new fears kicking off of an outbreak putting americans on edge. the president still on vacation in the home of a billionaire in nantucket, massachusetts. let's turn now to jacqui heinrich in that town. we saw the president yesterday, but what's he saying now about the new variant? >> reporter: hey, good morning to you, edward. despite holiday sales that were expected to climb at a record pace this year, national retail federation predicting up to 10.5% the global markets are reeling from the news of this new variant, and yesterday president biden announced travel restrictions from south africa and seven other neighboring countries will be imposed similar to those imposed by the u.k., more than a dozen other countries after they spoke with scientists about how fast new variant was spreading and also whether vaccines are effective against it. the president said the decision to hut down travel from south africa was made out of an abun cannes of caution, but he -- abundance of caution, but he still spent afternoon shopping with his kids and grandkids. hehe also encouraged people to t vaccinated and booster shots. >> every american who's not been vaccinated should be responsible. number two, everyone eligible for the booster shot should get the booster shot. that is minimum everyone should be doing. i don't know, we always talk about -- i think it's patriotic responsibility. >> reporter: medical experts say the travel the restrictions will likely just slow down the spread, not contain it completely in part because the restrictions don't begin until monday. president biden said that was the advice of his medical team, and dr. apterny fauci -- anthony fauci tried to quell concerns virus could already be in the u.s. >> of course anything's possible. there's no indication that there is right now. that's the reason why we're getting together with them to try and get the precise molecular makeup of it so you could actually test for it. and that's something that'll take a little bit to put the appropriate materials together to do that. but we are in very active communication with our south african colleagues, scientists. >> reporter: so today the president has no public events, but it's entirely possible he might wander out and shop around nantucket for small business saturday. he did release a statement yesterday talking about the importance of small businesses, and also he mentioned when he was out on black friday that he was not surprised or concerned about the response we're seeing in the stock market. edward? edward: thanks, stay warm out there. looks really cold. appreciate it. the new variant, infectious disease specialist is here. what do we know about and about how infectious it might be at this momentsome. >> there are a lot of open questions about variant, but what we know is it was identified in south africa and seems to be spreading quite raply. we -- rapidly, we also don't know how much more transthe missable it is. there's a lot of bias in the early data that could take some time to sift through. we know it's in multiple countries including in belgium and the united kingdom, and the belgium cases were not linked to african countries, so there is some spread going on. a lot of questions need to be answered in the next couple of weeks. e. -- edward: how quickly do yu think we'll get those answers? >> we're getting some. the vaccines are able to protect against what matters, hospitalization and death, but it's going to take some time to be able to know exactly how far spread it is, what those mutations, the behavior of the virus, how this variant fares against dell that and how it will do in more vaccinated countries. south africa's a place where only 25% of the population is fully vaccinated, so it's not a surprise that it may have aridsen there. arisen there. edward: dr. fauci is saying the travel ban with possibly will not contain this. is the travel ban a good idea? will it actually stop the spread. >> no, it's not a good idea. it actually penalizes countries for being transparent and talking about what variants they discovered and alerting the world. south africa deserves praise, not punishment. with a rapidly-spreading variant like this, it's not likely that any kind of travel ban is going to actually stop it from showing up. and there's no way to know that it's not even in the united states at this point because it's in the u.k., belgium, israel, hong kong. that's what happens. and these travel bans just are counterproductive, and they give people this kind of sense of security that this is going to help stop this from coming here when it's likely already probably here at a low level, and it just sets a bad precedent for transparency when it comes to variants. this is what a country like south africa gets in return for being vigilant about variants. edward: so should i go to the store this weekend and shop for the holiday season or how concerned should i be? >> right now if you're a fully vaccinated individual, you can kind of go as your risk tolerance supports. i think what we're seeing is there might be some more breakthrough infections, but you're still protected against hospitalization and death, at least based on the early cay that. so i don't think that should change your behavior as a fully vaccinated individual. if you are not vaccinated, this is another reason that you should get vaccinated because that's how you protect yourself, and it's likely we will see cases here. hopefully they don't surge, but this is a reason to get vaccinated so you can go about your life with minimal risk. edward: doctor, thank you for your time this morning. that certainly helps alleviate some of the fears. now, those who are, you know, fighting these covid fierce as shoppers hit -- fears as shoppers hit the stores sales are boosting higher than last year, let's dig deeper into how this covid variant may play into shoppers' thinking. dan geltrude and irs wealth montana david ragland. ladies first. traditionally, this is one of biggest shopping weekends of the year. this year is a little different. we're seeing cpi inflation about 6.2% over past 12 months, that means shoppers might not be finding the deals when they go out for black friday. are those deals still out there? >> the deals are out there. you know, i was looking through some data last night checking out some of the web site that had last minute black friday deals. of course, they're trying to offload a lot of the electronics especially from last year's models and last season. so you're going to get discounts. those big flat screen tvs that maybe were not, you know, not the newest model, also things like housewares. i think the doctor was saying how the risk old -- tolerance, it's really all about accepting risk tolerance. a lot of shoppers right now, most of them have gotten their holiday shopping done prior to this week. i was looking at data from oracle, and they were saying about 28% of people are still, have not shopped. so that's a pretty low percentage compared to past years where people were kind of sprinting to the end and trying to get those gifts for everyone. e. ward: right, so i want to bring dan in here. according to mastercard, black friday sales, retail sales were up they're saying 29.8% versus 2020. so i wanted to ask you, does this news of a variant play into the holiday shopping weekend we? >> well, i think it does. as people hear about this now, will it have people hold back for the rest of the weekend and push them to do online shopping instead? well, i hope not for the sake of small businesses with today being small business saturday. so is i hope people are are going to go out and support small be businesses which really got hit harder than anyone else related to covid. let's hope it goes down that road. but it seems to me that a lot of people were starting their shopping much earlier this holiday season to try to get around all of the supply chain challenges. so we're going of see what happens for the remainder of this quarter. last quarter retail stores were doing very, very well top the line. it's going to be how we go about these last couple of months to see how the retailers perform. edward: david, i wanted to talk to you about the markets here. so we know this tanked the dow yesterday. a shortened trading day, no less, down more than 900 points. what do you tell your clients about investing in retail at this time as many look to make money off the boost in sales that traditionally happen during this holiday period? >> well, they actually came down dramatically on wednesday and thursday already, so you're seeing this buy the rumor, sell the news. and because of this variant coming along now, obviously sales may be impacted because it's all about what we think and know and fear. and fear is the great component that may reduce the eventual shopping that's going to happen next week, the week after. what we've got to be careful of is see how far down this move in the markets take us. is it a momentary reset? then people feel better and spend more. obviously, if the market continues down the rest of the weeks before christmas, that's going to have a negative impact on shopping which is gone to have a negative impact on our retailers. edward: we're showing some of those down companies. so in an exclusive interview, i asked the atlanta federal reserve