has nearly two-thirds the daily recommended intake of manganese, a trace mineral that the body needs to regulate blood sugar and maintain normal brain function.

‘There are plenty of health benefits of eating oats,’ Dr Panhwar said. 

He also pointed out Dr Wolfson’s statement about ancestors not eating oatmeal ‘is just plain wrong.’

A study from researchers at Washington University in St Louis found oats have been traced back approximately 32,000 years ago, to the Paleolithic Era. 

‘Radar contact lost.’

Former air traffic controller Robin A. Smith reveals in his memoir that he once had to utter that dreaded phrase – one that no one in the profession ever wants to say.

He recounts in the riveting tome the sequence of events that led up to him saying it. And how for a brief time, he thought a disaster involving an airliner and four military aircraft was imminent.

The account underscores that when an air traffic controller has a bad day at work, it can be truly hair-raising.

The ‘radar contact lost’ drama played out in August 1992 over Tucson in Arizona when Smith worked in the Tucson terminal radar approach control (Tracon), which was housed on the city’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and oversaw plane movements for the base and the international airport four and a half miles to the southwest.

The day in question had begun positively, Smith recalls – he drove to his 6am to 3pm shift under cobalt blue skies.

But ominous signs that a big storm was approaching appeared around 10am. Puffy clouds were forming and it was over 100F – that ‘drives an elevator that lifts moisture into the sky’.

Smith writes in Life With A View – Memoir of an Air Traffic Controller: ‘As with the fast-food rush, we anticipated the adverse effects of the monsoon and were prepared to adjust accordingly.

‘The radar scope resembled a teenager with acne, becoming increasingly cluttered with building thunderstorms.’

At 2pm Smith was assigned a final shift on the departure sector.

He writes: ‘Looking at the radar for the first time after a 20-minute break I was astonished at how quickly the storms had matured. Previously isolated thunderstorm cells had congealed… positioning themselves on the west side of both airports.’

The drama, Smith recalls, was kickstarted by a voice from Tucson tower, saying: ‘Northwest 551, Boeing 727, taking the runway for departure.’

Smith was shocked that the captain had decided to take off, given the intimidating weather.

He reveals that air traffic controllers cannot deny take-off clearance ‘because the weather looks bad’ – but can put an airport ‘on hold’.

Smith, in the moment, didn’t think pausing the airport was necessary, because he could ‘issue an immediate right turn’ for the aircraft belonging to Northwest [which merged with Delta Air Lines in 2008], which would take it around the storm.

But there was a caveat. This plan would only work if no aircraft took off from Davis-Monthan airport.

He writes: ‘[Hopefully] the air force pilots at Davis-Monthan had enough sense to look out of their window and opt for another Coke in the ready room.’

But the worst-case-scenario began to unfold, with the tower at Davis-Monthan announcing the departure of ‘Simon 22’ – the codename for four navy A-7s.

Smith, however, reasoned that he could turn the Northwest B727 over the top of Davis-Monthan and the departing A-7s.

His confidence came from the knowledge that announcements regarding commercial aircraft taking off were normally made as the flight was turning onto the runway, while military flights normally run through a checklist at the start of the runway.

He writes: ‘For a flight of four, as in Simon 22’s case, the taxi onto the runway and run-up process would easily take three to four minutes, and by that time, Northwest 551 would be… 20 miles northeast of Tucson and passing through 10,000 feet.’

He adds: ‘At least, that’s what would have happened on a perfect day.’

Next, Northwest checked in, revealing that it was ‘climbing out of 3,700ft… ‘

Seconds later, Simon 22 announced that it was ‘climbing out of 3,600ft… ‘

Smith writes: ‘As all five aircraft climbed into the thunderstorm I watched the storm change size and shape like an amoeba in a high-school science movie.

‘Each passing sweep of the radar emphasised the inevitable, and time slowed. I was not comfortable.’

‘As expected’, Northwest 551 requested ‘an immediate right turn for weather’.

Smith writes: ‘My worst-case scenario had just become very real because I had violated the cardinal rule of air traffic control. I didn’t have a way out.’

He explains that his only option was to restrict Simon 22 to 6,000ft, the minimum altitude to clear the mountains ahead, and send the B727 over the top of the A-7s after it had hit 7,000ft – ‘thereby ensuring the minimum one thousand feet of vertical separation required by ATC’.