president about the potential impact of the variant on this economy. he's a potential voting member next year. here's what he had to say. >> each successive variant the economy has slowed down, but the amount of slowdown has been less. so if this new variant has the same or a similar type of trajectory as the delta variant did, then we'll see some slowing, but it should not be as much as what we've seen during delta. edward: dan, what do you think? we have a lot -- we don't have a lot of information about omicron yet. a quicker bounce? >> with well, let's hope so. and, look, we have to get used to -- covid is going to be here for a very long time if not forever, so we have to message our economy around covid much more effectively which means we can't just shut things down. we have to learn how to keep everything going. business as usual to the greatest extent possible. but just be mindful that covid is out there. stay practical. edward: and hitha, is this pushing people more online or, to dan's point, will people get out there and support businesses? >> consumers were already going online. i think the way consumer has been shopping has been changing, and the fact that we keep having the rise of this variant, you know, it's just cementing that consumer behavior. but i do want to mention, i mean, this is small business saturday, small businesses make bulk of their money during this period especially if they're dealing with product during the holiday season. so there's data that came out from metawhich was former -- metadisease which was form -- meta which was formerly facebook, the last time they did this study the it was 24%. so small businesses, there's a real bifurcation here. the large businesses, the big box retailers are going to be just fine we keep having these variants come up, and the small businesses are really going to struggle. that's what i'm concerned about -- [inaudible conversations] be able to bounce back. edward: yeah, i want to bring in david here, 15 seconds left. the e6789 u.'s closed its borders already, the u.s. is going to do that too. with the futures ahead moving money into the nasdaq pandemic stocks, do you see the downturn continuing to happen? >> i think we may have a couple more percentage points, but i think that's about it. we talk about how each successive variant we go down less in the market, and so i think a couple more percentage points is certainly possible, but we set -- edward: all right. thank all three of you. we're going to move on now with this. before you hit the roads and the skies this weekend, fox weather's here to tell you about the potential delays. and 'tis the season for gift giving or smash and back in, a startling trend which some critics are blaming on -- [inaudible] season's greetings from audi. qunol is the number one cardiologist recommended form of coq10. qunol has 3 times better absorption than regular coq10. the brand i trust is qunol. my retirement plan with voya keeps me moving forward... even after paying for this. love you, sweetheart they guide me with achievable steps that give me confidence. this is my granddaughter...she's cute like her grandpa. voya doesn't just help me get to retirement... ...they're with me all the way through it. come on, grandpa! later. got grandpa things to do. aw, grandpas are the best! well planned. well invested. well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement. edward: police investigating a robbery at a california apple sore which suspects took off with more than $20,000 worth of merchandise. it's one of the latest smash and grab incidents that have shoppers and business owners worried. jonathan hunt investigates this startling trend. jonathan? >> reporter: security fencing around shopping malls may be a jarring sight for black friday shoppers, but the calculation of the mall owners appears to be that it is less jarring that suddenly being faced with a mob ripping whatever they can from shelves and kiss play cases. display cases. in the los angeles area, the apparently organized groups of robbers have targeted nordstrom stores and cvs pharmacies among others. the owner of l.a.'s grove shopping mall which was targeted this week blames in part the introconduction of prop 47, a law that -- introduction of prop 47. >> i think it's a manifestation of weak leadership, i think it's a manifestation of some really bad decisions that our leaders made. it's a manifestation of deciding we're going to defund the cops. >> reporter: prop 47 was passed in 2014, and according to the public policy, while there was an immediate increase in shoplifting incidents from an average of around 8,000 per month prior to prop 47 to more than 9,000 per month in early 2015, the number dropped back to pre levels by 2016. but the new surge is undeniable, and before spreading south to l.a., it began in the san francisco area last weekend with luxury stores like louis vuitton and nordstrom being targeted. >> i used to go to san francisco every christmas and go do the maw city's thing -- macy's thing and the skating and the puppies in the window. i don't want to go now. it frightens me, seeing the news. >> reporter: officials say they are cracking could be and charging those they arrest with felonies. >> the charges include everything from looting, grand theft, burglary, possession of stolen property, firearm possession, commercial burglary and more. >> reporter: but while some arrests have been made, the simple fact is that hundreds have been involved in the robberies at malls like the beverly center behind me here, and so far only a very few have been caught. edward? edward: yeah, unbelievable, jonathan. so keep it right here. up next, we'll talk about who's to blame for these crime sprees with former assistant attorney general tom dupree. and holiday travelers listen up, why something we all use every day could affect your next flight. ♪ ♪ i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind neuriva plus. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. so many people are overweight now, and asking themselves, "why can't i lose weight?" for most, the reason is insulin resistance, and they don't even know they have it. conventional starvation diets don't address insulin resistance. that's why they don't work. now there's release from golo. it naturally helps reverse insulin resistance, stops sugar cravings, and releases stubborn fat all while controlling stress and emotional eating. at last, a diet pill that actually works. go to golo.com to get yours. with xfinity home, you can keep your home and everything in it more protected. i can wrangle all my deliveries. thanks, hoss! and i help walk the dog from wherever. *door unlocks* ♪ ♪ well, i can bust curfew-breakers in an instant. well, you all have xfinity home, with cameras to home security monitored by the pros. *laughs* learn more about home security or get our self-monitored solution starting at just $10 per month. ♪ evidence ed a whole new meaning to doorbusters, retailers are on edge over shoplifting sprees. it's so bad that best buy's ceo are saying employees are traumatized over it, and you can see the incredible video. former deputy attorney general tom dupree said there's a reason we're seeing more of this. so, tom, what is it in? >> well, i think there are a couple of things at play. the first is a lot ofties and towns have basically reclassified retail crimes as sort of saying from felonies to misdemeanors. so the penalties for a lot of this conduct has been relaxed. i think the other thing that's going on is we see a lot of prosecutors who don't necessarily make sensible charging decisions meaning even when they apprehend one of the perpetrators of these crimes, they might be inclined to make lesser charges, just a theft charge as opposed to other charges that could be warranted by the evidence; breaking and entering, weapons charges and the like. that's the other thing going on here. edward: so no feeling of punishment. so we've all seen the video there. i'm not aware of any shoppers actuallying with injured as -- actually being injured, but it takes a toll on security for shoppers. do you feel like this'll keep people away from high-end stores and department stores just by looking at? >> we're already seeing some evidence of that, and that's the scary thing. the number -- [no audio] ed: the internet has got us again. [laughter] on these zoom calls. you're just looking at some of that amazing video, we're seeing if we can get him back, but as always, technology causes some issues. these smash and grab robberies are just crazy. now, you were saying, tom, you were saying on this point -- we do have you back finish it's already having an effect on the shoppers' psyche? >> it is. and, look, law enforcement's job is to make society safe so that people can go out and do their holiday shopping in safety without fear, without concern they're going to be overrun by these gangs of smash and grabbers. edward: so it took a long time to get here. last year you had current president saying nothing for about three months over the summer, the same with the house speaker in california, representative the maxine waters who was telling people to get in the faces of other people if they saw people at restaurants. then you had elections for district attorneys who ran on a softer approach. obviously, people