The problem? ‘By the time Northwest 551 had the necessary altitude for the turn,’ writes Smith, ‘forward momentum would put all five aircraft in the worst part of the thunderstorm.

‘In the next few seconds, Northwest 551 would rapidly encounter severe turbulence, forcing crew members to wrestle with controls. The loss of control would be compounded by hail, which would sound like rocks hitting the cockpit windshield. Microbursts, extreme downdrafts of air present in mature thunderstorms, would compound the difficulties.’

What did Smith do next?

He replied: ‘Northwest 551, unable immediate right turn, traffic directly off your right side, four miles, four A-7s leaving Davis-Monthan. They will be stopped at 6,000ft, leaving 7,000, turn right heading zero-four-five.’

He continues: ‘The next response from Northwest 551 sent a chill down my spine. “Northwest 551 is declaring an emergency and starting an immediate right turn, northeast bound.”’

Once a pilot declares an emergency, Smith explains, ‘the book and all its rules go out the window’, because ‘the pilot in command is free to do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of the aircraft, crew and passengers’.

Smith adds: ‘From a strictly statistical view, the chance of hitting one of the A-7s was lower than the chance of losing a wing or an engine in the black cloud so, a right turn it was.’

The worst-case scenario wasn’t finished with Smith just yet though – because Simon 22 announced that they had lost visual contact with each other.

Smith writes: ‘I now had five aircraft in the middle of a severe thunderstorm who were unable to see each other and unwilling to accept my instructions as they approached downtown Tucson and flew directly over the University of Arizona.’

What’s more, the storm had become so dense that the ATC radar could no longer penetrate it and pick up the aircraft.

Smith was forced to raise his hand to summon his supervisor for assistance.

‘Seconds passed with no information from my radar or voices from the cockpits, and in this case, no news was not good news,’ he writes.

On the fifth sweep of the radar – some good news. It had picked up a plane heading northeast – then the 727 answered a call for a radio check, Smith reveals.

Another radar sweep picked up two A-7s, then the third was picked up, before the flight leader checked in and said that he’d made radio contact with the fourth A-7.

Smith writes: ‘The fourth Simon 22 member was radar-identified, and I issued headings to join them as a flight again.

‘As quickly as it had begun – it was over. And all aircraft were separated.

‘I issued headings commensurate with the aircraft’s original flight plans and sent them on their way.

‘The weather was now north of both airports, leaving behind shaken aircrews, a confused controller, and a city full of people who would not read in the morning paper about an incident in southern Arizona that had claimed a bunch of lives.’

Smith admits that he could have put both airports on hold for a few minutes and averted the situation. But that was a solution that only presented itself with hindsight.

His supervisor scolded him for not initiating ‘radar contact lost’ procedures, but Smith argued that ‘he didn’t have time’.

His final thought? Because no aircraft had ‘scraped paint’, in the world of air traffic control ‘it was a perfect day’.

Life With A View – Memoir of an Air Traffic Controller, by Robin A Smith and published by iUniverse, can be ordered from Amazon for £9.95 ($9.20). 

Smith spent nearly 38 years in the aviation industry, serving as a domestic and international controller at two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) towers in the U.S, as well as being a certified radar approach control instructor in Oklahoma City.

Mattel’s first-ever theme park is opening in 2024, with first-look pictures revealing a taster of what visitors can expect.

Called Mattel Adventure Park, the toymaker’s theme park will be home to an array of attractions including a life-size Barbie Beach House and ‘pulse-pounding’ Hot Wheels roller coasters.

Construction is well underway on the nine-acre attraction, which will open at the VAI Resort hotel complex near Phoenix in Arizona, it’s been revealed.

The Barbie Beach House is bound to be one of the biggest attractions – the plastic fashion doll clearly has a lot of fans, with the Barbie movie raking in more than £785million ($1billion) in cinemas this year.

Visitors can peek within Barbie’s iconic wardrobe in the Barbie Dream Closet Experience ‘which uses hologram technology to bring Barbie to life before guests’ eyes’.

The Barbie Beach House attraction also features a rooftop bar and restaurant where visitors can sip on a ‘signature pink beverage’ and take in ‘expansive views’ of the surroundings. 