feeling the consequences. it wasn't a fast buildup to here. how quickly can we handle this? >> yeah, that's the scary thing, is that there is a lot of talk in the political atmosphere about let's relax penalties and let's get in people's faces and that sort of thing. and i think this is a direct consequence of that sort of rhetoric. i think when people lose respect for the law, they don't fear capture or punishment, this is the sort of thing that you see. so i think all politicians would be well advised to make sure we have stiff sentences in place and prosecutors would be well advised to take these crimes seriously with the gravity that they deserve and apprehend and prosecute these individuals who are committing these crimes. edward: now that i have you, i want to switch topics a little bit. on the heels of the deadly attack in walk shaw, wisconsin, a group of -- waukesha, wisconsin, listen to this. progressive congresswoman rashida tlaib being asked about her plan. listen. >> i think that everyone's like, oh, my god, just release everybody? >> that's -- >> yeah. but do you see how many people who are mentally ill who are in prisonsome. >> yeah, but you're saying release everyone. >> yeah. >> and what i'm trying to say -- >> within ten years. and there's a process of looking at how can we get away from mass incarceration and move toward care -- edward: what are your thoughts on that, getting away from mass incarceration? >> well, i think her idea is a terrible one. look, the fact is if you closed all the federal prisons, i'm not quite sure where we're going to put individuals who are currently in prison for a good reason; namely, they're either paying the penalty for the crime they committed or they pose a clear and present danger to society. it's all well and good to sea let's to close all the prisons, but what are you going to do with these dangerous people? are you going to put them in overcrowded state facilities? let them loose on the streets of our community? not quite sure what the answer is to that. edward: you had darrell brooks used the same car to run over his girlfriend, he gets $1,000 for bail, turns around and uses that that car to mow down people watching the parade. where's the accountability for the judge or the d.a.? >> yeah, that's absolutely stunning. the more we learn, the more horrifying it is. the fact is this guy never should have been allowed out to walk the streets to assault someone, multiple people with his car. the prosecutor, judges should have known he was a danger to society, he never should have been let out on such low amount of bail. edward: yeah, thanks. former deputy assistant director tom dupree, it's just shocking. more to come on that story. coming up, the u.s. warning russia it may be about to invade a european ally. we'll have the latest on vladimir putin emboldened with quiten in office -- president biden in office. but first, u.s. restrictions on travel with eight countries. keep it here as we look at how this affects your travel plans next. nger need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. ♪ edward: crowded airports and roads might not be the only headaches for holiday travelers returning home this weekend. snow and rain could also cause some problems for travel plans. fox chief meteorologist rick reichmuth has the details here. rick in. rick: all right. is so overall i've got to tell you, not that bad. we got away it on wednesday without big weather. not that bad this weekend. a couple trouble spots, one of them is not across parts of the northern plains. we're talking about really warm temperatures today and tomorrow, highs into the 60s, pushing 70 degrees across parts of kansas, participants of nebraska -- parts of nebraska. take a look at this, our live flight tracker partnering with flightaware, all of the airplanes in the area right now. a couple little disturbances, one across the south that's bringing some rain, maybe an inch or so accumulating across texas, and a light storm moving across parts of the central plains right now. temperature wise across parts of the south, things looking quite good, and we're watching even with that moisture no flight delays at all. this is that little clipper system i was talking about, temps cooler, 34 degrees in chicago, that said, no delays across area airports. we had a storm yesterday across parts of the northeast. things are calmer, but that clipper system i was mentioning here, see that little bit of rain and snow across parts of iowa, into illinois? that's developing into more snow across parts of pennsylvania and upstate new york, areas of lake effect snow, we'll be watching some areas that have seen about a foot and a half of snow. so that's one trouble spot. but overall, e. world, i tell you what -- edward, we have a lot to be the thankful for, getting to and from grandmas. edward: yeah, at least we're not seeing the cluster of thunderstorms -- rick: wow! you just pulled that out. i would be in so much trouble if i use that kind of a term. edward: exactly. [laughter] thanks, rick, i appreciate it. rick: you bet. edward: starting on monday, the u.s. will be restricting travel from south africa and seven other countries. we examine what will be next as we learn more about omicron. mark murphy joins me now. we know about the travel restrictions going into effect on monday. the e.u. instituted them immediately. in fact, there was a flight from amer the dam that stop is -- amsterdam that stopped on the tarmac, and everyone onboard had to be tested. what kind of issues is this bringing up with this new variant? >> this is just going to be the another devastating blow to the travel industry. the people that earn a living in the industry, the businesses connected to the travel industry whether it's restaurants, taxis, uber drivers, you name it. south africa and that entire participant of the continent has been dramatically impacted when ebola was sensationalized even though the outbreak was many, thousands of miles away, you're going to see that again. and just as travel's recovering, this is a devastating blow. what i don't want understand is there's a lot of maybes, what ifs, could be, and also here's what's interesting. botswana put out a release that said that the9 four people that were positive in that country all were travelers. in order to travel, they need to be double vaccinated. so that is a real big tell, and i think reaction has been overblown, to be frank, at this point. edward: that's interesting. so if i'm planning a trip, asking for a friend, let's say to france in the beginning of next year, should i wait to book that then to see how this shakes out? >> so i think what you want to do is take advantage of the pricing opportunities if they're good right now to go wherever you want to go and then just make sure you have the ability to cancel for any reason. travel the insurance is a must-have these days. and just look at the individual policies. book with a travel agent because they're going to know the ins and outs and work on your behalf should there the be a problem. i'm concerned about what's going on with new york right now, the governor of new york declaring a state of emergency in the health care business and that world and saying we're going to stop all elective procedures at this point. i think they're forgetting that two months ago the u.n. published a report that said non-covid juvenile deaths under the age of 18 just in southeast asia were expected to reach 236,000 deaths which is a magnitude a, i mean, you can't even concern the percentages are incredible -- versus kids actually dying from covid. what we're learning is the unintended consequences, the excess death in the u.k., all these things as a result of policies, not covid at this point. get out there and travel. edward: yeah. with we separate domestic and flying international ily. so when you're talking about new restrictions, domestic travel will basically not be affected. >> no, nothing domestically. it's really just inbound travel from those eight countries in south africa. botswana, south africa, beautiful places, fantastic destinations to explore. so you're definitely going to be restricted. you can't come into our country, can't go into any of the e.u. countries, so it's not going to affect americans per se, but it's going to create more fear. that fear's going to prevent people from getting out, andst going to perpetuate this we had the mu variant a few months ago, remember that? what happened to that? that's what -- edward: i want to bring in another topic with you, this is important. i want to ask you about the faa's concerns about the 5g potentially interfering with safety on planes. want to make sure we have time for this. at&t and verizon now agreeing to turn down the power on the stations near airport. how big of a threat do you think 5g is to flying? >> well, in the u.s. the rollout is fairly new, getting everybody on 5g. so what i don't understand is there are numerous countries that these planes have been fly being into, out of, over, around that have had 5g for years. so if it wasn't an issue let's say flying into south korea and flying into other countries where it's well established, why is it such a big concern? also we've known about this for over a year. why three weeks before goes live is the faa saying, whoa, hold on a second. they're doing it out of an overabundance of caution. i have friends that are pilots, private pilots that fly around the world, and they tell me that whole thing the about turning your phone off and ipad and everything else, half the people don't do it. he said i fly with my ipad up on my instrument panel and my phone. [laughter] and this is a guy who flies a g7. i'm not a pilot, but when i get that feedback and i know the report's been out for a year and three weeks before this is set to happen they're going to start panicking? that makes no sense. that's really bad planning or nobody was paying attention or maybe they're not looking at other countries where this has been prevalent for years. ed well, thanks, mark murphy, i appreciate the insight. up next, a new proposal from the department of education on sexual assault data raising some eyebrows. and later, drivers continuing to face pain at the pump. we look at the white house's latest moves and if it's having any effects on prices. ♪ edward: the biden administration is proposing to roll back data collection on teacher/student sexual assault. under the proposal collection would continue to include the number of documented incidents at a given school but would stop reporting specifically on allegations of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. david spunt in washington with details. >> reporter: edward, the department of education right now keeps a database of rape, attempt thed rape and sexual assault charges and allegations involving public school employees across the country. it's a way for the department to keep track of repeat offenders or potential clusters of this illegal activity. the department of education's office for civil rights announced a proposal that would eliminate collection of multiple sexual assault, rape or attempted rape allegations followed by a resignation or retirement. many a statement to fox news, former education secretary betsy devos said in part, quote: we brought districts like chicago to account and held them responsible for years of hiding hundreds of sexual abuse cases. if you wonder why american families have lost all faith in the education system, this is another example as to why. to be clear, department of education would continue to log data of actual instances or documented incidents. i reached out to the department of education and was told in part that, quote, the data collected will give the public a snapshot into whether these incidents exist at a particular school or district and whether those schools or districts are meeting their obligations to comply with the civil rights laws that we vigorously enforce. our proposal for the 2021-2022 crkc would eliminate repetition in data and in turn reduce the duplication of data, and we welcome comments from members of the public. after receiving this statement, fox news went back to the department to ask more about the duplicated data, asking why the department wouldn't want all the data possible, but we did not receive a specific response to that query. again, this is a proposal, it's not set many stone. i'm told -- in stone. i'm told there will be a 60-day public review period where anyone across the united states can submit a comment in favor or against the proposal. edward? edward: yeah, thanks, david, appreciate that. so russia now denying any plans to invade the ukraine, but a new report is painting a different picture. details up next. store your fe treats of the season. and make a dinner to remember with lg must haves. black friday is back, and with it, the deals. and save up to $750 dollars on select appliances at lowe's. one of my favorite supplements is qunol turmeric. turmeric helps with healthy joints and inflammation support. unlike regular turmeric supplements qunol's superior absorption helps me get the full benefits of turmeric. the brand i trust is qunol. earn about covid-19, the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year? if you're feeling anxious about the future, you're not alone. calhope offers free covid-19 emotional support. call 833-317-4673, or live chat at calhope.org today. ♪ >> we support ukraine's territorial integrity, we support ukraine's ability to govern itself. we object to anything remotely associated -- >> [inaudible] >> in all probability. edward: president biden addressing the growing concerns about russia's military buildup near the ukraine, this as a new report says the u.s. has shared intel with our allies that shows russia is prepared for a rapid push into ukraine should they decide to invade. let's look at the u.s. response so far. retired air force lieutenant general david natula joins me now. russia's moved more than 100,000 troops to the ukraine. how should the u.s. respond? >> well, ed, our own secretary of defense, lloyd austin, told the pentagon news conference last week that he's not exactly sure what russia's president putin is up to, and then he went on say that we'll continue to call on russia to act responsibly and be more transparent on the buildup of these forces around ukraine. now, that's fine, but with respect to your second question, the issue is how should the u.s. respond. it's not just going to be u.s., it's also going to be our allies. and the fact of the matter is right now the administration's mulling its options to deer the the kremlin -- deter the kremlin including serving military advisers and new weapons to kiev. so this kind of an aid package which might include helicopters, mortars, air defense systems is probably the first step that you're going to see from the administration and nato in response and an attempt to deter putin. edward: that's interesting. the ukrainian ministry has warned russian forces could attack in late january, early dependent as we move to the end of the year, the first of the year, words will not get hem to back down, will they? you said we might move some forces or some advisers in. should we move forces into ukraine or more forces into ukraine? >> well, this is an issue that becomes very complex because it's complicated by the fact that ukraine is a former participant of the soviet union. -- part of the soviet union. it's not a member of nato and, therefore, the defense has no formal defense treaty obligations with ukraine. at the same time, u.s. and ukraine did sign a strategic defense framework just this past august that reiterates the department of defense's continued support for ukraine's right to decide its own foreign policy free from outside interference including nato's, its own nato aspirations. and frankly, that's one of the things that has russia kind of tied up in knots here because they certainly don't want to see ukraine joining nato. edward: right. no, exactly. and on friday president biden said this, you know, i'm concerned. look, we sport ukraine's territorial integrity, and we reject anything remotely approaching that, talking about the an invasion. the is he just basically saying stop or stop again? and is this a factor of biden possibly looking weak on the global stage? >> well, i will tell you this, the way this this is unfolding s russia's testing the west. there's no doubt about that. putin is probing for weaknesses, and he may attack if an opportunity presents itself. at the same time, russian authorities understand that any attempt to occupy ukrainianer story would -- territory would face widespread opposition many russia and trigger wide-sweeping western sanctions that could batter the russian economy. so it's not all in one direction. putin has to weigh all of these issues. but again, i'd reiterate that the messy and chaotic withdrawal from afghanistan by the biden administration may, in fact, embolden putin, and that's why he's test thing us. edward: and on that, reports the u.s. might use the next nato foreign ministers' meeting against russia and all this takes time. so does this really show the russian president the u.s. may not be leading on this, and will this have implications for china and taiwan? you mentioned how we left afghanistan. >> yeah. it's a complex set of questions that the current administration is dealing with. and you raise an excellent point. this is been so much focus on china, china, china that the american people tends to forget that the united states has an extraordinarily wild and income -- wide and encompassing national security strategy that involves all elements around the world. so when you hear people talk about, well, you know, we spend more money on our defense infrastructure than the next x number of nations, that's because our national defense strategy is one that aims to seek peace and stability around the entire world. and what that means is we have to be the engaged around the world. so, yeah, what we do and how we act in this situation with respect to russia's threats will have an impact in terms of what goes on in china and related areas in the south china sea. edward: and i wanted to get in quickly. in the last 30 seconds or so, five u.s. lawmakers went to taiwan sort of in defiance. is that a show to the chinese government that, hey, the u.s. is not going to back down this time? >> i say defiance, it's a -- i mean, we are a free people. and those folks have every right to go wherever they want to go. so it's not defiant. it's reiterating the fact just like freedom of domain operations where