The first of two Hot Wheels roller coasters, meanwhile, is the Hot Wheels Bone Shaker: The Ultimate Ride, which climbs 84ft (26m) in the air and is embellished with the toy line’s skull design, as shown in a rendering.

The second is the Hot Wheels Twin Mill Racer, a roller coaster that ‘guarantees a serious adrenaline boost for guests’. It features a double loop and two corkscrew turns, ‘qualifying it as the first coaster of its kind in Arizona’, a statement notes.

Both roller coasters are designed to ‘delight kids and adults of all ages’, Mattel reveals.

The theme park, which is billed as Arizona’s first full-themed indoor-outdoor amusement park, will also feature a Thomas the Tank Engine-themed attraction called Thomas & Friends: World of Sodor that’s home to seven family-friendly experiential attractions and rides, including an indoor play space for ‘little adventurers’.

Another attraction is inspired by Masters of the Universe action figures – sci-fi superhero characters that lived on the planet of Eternia. It’s a ‘massive’ 4,500-sq-ft (415-sq-m) laser tag arena that’s designed to look like the iconic Castle Grayskull fortress from the toy franchise – visitors are instructed to ‘fight for Eternia’ as they play laser tag.

Finally, there’s a mini golf experience featuring nine holes inspired by the Magic 8 Ball toy, the Pictionary board game and ‘other beloved Mattel games’.

Another feature is a ‘larger-than-life’ UNO structure that visitors can climb – it’s said to ‘deliver nostalgia and adventure for all ages’.

A collaboration between Mattel and developer Epic Resort Destinations, Mattel Adventure Park will welcome guests 365 days a year. A live-cam on the theme park’s website shows the ongoing construction at the site. 

Julie Freeland, Senior Director of Global Location Based Entertainment at Mattel, said: ‘Mattel Adventure Park is an amazing opportunity to bring our beloved brands to life. Construction is underway and substantial progress has been made on what will give fans of all ages a day of thrills and nostalgia. We’re especially excited for families to experience the Hot Wheels Bone Shaker roller coaster – a dream come true for any Hot Wheels fan.’

And Mark Cornell, President at Epic Resort Destinations, said: ‘Mattel Adventure Park features a unique and strategic year-round indoor/outdoor design providing acres of air-conditioned space to ensure a cool guest experience all summer long here in the heat of Arizona.

‘Our Attractions Development team are simply redefining the entertainment channel by bringing Mattel’s powerhouse, evergreen brands to life like never before. This hand-picked, gifted team continues to find truly innovative ways to create pioneering attractions that are certain to bring continuous fun for the whole family.’

He continued: ‘Watching the excitement build as these mega attractions are being installed in Glendale has been tremendous, and we promise, you’ve never seen a park quite like this one.’ 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dodged a question in a Wednesday interview about where he would stand on the prospect of primary challenges against moderate Democrat Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. 

The centrists have fueled frustration within party leadership and among fellow Democrats in Congress after their opposition in a 50-50 split Senate served to derail key parts of President Joe Biden‘s agenda. 

Their role in tanking federal voting rights legislation last month has sparked a progressive outcry for primary challengers to unseat both senators. Backlash against Sinema included a formal censure from the Arizona Democratic Party. 

Both Manchin and Sinema’s seats are up for re-election in 2024.

Schumer would not say when asked by CNN whether he’d support or oppose such challenges, shifting focus to the much nearer November midterm elections.

‘I am focused on 2022, getting things done, and winning the election on 2022,’ Schumer said.

‘I’m not at all focused on 2024 right now, and neither should anyone else be. That’s just how you lose in 2022.’

He defended forcing a floor vote on Democrats’ Freedom To Vote: John R. Lewis Act and a subsequent vote on whether to scuttle the filibuster to pass the package with a simple majority — both of which predictably failed.

Schumer reasoned that ‘when it comes to something as crucial as voting rights, can’t just push it off the table.’  

‘Senators are there to vote. We had to vote. And I think it was the right decision. And it had virtually, it had broad, wide, and deep support in our caucus,’ he said.

He claimed that ‘talks are continuing’ to pass some form of Build Back Better in a portion of his remarks to CNN from last week but published Wednesday. However on Tuesday Manchin declared Biden’s sweeping social reform and climate bill is ‘dead.’