we fly in international air space or sail in international air space. we can go where we want to go. that's the whole point, is we embrace a free world with domains that are unencumber by dominant dictatorships like the one that's led by xi in china. edward: right. yeah. thank you, lieutenant general, thank you for your service to this country. really appreciate that. thank you. >> you bet. have a great day. edward: you too. still ahead, holiday travelers hit with high gas prices, president biden releasing some of our emergency oil reserves. will it help? and texas taking action to head off a massive caravan, another one, headed to the border. we'll have a live report from texas. >> new and dangerous covid mutation named omacron remembering havoc on census security around the globe. president biden imposing travel restrictions and calling for more americans to get vaccinated. this new variant crippling the stock market yesterday as americans deal with soaring gas prices and supply shortages as the holiday shopping season start. jacqui heinrich traveling with the president investigating all of this. jacqui. >> president biden was not surprised or concerned about the response in the stock market but he did encourage americans to get vaccinated and get their booster shot saying there's a whole lot that we don't know about this variant. >> we are going to be cautious, make sure there's no travel to and from africa and regions except for american citizens who are able to come back, but we don't know a lot about the variant but that it is great concern and spreads rapidly and i spent half hour this morning with my covid team lead by dr. fauci. jacqui: holiday sales expect today climb at record pace this year. increase of up to 10 and a half percent. also in lesser notice news, president biden after releasing barrels in the nation's emergency stock oil to reduce price, that plan called for boosting the government's royalty rate but it notably did not recommend stopping new leases to address the climate crisis that's, of course, something the president campaigned on. all eyes have been on news of the virus. dr. fauci quelled concerns that it may be in the u.s., he wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. >> i would not be surpriseds if. we have not detected it yet but when you have a virus that is showing this degree of trance transmissibility and you're having travel related cases in israel and other places, ultimately going to go essentially all over. jacqui: travel restrictions imposed by the white house came about quickly. they were announced in pretty short order but they don't take effect until monday and causing medical experts that it would considerably lessen their benefit. rich: is anyone saying inflation, should the president cut vacation short and come back to the white house. jacqui: we haven't heard talk about that yet and he might enjoy small business saturday and seems he's enjoying holiday vacation. thank you. rich: releasing oil from the reserves is expected to be a temporary fix. a look at long-term solutions to lower gas prices, let's ask fox news contributor and price future senior analyst phil flynn and dan, so welcome, gentlemen. i want to start with phil flynn here. i drove the work today and last night i filled up and oh, my god, the cost surprises me every time. triple a says the gallon stayed about the same yesterday from today. the oil selling off yesterday with shutdown fears, one of the largest one-day drop since apri. will gas prices come back down, phil? phil: they will. if you look at the wholesale gasoline prices with the drop yesterday they fell about 25 cents but make no mistake about it. it really didn't have a lot from the release of strategic reserve. it really had about the fear of this new omicron virus that's spreading like crazy and it's a concern. it's the fear of big drop in demand but are we way ahead of ourself? i think we are. we drop off the equivalent in price of seeing demand drop by 4 million barrels a day. if that's the truth, we've gone from a 2 million-barrel a day deficit to 2 million-barrel a day overnight. we will see how things play out tomorrow. we will have post traumatic selloff syndrome next week. people will be scared to step in at least right away even know every expert in the world will tell you at least at this point that selloff was way over done. rich: interestingly and it takes a while for them to come back down. dan, i want to ask you, let's say this is not a knee-jerk reaction, when the first billboard musical awards happened and mc hammer and janet jackson won that. would this translate to the rest of inflation, do you think? >> i think if gas prices continue to come down, edward, you're going to see that triple through and hopefully we will see some drop in pricing, however, all of the issues that we have right now related to inflation are not just isolated to fuel costs. obviously we know that we have employment issues, we simply don't have enough workers and that is causing a huge problem and bottlenecks all over the world related to the supply chain. so let's have our fingers crossed that fuel prices will come down and we have a chance of getting some relief as far as inflation. ed: david on friday we saw big selloff over the past 12 months, fuel oil, heat your home, do you think we will see the cost of what people buy to heat their homes, will that come back down or energy prices just snap back? >> to me i think this is a short-term blip on the price of heating oil and gasoline. i mean, this is a fear-based reduction just like we had a fear based reduction in the market, the market still 23% on the s&p, we look at oil prices over the last 6 months and they've gone up dramatically hitting a peak around $80, so this is a short-term. we had a short trading day, we have very few people trading over this period of time. it's not a professional market so to speak on those shorter days, so i think that we -- what we have to be understanding is it's always based upon supply and when supply gets reduced, prices go up and we saw that we live in a global environment now and it was a global reduction in possible demand that was bringing down prices. ed: phil same question to you. i see you nodding your head. will they snap back, would energy prices snap back or will we see barrels drop next week? phil: i think they will snap back but i don't know right away. people are stunned and scared. i've seen this happened and seems like it always happens on thanksgiving. i don't know why oil prices don't like thanksgiving. i could go back over the years. we always get the overdue selloffs. my bet is about the virus and opec. opec meets next week. they may respond in drop in price offset what they fear could be a big drop in demand and if they listen to the market, they will cut production and prices are going to go right back up. ed: jeez, david, as an individual investor, do i want to get into energy stocks then or in investment because the prices are up? >> well, energy stocks have gone up dramatically. one of the leading sectors this year of the market has already moved, so again we go back to buy the room or sell the news. we are now at levels where we were pre-pandemic on some of our oil companies. now we also have to look at some of the investments that these oil companies are now making. will they go to future highs when we look at exxon, vp, spending billions of dollars not for drilling, not for production, but for alternative fuel services. we used to say drill biby drill. ed: last word, last 15 second. individual or small business owner, how do you investigate your expenses going forward, do you need more cash on hand? >> cash on hand is always a good thing. cash is king when it comes to small businesses and businesses overall because you always rely on your cash flow. as far as investing it, i mean, we certainly don't want to have that just sitting in the back getting virtually no interest. you want to retain cash and at the same time you want to look at opportunities to deploy it as well. ed: thanks, guys, phil, flynn, david, we will have to leave it there. i appreciate it. you know, gee from packed roadways to unfriendly skies now as millions of americans start heading home for the holiday weekend. the tsa says it has stopped an alarming number of people with firearms at airport check points this year. alexandria hoff in dc with details. >> you know, it is not illegal the fly with a firearm but there are specific rules that travelers have to abide by. first of all, a gun definitely cannot be in a carry-on and should never be loaded. 20-year high in number of weapons confiscated. last holiday travelers scrambled to jackson airport when passenger who had been pulled aside for secondary screening lunged for the loading gun causing it to discharge, that man is still at large. amid the holiday rush on tuesday, tsa boise airport in idaho found loaded handgun. on thanksgiving give tsa new england posted this tweet that agents discovered this loaded 357 magnum containing 5 rounds inside of a women's carry-on bag. 16 firearms has been detected at boston logan airport so far this year. it's happening all around the country and tsa is warning that passengers need to know the policies before heading to the airport. >> if you are traveling, for example, with items that are not allowed in carry-on luggage, that includes things like self-defense, knives, tools over 7 inches, we see those all of the time. toes belong in your checked baggage. >> 80% of the guns they find are loaded atlanta airport confiscated most firearms, 450. ed: wow. i forgot to pack my underwear before, putting a firearm. i appreciate it. thank you very much, following g we will be following. you want to hear this next. ♪ (man) still asleep. (woman vo) so, where to next? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. ed: republicans in the big apple calling it a big power grab. new york city council preparing to allow hundreds of thousands citizens to vote in elections. >> edward, if some new york city lawmakers get their way more than 800,000 residents, although not citizen will be allowed to vote in local elections. new york city mayor bill de blasio who has expressed doubts about the bill's legality won't veto it. critics say the bill undermines the importance of citizenship. the our city our vote bill as it is known, anyone who has lived in the city for 30 days and has work visa and green card. it would not allow for state and federal elections. bill's passage would make new york city the largest city in the country to allow noncitizens to vote. about 12 other municipalities have passed similar laws. the majority of new york's foreign born residents come from dominican republic, china and mexico. earlier a this week a few dozen supporters of the legislation rallied outside of city hall. >> the people that are taking care of our meals and driving the cars that we get into and making sure that we keep our city clean, they deserve a voice at the ballot box and that's exactly what this is going to do. the proposed legislation comes as a record number of immigrants are trying to enter the u.s. some opponents of the proposed bill say it diminishing the incentive for pursuing citizenship and gives immigrants undeserving say in local issues. >> this bill allows people who have lived here for a total of 30 days, literally a month to weigh in on the city's elections, the future of new york city, the amount of debt we leverage and the amount of spending that we do and the amount of taxing that we have and, again, these are people who live here for literally a 30. >> he wants new york city to hold a referendum on giving the vote to noncitizens. the city council meanwhile expect today vote next month and the legislation has the support of incoming mayor eric adams. edward. ed: david lee miller, we will be watching that story. so they say everything is bigger and better in texas and so is the battle to stop illegal immigration, another caravan heading to the u.s. governor greg abbott is taking a big step to stop the massive influx but first take a look at the reversal over the border while president biden is reported doing about face to reinstate former president trump's remain in mexico policy. details coming up next. ed: as the migrant surge continues at the southern border the white house reportedly going to rei state former president trump's remain in mexico policy. fox news senior correspondent casey s teigel with the story. >> not long after president biden assumed the office, hours in fact, he reversed president trump's policies for end of past summer and administration officially ended it they thought for good that is until a court was asked to step in and the judge ruled the program be reinstated. this as the record surge of migrant crossing the southern border illegally into the u.s. continues. the data showing no significant signs of letting up. all the while space to house and progress those seeking asylum has been hard to come by and the system has been overwhelmed. the official announcement is expected from the white house reportedly as early as this coming week, plans to reinstate or at least a mirrored version of former president donald trump's controversial policy which requires migrant to wait outside while claims are pursuit. the only difference with president biden's spin on it, now the migrant would be offered a covid vaccine before being released from u.s. custody and then sent right back over the border. logistics of how that all would happen unclear, however, there have been reports that the feds would do a slow rollout with this. for brownsville, texas, el paso, here in texas and then san diego in california as the first 3 cities and later additional border patrol sectors could eventually and will be added. meantime, a major critic of president biden republican texas governor greg abbott has deployed an additional or says he will deploy soon an additional 10,000 either state troopers or national guard units combined. now keep in mind that's already in addition to a number of assets that have already been deployed as part of what governor abbott called operation lone star which has been to assist federal agents that have been overwhelmed at the southern border. so additional help he has largely blamed president biden for this border crisis, edward. >> as you heard casey just say texas governor greg abbott not waiting for the administration to fix the mess. he's deploying 10,000 state troopser and national guard members as another caravan heads to the u.s. so lieutenant, chris oliveras with the texas department of public safety is now joining us. appreciate for your work down there first of all. second of all, would this be enough? >> thanks for having me. i could tell you right now the thousand that is we have deployed as far as national guardsmen and state troopers to the southern border have been effective. it's been an effective strategy to what we are doing to try to secure the border. we have made thousands of arrests. we have seized thousands of drugs and as far as currency just from the past 3 weeks, $1.6 million of currency that was making its way south to mexico to supply the cartels. we talk about mass migration, as far as reinstatement of the remain in mexico policy that still remains to be seen. we are ten months into the crisis and i can tell you the criminal organizations, smuggling organizations are profiting from the crisis and i can tell you it's difficult for them to sit back and close up shop. it's not going to happen. they are making millions and millions of dollars a week off of human smuggling, remains to be seen how effective the policy is going to be -- it's going to take place as far as the current crisis goes. ed: 1.6 million of the illegal proceeds that they were trying to bring back to the cartels. wow, that's a lot of money. how upsetting is this, the fact that federal government has largely ignored the situation on the southern border and it's falling under your shoulders? >> well, i could tell you right now that at least as far as the state agency goes, as far as texas dps the morale for state troopers at all-time high. we have tremendous support from governor greg abbott and texas legislators and state leadership because we have the resources to take care of the problem but the issue is that the federal government is stepping in and they're not allowing us to do our jobs because there are certain areas especially federal property that we could in the take enforcement action because the federal government does not want us to take enforcement action. that's what the american people need to understand. we have resources and assets to secure the border but the question needs to be asked the federal government why you're not allowing texas to step in and take care of the crisis if you're not going to do. ed: exactly. there were 164,303 encounters in the southern border and that's more than doubled from october of 2020. numbers like these, is that playing into -- it is playing in the president's approval rating. fox news poll shows 59% of registered voters disapprove about the president's handling of the voter. 59%. major failure of the federal government, how do you in your opinion quickly stop the caravans from coming? >> well, it's the messaging. i can tell you that right now. the messaging from day one from the federal government has been come to the border because you will be released into the country and that's why we are seeing the mass migration taking place. the numbers have not decreased. the data shows that. as long as the messaging is still out there and also the criminal organizations benefit from the messaging and they will continue telling illegal immigrants to make it to the border because you will be released into the country and when they see that, friends and family have made the journey and they are released into the country. they know that's going to take place and not only that, but messaging as far as incentivizing those they claim were separated from the previous years, incentivizing with $450,000 a head, that's not going to resolve the current crisis. it's going to make it worse and continue to escalate and that's what we are seeing. >> i want to ask you about this, we are dealing with a new variant of covid. on pace more than a million people to cross the border illegally and that's more than the populations. how many crossings do you believe have covid do we know and it's a health risk, isn't it? >> it is a health risk. that's one thing that we don't know. that's the scary part of it. we don't know the illegal immigrants were released that weren't tested