When asked whether he was frustrated by Manchin, Schumer again neglected to give a clear answer.

‘Joe Manchin and I go back a long way, and obviously, I let him know my point of view and (we will) try to persuade him, as does the whole caucus, that our point of view is the correct point of view,’ he said. 

The New York Democrat, who’s served in the Senate since 1999, also shrugged off concerns of a primary challenge to his own seat — up for re-election this year. 

‘When it comes to reelection, I work really hard for New York and it always works out fine,’ Schumer said. ‘I always am looking forward, not over my shoulder.’

Schumer is sure to face more questions about his primary odds as the election nears, with months old rumors trailing him that rising progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would mount her own Senate bid.

Ocasio-Cortez has not ruled out taking on Schumer in past interviews but has not signaled that she was so inclined, either. 

High-profile progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders have said they’d support liberal primary challenges to Manchin in West Virginia or Sinema in Arizona. 

Last week Ocasio-Cortez said Sinema hasn’t ‘given a compelling case’ for why she should keep her seat and suggested she would support a primary challenge from Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego. 

But talk of scouting primary challenges for Manchin and Sinema has died down in the Senate in the weeks since the voting bill failed. 

Progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who earlier suggested she’d be open to supporting challenges to the moderates, told Politico earlier this week: ‘We need to get work done. Right now. We’ve got Build Back Better still hanging in the balance. I want to work with all 50 Democrats and get something passed now.’

Democrat Senator Brian Schatz from Hawaii told the outlet he wouldn’t support Sanders’ bid to unseat Manchin and Sinema.

‘It’s a free country. I wouldn’t recommend it,’ he said.

Sinema’s fellow Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly opposed her censure.

‘We’ve got people talking about an election in ‘24? So, I don’t get it,’ the retired astronaut said. 

US midterm elections 2022: Arizona still has 400,000 votes to count in its largest county, Nevada could not be called until TOMORROW as Georgia runoff is confirmed and counting drags on

By Katelyn Caralle, U.S. Political Reporter In Las Vegas, Nevada and Elizabeth Elkind, Politics Reporter For Dailymail.Com and Chris Matthews For Mailonline

Updated: 20:18 EDT, 9 November 2022

An ancient Mayan city has been discovered deep in the jungles of Mexico. 

Buildings, stone columns and 50-foot high pyramids make up the settlement, which was thought to have been a major hub at points between 250 and 1000 AD and is located in a largely unexplored stretch of jungle larger the size of Arizona.

The city – named Ocomtún or ‘stone column’ – covers around a fifth of a square mile and is located in the Campeche region of the Yucatan Peninsula, which splits the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

It was discovered in May by Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Šprajc, who led a team of into the thick jungle and spent a month uncovering the city’s remains, Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) announced on Tuesday.

According to Šprajc, the columns would have served as entrances to the upper floors of the buildings. The city is built around three main plazas, also features courts on which the Mayan inhabitants would have played an ancient ball game.

Ocomtún was discovered using LiDAR scanners, described by the National Geographic as one of archaeology’s most exciting modern tools, which use laser imaging captured from an aircraft to identify objects and structures hidden below.

The method has become especially popular among archaeologists searching dense regions of forest and jungle. 

The Maya civilization, known for its advanced mathematical calendars, spanned southeast Mexico and parts of Central America. They are also renowned for their pyramid temples and stone buildings.

Although they are thought to have been around for millennia, from around 1800 BC through to around 1000 AD, archeologists believe the Ocomtún fell late during the civilization between 800 to 1000 AD.

Political collapse led to its decline centuries before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors, whose military campaigns saw the last stronghold fall in the late 17th century.

The Ocomtún site has a core area, located on high ground surrounded by extensive wetlands, Šprajc said in a statement.

Ball games were popular throughout the Maya region and consisted of passing a rubber ball across a court without the use of hands and getting it through a small stone hoop.

The ball game is thought by experts to have been played throughout the  Mesoamerican region and is probably the oldest game in the history of sports. It is played on a stone-floored court about 160 feet in length.

Šprajc said his team had also found central altars in an area closer to the La Riguena river, which may have been designed for community rituals, though more research is needed to understand the cultures that once lived there. 

He has uncovered a number of Mayan cities during his career, which has been dedicated to the Yucatan Peninsula, and is the author of Lost Maya Cities: Archaeological Quests in the Mexican Jungle.

He suggested in his latest announcement that collapse of the city was likely a reflection of ‘ideological and population changes’ that led to the broader collapse of Maya societies in that region by around the 10th century.

Earlier this year a similar LiDAR approach was used to identify another Mayan civilization in Guatemala.

Alexandra Capelouto was found slumped over on her bed by her mother, Christine, two days before Christmas.

The 20-year-old sociology major at Arizona State University, who had returned home to Temecula, California on her winter break in 2019, had taken what she thought was a batch of oxycodone to help her sleep.

Instead, it was fentanyl, the deadly drug destroying lives across America. The man who sold it to her, Brandon Michael McDowell, 23, was jailed for nine years in February.

But Alexandra’s grieving father, Matt Capelouto, believes the state’s liberal lawmakers also ‘have blood on their hands’.

America’s fentanyl crisis was born in the mid-1990s, when pharmaceutical companies falsely claimed ‘revolutionary’ pills would put an end to chronic pain without addiction.

When regulators finally cracked down on that lie and the use of prescription opioids to treat chronic pain, addicts took to the streets in search of heroin, creating an unprecedented health crisis.

But by the mid 2010s, dealers began cutting other substances with fentanyl, which is much cheaper and around fifty times more potent than heroin.

In 2022, the drug caused around three quarters of roughly 110,000 overdose deaths, – meaning fentanyl is killing around 2,000 Americans a week. Of those, roughly 110 are Californians – approximately 5.5 percent. 

The crisis has ravaged many liberal states, creating deep divides within the Democratic Party on how to tackle it.

Matt Capelouto claims efforts by moderate state lawmakers to hold dealers to account are repeatedly blocked by a minority of ‘extreme, far-left’ Democrats who hold ‘too much power’.

In San Francisco, fatal overdoses are already up by 41 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2022, with the vast majority of deaths involving fentanyl.

Even before the recent spike, the city had among the highest overdose rates of large US counties.

But its mayor, London Breed, is pumping $18.5million into opening three ‘safe consumption’ sites that critics say keep addicts hooked on drugs, instead of treating them.

And now liberal parents have had enough.

Middle class families who have seen their children’s lives destroyed by the state’s fentanyl crisis have told DailyMail.com that California’s drug laws are ‘insanity’ – keeping their loved ones in ‘bondage’ to their addiction while allowing dealers to act with impunity.

In many cases, victims are star students and athletes from the suburbs, creating a legion of enraged but educated parents challenging the liberal status quo on the war on drugs.

 ‘San Francisco keeps repeating the same mistakes’

Tanya Tilghman, 53, says she has been forced to ‘rethink’ her whole liberal worldview because ‘San Francisco has gone way too far left’.

What caused her to reevaluate?

It could have been the moment she was surrounded by 10 to 15 armed police officers while her fentanyl-crazed son held himself hostage in their family home.

Or the time she was laughed at by staff at the city’s ‘safe consumption’ site after she posed as a drug addict and told them she wanted to get clean.

But the final straw seems to be the city’s decision to pump millions of dollars into opening three more ‘wellness hubs’, despite having closed its first after a year because it wasn’t helping enough people into treatment.

Her son, Roman Vardanega, 23, became hooked on fentanyl after a long battle with drug abuse that began with Adderall in high school, which had been prescribed to treat his ADHD.

In between, he was also addicted to cocaine, heroin and meth, and ran out of a private Sacramento treatment center aged 19.

By the time his mother brought him back to San Francisco, fentanyl had become unavoidable for those living on the streets, as Roman now was.

The drug made him increasingly erratic and he would repeatedly break into Tanya’s home, prompting her to take out a restraining order.

Shortly after, Roman held himself hostage in her home and was taken into custody.

It was around this time that Tanya got wind of San Francisco’s Tenderloin Center, the safe consumption site that opened in January last year.

Mayor Breed had promoted it as a place that would help homeless people struggling with addiction get housing and treatment, so Tanya wanted to find out if it could help her son when he was out of custody.

But when she visited with a group of other mother’s, she heard music blaring and wanted a look inside.

She returned, posing as an addict, and told workers at the center she needed help to get off drugs.