for covid. the vast majority weren't especially in del rio when we had the situation with the haitians, over 12,000 released into the country. again, we don't know how many were tested for covid. that's a national health issue not only for the state of texas but for the entire country so that's one thing that we need to be concerned about as this crisis continues to happen. ed: sure, last 30 seconds, lieutenant, what about offering them vaccinations, we are hearing the biden administration will allow them to have a shot before they go back to the remain in mexico policy. will that just bring people -- more people to the border that want to get that shot? >> you know, that's what we foresee. that's what i believe is going to happen. i think that should have been taking place from day one when you're releasing thousands of immigrants into the country. you're not testing them for covid and we are still at the -- at the height of this pandemic where we are see stilling covid spreading throughout the country. that should have been taking place from day one and continue to motivate the illegal immigrants to make the journey because now they will be covid tested and as long as the crisis taking place, i can tell you right now lawrence, they will find ways to smuggle i willingal immigrants into the country. ed: thank you, lieutenant olivares, thank you. more democrats won't seek reelection, the party's push to the left could push republicans back to the majority. we will examine that coming up next. our retirement plan with voya, keeps us moving forward. hey, kevin! hey, guys! they have customized solutions to help our family's special needs... hey, graduation selfie! well done! and voya stays by our side, keeping us on track for retirement... ...giving us confidence in our future... ...and in kevin's. you ready for your first day on the job? i was born ready. go get 'em, kev. well planned. well invested. well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement. ed: growing list of democrats have announced they will not seek reelection. this as polls show the american people want republicans in control of congress at least for right now. so let's look at the possibility if president biden will soon have to deal with a speaker kevin mccarthy or a senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. joining me to discuss all of this real clear politics phil wegmann, i want you to look at something. we are up to 17 now incumbent house democrats who have decided who are not going to run and i'm sure that some of those are for family reasons but there are current policies or are the current policies pushing some others into maybe hey, look, i don't want to face this in the next election, is that partly what we are going to see? >> if you talk to house democratic leadership what they'll tell you number churn and burn and there's nothing to see here but you mentioned that that number is at 17 right now and you've got to think that a lot of these incumbent democrats over the holidays as they're away from washington, d.c. and spending time with their families, they are thinking about the future and they are wondering to themselves, am i ready for another uphill reelection slog, not like the ones that i may have seen in the last two or four or six years but instead at a moment when things have really changed, when party orthodoxy is moving further and further to the left. i think that some of these incumbent democrats are wondering, do i have it in me to run again in a year that historically is probably not going the favor my party. ed: so you talk about that, the policies moving a little bit further to the left, why the democratic party as a whole not looking at this and saying, wait a may not, maybe we want to alter some of the spending plans or reverse some of the policy decisions? >> yeah, it's a good question. one would think a turn would is happened after virginia when you saw glenn youngkin triumph over terry mcauliffe and over democratic establishment and celebrities. if you look at the race, they brought everyone in from former president obama to the current president. they had all of the heavy hitters there and that couldn't move the needle for them. you would think that that would be sort of a wake-up moment perhaps but instead you've seen president biden not listen to joe manchin and kyrsten sinema and not really moderate. i think that that may be a reflection of the fact that democrats are saying, look, we are probably going to have to deal with republican congress next year. we might as well get what we can while the get asking good. ed: of those 17 some of them in moderate districts so what you're going to be left with is a more progressive democratic party, right? >> yeah, and that's a really good point because those, you know, those democrats who are from more moderate districts, a lot of folks who came in 2018 and they came in on focusing oh kitchen-table issues, came in promising to be a check on president trump or to generally just be a moderate voice that speaks for their district. but instead what we have seen is that the conversation that's happening in dc is much more progressive. it's much more moving towards the left and i think that some of these democrats are thinking to themselves, well wait a minute, the electorate never favors the party who controls the white house, it's already going to be difficult, add to that, though, the increases in illegal immigration, the increases in inflation if virginia is an indication, a fact that a lot of voters seem to be rejecting anything progressive right now. ed: before you go, remember when president biden bashing former president trump about banning travel over u.s. covid fears in january of 2020. listen to this. >> in moments like this, this is where the credibility of a president is most needed as he explains what we should and should not do. this is no time for donald trump's record of hysteria, xenophobia and fear-monger to go ed tolead the science. >> well, it's a very different moment. we know a lot more about the virus than we did in january 2020. that's the soundbite that will haunt the current president because with the omicron variant there was little time spent between realizing that this was something that could be perhaps more dangerous than we had seen before and the administration saying, no, we are ready to ban travel from south africa and 7 other african nations. that might be the prudent choice but i think that his past statements, those are going to provide a little bit of a hiccup and i think republicans are certainly going to make him pay for that flip flop. ed: lives on the internet forever. thanks, appreciate it. so here is something that all homeowners are giving thanks for this year, their home's value, we will investigate if this is a bubble or not next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ed: prices are up double digits in the past year. here to tell fuss this will continue, katrina, luxury real estate specialist. katrina, is this a bubble and could it burst or not? >> there is definitely not a bubble to burst this time around. the great recession was the perfect storm and the dynamics of this market are completely different. you have robust demand and let's not forget the topic that many people don't discuss. the millennials are back into the market. they are buying homes which has created a sense of demand that we have never experienced before. that coupled with supply chain issues, you have labor issues and people have also evaluated the importance of home and what i have noticed in my industry and i have been doing for 22 years egregiously evaluated the importance of home space, their values, their morals, their preferences and priorities and that's really being the main driver that is, you know, creating the housing market that we are experiencing right now. ed: katrina, especially when people were stuck at home for lockdowns, they realized that the value of having space to do their work and realizing they can work from anywhere, what about different parts of the country, where might the best value be? in. >> every state is different and every city is different but as a whole i would say that people are migrating to the suburbs because they are working from home, they realized that they could do that and then that coupled with the fact that a lot of children are at home now, so you're having to really manage this dynamic at home that we've never really seen before where people need their space, the children need their space as well and they need more land as a result of that. so you're really seeing people migrate to the city and suburbs where as the younger generations going back to the cities and entering the real estate market. ed: katrina, you talk about the migration to the suburbs but are we still seeing the trend of peopling moving away from high-taxed states, california, new york, to texas, tennessee. >> today i'm in minnesota but i'm from miami, florida what we are seeing is quite remarkable. influx from high-taxed states and it's not stopping any time soon. we see a lot of migration from new york, from california, and so forth and people are really just making south florida their home because of that. that's one of the main reasons and since covid i've just seen an influx of buyers and now we are actually beginning to see the foreign buyers come into the market and that's one thing that we haven't touched on which is going to create more demand. ed: katrina campinsi wish i had more time, thank you very much. i appreciate the value of my home going up. all this attributed to you. well, it's beginning to look a lot like christmas and if you're in need of a great gift the duffys have you covered literally, there they are right there. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ sigh ] not gonna happen. that's it. i'm calling kohler about their walk-in bath. my name is ken. how may i help you? hi, i'm calling about kohler's walk-in bath. excellent! happy to help. huh? hold one moment 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>> i want to thank everybody at fox for supporting the book and if people want to hear about how they celebrate christmas, we love christmas, we wanted to do a book about christmas because we love it so much. we start tomorrow officially with the beginning of advent and because i'm hispanic we go all the way until the sixth of january which is epiphany or 3 kings day. we were the right people to write the book. you see the picture right there. that's our little margarita, our son patrick when they were smaller. we dress our kids up as the holy family for our christmas card so whatever baby is the littlest is baby jesus. ed: how did you two blend, the two traditions from your very different backgrounds and -- >> well, ed, there's nudging, a little bit of punching and arguing. you know what -- >> i said no miss me -- >> as all couples you figure out what traditions work for upbringing. i love our traditions. we cut down our own christmas tree. we don't buy it at the store. we don't put up a fake one. we are from wisconsin. we have participants from fox to tell us the story and you get to know them talking to you for an hour or two or three a day. how was jesse ray as young boy or geraldo and they tell the stories about youth but how they do their christmases right now and how they celebrate it. people come to life in the book, kind of through christmas and we share pictures, recipes, their favorite music play list, their play list and if you're looking for a gift, it's a great gift, fox fan in your family. great gift. you get shopping out of the way. ed: you mentioned christmas tree. tradition of my family, go out and cut down a real christmas tree and pictures of fox talent that we have come to know and love. maybe the business side we will get into that. >> yeah. ed: what's one story do you think that most excites you out of this book? >> i'm going to tell you there's a lot of heart warming stories and sad stories. my favorite story is jesse watters, went with family to cut down pennsylvania tree, they heard a raucous at 3:00 in the morning and they went upstairs and there's jesse, crazy at 5 as he is right now and their cat was going nuts chasing a squirrel in the house. you have to be lying, that didn't happen, that did happen. a whole fight with the christmas tree and -- and the squirrel but also john roberts talks about his own family and he lost his father when he was young 5, 6 year's old. ed: jesse is a subtle person. in the last 30 seconds, why is it important to open up about the holidays? >> because of the pandemic you have been covering a lot? a. a lot of people felt that government wanting to take christmas and holiday even easter and people wanted to bring traditions and make sure they hold onto them and people are getting -- it's an exciting time to get together. >> one last point what is central is our family and faith. we reeli so much in our culture, in our country. this book celebrates christmas, you know, christianity and the fox family all together in one. ed: thank you, i will have to get you to sign my book when you come back to dc. >> absolutely. you got it. ed: shopping extravaganza on friday not just for duffy's book, you can still cash in on the savings on cybermonday and we have the best way to optimize these deals. don't miss it. ♪ ♪ make more holiday at lowe's. store your favorite treats of the season. and make a dinner to remember with lg must haves. black friday is back, and with it, the deals. and save up to $750 dollars on select appliances at lowe's. i will bless those who bless you it's almost hanukkah here in israel and across the former soviet union but we're fnding thousands of destitute, elderly jews it. ramzia is a holocaust survivor. she keeps saying my refridgerator is empty. she's embarrassed to ask for help. their need as you can see is extremely urgent. right now, you can give a gift of life of $25. the international fellowship of christians and jews will bring comfort and food to ramzia and thousands of others. ramzia has had such a hard life and to see this smile. you can save a life, just like ramzia. your special holiday gift will provide everything they need to celebrate the miracle of hanukkah. as we celebrate the miracle of hanukkah she's celebrating her own miracle. the answers of prayers. we brought her the candles and the menorah to honour this holiday. i'm partnering with the international fellowship of christians and jews. this trusted ministry has given christians like me a way to tangibly bless jewish people who are in need around the world. a life-saving $25 gift helps send a volunteer with one urgently needed survival food box. for less than one dollar a day you can say, "i will bless and comfort the jewish people". "i will save a life today". please call or go online now and say, "i will bless his people israel". ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ed: you did not miss out on the deals yet, lucky for you, cybermonday is on the way, so retail watcher is here joining us and i think i got your name wrong the last hour. i apologize. my name neil cavuto with a c, cavuto. so just between you and me, where can we find the best deals now? >> what's happening now is people are shopping very differently, right, so we are seeing in the past people walking the stores, shop online, it's called omni channel retailing which is term that was coined by former chairman of macy's terry but we are now seeing businesses, large and small go and do live streams on all the social platforms. so getting some data from meta which is formerly facebook they were saying that stores like wal-mart and macy's in conjunction with toys"r"us are doing live stream and smaller businesses like the jewelry store in south carolina and the other gift, i think it's a bar called the green amongy out of raleigh, they are doing the live streams. businesses, small businesses are able to now, i don't want to say ignore what's going on with the ports but this is one way they can really show case their product very quickly and then have that be bought right on the spot. ed: right, you talk about that online. do you see the covid variant then pushing buyers to go online and might they find some of the small businesses that are making these unique ingenuity in order to use online? >> absolutely. oracle came out with a study saying 77% of people are very concerned with the -- with the variants that keep coming out and how that's going to impact their holiday shopping and their gift giving. the live streams are -- i don't want to see complete alternative because i think people select to go out to the stores, it's part of what we are talking about christmas traditions and part of people's christmas tradition but this is just one other way of the omni channel retailing that people can safely stay inside if they feel that way. it's about risk tolerance and shop and it's all about the small business. ed what he had are the best deals and do i find them in store or online? >> it's both. so some of the best deals really focus in on the electronics. the older model of electronics, right, new models will go quickly but the older models they want to get out of the shelves. large flat screen tvs, some are discounted $150. stuff for the house like vacuums, discounted 150 to $200 on sites like wal-mart and target. ed: gift recommendation for women and men? >> it really depends on the person but i personally like service oriented gifts, massage, free baby sitting, anything that's going to help me relax in my day so i'm sure women in your life they want that. same for the men, gift of freedom and anything like that. ed: sure. we are living in very busy times here. i really appreciate your insight on this. i'm sure a lot of folks will appreciate it too as we get the last-minute gift for the holidays. neil will be back next week. you'd be sure to catch him here on fox business at noon eastern and then here on fox news channel at 4:00 p.m. eastern, keep it here for your latest news. you know, fox news will continue right now, so don't go anywhere. we have a lot ahead for you. happy holidays. ♪ ♪ >> fears of the new south african variant of covid that may be more contagious than delta and less responsive to vaccines have countries to put in place new travel bans, president biden calling for restrictions to start monday in the united states. all this news leading to a big drop in markets yesterday as investors worry about possible new lockdowns and restrictions for businesses and commerce. welcome to fox news live i'm alicia acuña. griff: and i'm griff jenkins, great to be with you, alicia. we have t