‘They laughed at me,’ she said. ‘They told me they could help me to do drugs if I had my own.

‘I went inside and there was loud music. I could see people shooting up, smoking from pipes.

‘I saw people who were on the ground who looked like they were passed out. Staff didn’t seem to care.

‘I stayed there for a good 30 to 40 minutes, just to see if anyone was going to check on the people who were lying on the ground. Nobody was checking on them.

‘I was thinking: “If I would have brought my son there, there’s no way he would have wanted to get help”.’

The center closed in December after costing roughly $12million. While center staff reversed more than 300 overdoses, fewer than 1 percent of visits resulted in linkages to mental health or drug treatment.

Tanya is furious at Mayor Breed’s recent budget, which allocated millions more dollars to open three new centers.

‘If the Tenderloin Center was such a failure, why open new wellness hubs?’ she asks. ‘Just to call them that is insanity. Enabling people to do drugs, and then having them walk out of the facility high is a danger to the community and a danger to themselves.

‘San Francisco seems to keep repeating the same mistakes.’

A  one-stop shop for drugs

Jacqui Berlinn is similarly perplexed. Her son Corey, is an addict on the streets of San Francisco.

On the day Jacqui speaks to DailyMail.com, it is his 32nd birthday.

Last year, he also visited the Tenderloin Center for help with housing.

But he got only as far as getting a bottle of water before he spotted a friend in the waiting area and the pair ended up smoking fentanyl instead, his mother says.

‘He nodded off and never got seen because, of course, he was distracted by the drug use,’ Jacqui adds.

Corey has deteriorated so rapidly in the few years he has been on fentanyl that Jacqui has asked him if he could back on heroin.

‘It sounds crazy, but he actually stayed fairly healthy on heroin,’ she says. ‘Now he just looks awful. But he’s still there. He’s still very sweet and kind and has a sense of humor, but he’s more sad than he’s ever been.

‘He says he doesn’t want his life to be like this, but he doesn’t know how to get out of it.’

Just this week, Jacqui spoke with Corey about San Francisco’s approach to the crisis. ‘Even he said to me, “I don’t know what the mayor is doing”.

‘She is not helping addicts at all. Because they’re putting money into wellness hubs that give addicts everything they need in order to use, but they don’t help with getting people off drugs.

‘They allow people to use openly without consequence. They allow dealers to sell openly in front of police officers.’

Jacqui, along with other San Franciscan parents whose children have been stolen by fentanyl, have set up Mothers Against Drug Addiction & Deaths, a group that lobbies lawmakers for stricter penalties for dealers.

They have erected billboards blaming politicians for the drug crisis, including a ‘Welcome to Camp Fentanyl’ campaign calling for California Governor Gavin Newsom to shut down open-air drug markets, where dealers are allowed to sell drugs without fear of arrest.

The Tenderloin Center was situated directly across from the largest such market in San Francisco, where at least 100 drug dealers gather in the sunshine, creating what Jacqui describes as ‘a one-stop shop’ for drugs.

Addicts would buy their pills from the market and then pop across the plaza to the Tenderloin Center to take them.

To make matters worse, Corey has to walk through this scene to get to his methadone clinic.

‘They’re opposed to putting anybody behind bars’

While California does little to help addicts get off drugs, its lawmakers seem reluctant to punish those who supply them.

In April, Democrats struck down Alexandra’s Law, named after Matt’s daughter, which proposed strengthening penalties for dealers.

The proposed law would see convicted fentanyl dealers receive a warning from judges that would act as a precursor to a potential homicide charge if they then dealt drugs that killed someone.

The law was modeled on DUI legislation, which supporters claim has reduced instances of drink driving.

Despite bipartisan support, the bill failed to get past committee stage due to opposition from Democrat senators Scott Weiner, Nancy Skinner and Steven Bradford.

Tensions almost spilled over as the State Senate’s Public Safety Committee debated the bill, as angry parents yelled at lawmakers to hold dealers accountable.

Matt believes the Democrats opposed to the bill ‘willfully misled’ the public by arguing that the proposed law would prosecute dealers who weren’t aware their drugs were laced with fentanyl, with Wiener incorrectly suggesting that those who are caught drink driving after being spiked are not charged with an offense.

‘They’re opposed to putting anybody behind bars,’ he says. ‘They’ll come up with every excuse to make the victim the criminal.’

On Tuesday, state Republicans proposed a referendum on Alexandra’s Law to bypass the committee.

To go to a public vote, it will require two thirds of both the Assembly and the Senate to agree on it.

But Tanya believes the city’s entire attitude to drugs needs to change.

‘San Francisco has always been pro drugs,’ she says. ‘That dates back to the 60s and 70s. They still have the same message that it’s okay to use drugs.

‘But what they are failing to understand is that fentanyl has changed the entire drug outlook. We have so many more people dying, they’re cutting it in all different types of drugs.

‘I don’t understand that mentality. We’re in a city where we’re losing all of the major retail stores because of crime and because of all the drug dealing that’s going on.

‘Putting up more wellness hubs is going to attract more drug dealers and more people coming in and wanting to use drugs and crime is going to increase further.’

For Matt, it took four years to see the man who poisoned his daughter behind bars, but the anguish will never pass.

A year before the sentencing, his wife, Christine, was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. She was told her disease was not genetic and was more than likely caused by grief.

As a final wish, the couple have just returned from a holiday to the Netherlands, visiting a family with whom Alexandra stayed on a school exchange.

Matt will continue campaigning for Alexandra’s legacy and that of his three surviving daughters, Skye, Brooke and Brittney.

‘Alex is my daughter in heaven now,’ he says. ‘Here I am, three and a half years later and probably not an hour goes by where I’m not thinking about her in some way.’

The world’s first walking manikin that generates heat, shivers, walks and breathes like a human could help scientists understand our body’s resilience to punishing heat waves.

Scientists at Arizona State University (ASU) redesigned a robot used by clothing companies for sports gear to mimic the thermal functions of the human body.

The test droid, ANDI, was fitted with synthetic pores for artificial sweating, temperature, and heat flux sensors across the 35 different surface areas covering its manikin body. 

With a novel internal cooling channel, this improved ASU ANDI is the first thermal manikin fit for outdoor use — meaning that scientists can now subject this climate change ‘test dummy’ to the extreme temperatures of the Arizona desert.

‘You can’t put humans in dangerous extreme heat situations and test what would happen,’ said atmospheric scientist Jenni Vanos, an associate professor at ASU’s School of Sustainability.

‘But there are situations we know of in the Valley where people are dying of heat, and we still don’t fully understand what happened.

‘ANDI can help us figure that out.’

Across the United States, thousands of people die from heat stroke and other heat-related ailments each year, a figure rising due to climate change. 

In Arizona’s Maricopa County alone, 425 people died of heat-related medical issues in 2022 — over a hundred more than the heat-related deaths reported in 2021. 

ASU’s researchers are hoping to bring that number down by better understanding how people of different ages with different body types and medical conditions respond to extreme heat waves, extended sun exposure and other harsh conditions. 

Doing so, however, poses some experimental challenges. 

‘You don’t want to run a lot of these [tests] with a real person,’ professor Konrad Rykaczewski at Arizona State University told the Arizona Republic. ‘It’s unethical and would be dangerous.’

Inside ASU, ANDI’s lab work is not too dissimilar from the handful of other ANDIs sweating it out inside the prototype shops of major sportswear makers. It’s just a little more intense.   

Housed in a heat chamber, the researchers have called the ‘Warm Room,’ ANDI is subjected to wind, solar radiation, and temperatures up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Between trials, ANDI can be reprogrammed to react as different people based on weight, age and other factors. 

‘A diabetes patient has different thermal regulation from a healthy person,’ according to ASU research scientist Ankit Joshi, who leads the modeling work that goes into ANDI. ‘So we can account for all this modification with our customized models.’ 

And the Warm Room can also be modulated to simulate various heat-exposure scenarios common to any hot spot around the globe.

But it’s outside in the southwestern desert heat where ASU’s modded ANDI meets its toughest challenges and most important work. 

The thermal manikin can sweat, with custom-built internal cooling channels to circulate cool water throughout its body, while it simulates and records human reactions to heat from complex environments. 

ANDI’s sensors collect distinct data on a body type’s reaction to solar radiation from the sun, infrared radiation wafting up from the warm asphalt ground, and heat convection circulating in the air. The hope, in part, is that the ASU team can investigate solutions to community-building plans.

When the ASU team drapes ANDI in special fabric, its simulated sweat wicks and cools its sensor-laden robotic surfaces, just as if it were a real and genuinely uncomfortable human sweltering in Arizona.

This summer, ANDI will team up with a new partner: ASU’s biometeorological heat robot, MaRTy, a suite of complex heat sensors mounted on a garden cart.

‘MaRTy can tell us how the built environment modifies the amount of heat that hits the body,’ said Ariane Middel, an ASU researcher whose urban planning and design work focuses on climate issues. ‘But MaRTy doesn’t know what happens inside the body.’ 

‘MaRTy measures the environment,’ Middel said, ‘and then ANDI can then tell us how the body can react.’

ANDI and MaRTy’s first missions will take them around ASU’s Tempe, Arizona campus. 

The duo will travel the Phoenix metro area to gather data on overheated and at-risk living conditions, like unshaded neighborhood streets and poorly ventilated old mobile homes with broken air conditioning.

ANDI came to ASU custom-built from its manufacturer Thermetics, thanks to funding from the National Science Foundation’s Leading Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health and Infrastructure (LEAP HI) program.

An American man is among seven workers who disappeared from two illegal call centers within a span of seven days in the western Mexico state of Jalisco.

Arizona native Carlos Valladolid, 23, and his sister, Itzel Valladolid, 27, were reported missing by their mother, Elizabeth Hernández, after they failed to return home from their job in the municipality of Zapopan on May 22.

Their coworker, Jorge Moreno, 28, also did not return home the same day.

Multiple Mexican news outlets reported that Carlos Valladolid had recently moved to Jalisco and was living with his sister and mother.

El Universal newspaper reported Monday that the call centers could be linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The FBI revealed in March that the criminal group had scammed about 600 individuals out of $39.6 million through fraudulently selling or renting their time shares in 2022.

The seven workers had been employed by the call center for two or three months, according to Jalisco State Attorney General, Luis Méndez.

Méndez’s office revealed that the call centers could be among the 19 Mexico-based companies that were placed under investigation by the United States Department of Treasury.

In April, Jalisco New Generation Cartel high-ranking leader, Eduardo Pardo, and six other cartel members were sanctioned for their alledged role in the scheme. 

Over the weekend, agents assigned to the Jalisco State Attorney General’s Office canvassed the two call centers, which are just about a mile away from each other, and found hard drives; USB sticks; computers, documents related to the sale and rental of time shares; and blackboards that contained the names of foreign customers, sales goals and membership information.

Authorities also discovered a cloth with a red stain that is being analyzed.

The other missing workers were identified as Mayra Velázquez, 29, who has not been seen since reporting to work at the call center May 26.

Arturo Robles, 30, was reported missing by his family May 24. 

Jesús Salazar, 37, traveled to the call center the same day for a job interview and never made it back home. 

State Attorney General’s Office agents found Robles’ car parked outside the center. It has since been turned over to his family.

Carlos García , 31, was last seen when he left his home to work May 20. 

Authorities said the Valladolid siblings, Robles, García and Moreno all were employed at a call center located in the Zapopan neighborhood of Jardines Vallarta. Salazar’s interview was scheduled at the same location.

‘We need them back now, we are very hurt,’ Hernández said of her missing son and daughter. ‘We really need the support of all the people who know something and that the information is true.’

Velázquez worked at a call center based out of the nearby neighborhood of La Estancia.

Robles’ sister, Beatriz Robles, told El País newspaper that the Mexican government was not doing enough to find her brother and his coworkers.

 She claims she’s been met with responses of ‘we’re too busy’ or ‘we’re overwhelmed’ or ‘you have to wait’ Each time they have visited the prosecutor’s office for information on their loved ones.

And she understands because the state of Jalisco account for 14,978 of the 110,742 people who have been reported missing in Mexico since 1962.

‘And the truth is that it is difficult not to understand it, because you arrive there and the walls of the Attorney General’s Office are covered with missing persons. You hear about these things on the news,’ Beatriz Robles said. ‘We live in an insecure country, you know these things happen, but you never imagine that it could happen to you. 

‘And this is like fighting a monster that keeps getting bigger and you can’t stop it. The government does nothing. It’s hard, but we keep hoping to find him dead or alive.’