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A retired Marine who executed many civilian rescues from Afghanistan offered a blistering rebuttal to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby and his presentation of the Biden administration's after-action report, calling the retired admiral's presentation "a national tragedy."

Kirby held an at-times confrontational press conference Thursday where he defended the Biden administration's withdrawal as largely successful and noted the after-action report's purpose was "not accountability."

"The purpose of the document that we're putting out today is to sort of collate the chief reviews and findings of the agencies that did after action reviews," he said, after Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked who might be "fired" over the chaos.

"For all this talk of chaos. I just didn't see it. Not from my perch," Kirby said later in the presser, adding that at one point in the evacuation, planes were departing Hamid Karzai International Airport every 48 minutes with Afghans and Americans alike aboard.

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"[N]ot one single mission was missed. So I'm sorry. I just don't buy the whole argument of chaos," he said.

Those comments incensed Chad Robichaux, a veteran of the Afghanistan war and co-founder of the Save Our Allies group that has evacuated Americans and others from Afghanistan and Ukraine.

Robichaux characterized Kirby as someone who knew his remarks were not entirely accurate regarding facts on the ground, and said the American people see through the administration's "lies."

"It is no shocker when Biden or his clown-show press secretaries lie, but to have a former U.S. Navy admiral do the same is a national tragedy," Robichaux said.

"As a fellow veteran it makes me sad to see former military leaders turn on our citizens for personal and political gain."

He called the presentation of Kirby as a retired flag officer and military adviser "one of the biggest lies in this week's brief," pointing to his most recent roles as a spokesperson in the Obama and Biden administrations and as an analyst for CNN.

"He is a long way from 1986 when he raised his hand in an oath to serve the American people," Robichaux charged. "His loyalty is to protecting corrupt politicians in DC -- not the people."

Robichaux's group, Save Our Allies, was also instrumental in rescuing Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall after he had been gravely wounded in Ukraine.

Save Our Allies worked closely with top Biden administration officials, including at the Pentagon and State Department, to bring Hall home.

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Robichaux previously estimated that, given the reported number of applicants for evacuation or asylum – which included the Marine's friend and former interpreter Azizullah Aziz --it would have taken 140 years at the 2021 pace for all qualified persons to be evacuated from Afghanistan.

Following Kirby's briefing Thursday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also expressed outrage at criticisms of "the previous (Trump) administration," saying Biden made a "political decision" to announce a withdrawal date in spite of reported advice to the contrary.

On Kirby's part, the spokesman said the after-action report could now be reviewed by Congress, which can "lay out things that could have gone better."

"Nobody is saying that everything was perfect, but there was a lot that went right. And a lot of Afghans are now living better lives in this country and other countries around the world because of the sacrifices and the work of so many American government officials," he said Thursday.

"The review process isn’t over," Kirby added. "This is the next muscle-movement in what will be a long process to better understand and comprehend and adjust to what we learned and what we did in Afghanistan."

Retired Green Beret Scott Mann, whose "Task Force: Pineapple" also executed civilian evacuations within Afghanistan, told Fox News on Friday the reported lack of proverbial 'lessons learned' was "egregious."

"I've been talking to veterans and veterans groups all morning about this. And one of the reasons that I think that veterans are so upset about this is like my friend… an Afghanistan combat veteran, says, it's not about what happened," Mann said on "The Story."

"[T]he absence of accountability: What worries veterans so much is that we've got all of these problems now with violent extremist groups coming up in Afghanistan. We've got a massive moral injury on our veteran population -- And if you're not willing to take accountability for your actions as a leader at any level, then there's a real good chance you're not going to take any actions to fix what happened."

On Friday, retired Lt. Col. Danny Davis disagreed with the claims of lack of "chaos," telling "America Reports" that there is no way to categorize what was happening on the ground in Kabul in August 2021 other than chaos.

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"I don't know what definition of ‘not chaos’ you can have when you have those images that are iconic … where people are chasing the aircraft as it is driving across the tarmac… ad of course, the catastrophic explosion that killed a lot of U.S. Marines," Davis said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment. As of publication time, there has been no response.

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A Republican legislator is pushing to impeach Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal and for promoting a "woke" military culture that has allegedly contributed to recruiting woes.

"The guy has failed," Rep. Cory Mills, an Army veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, told Fox News Digital. 

"Not only do we have a 25,000-plus recruitment shortage, but there were 8,400 people who were unconstitutionally purged from the military … you've got pronouns and DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] being taught at our military academies when we need to be focusing on what the next threat is and how we mitigate it."

Mills' comments come after the Florida Republican had a testy exchange with Austin at last week's House Armed Services Committee hearing, where Mills presented Austin with articles of impeachment.

"Not only do I believe that you should have resigned ... I myself perceive this as a dereliction of duty, and I take that very seriously," Mills told Austin during the hearing before recounting what he believed were Austin's failures during the Afghanistan withdrawal. "Political optics was placed above the true military strategy, where we should have held Bagram Air Base, held the detention center … not shut down and entrap Americans by taking over HKIA (Hamid Karazai International Airport), the commercial airspace and abandoning thousands of Americans."

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"I have already drafted my articles of impeachment for the dereliction of duty," Mills continued. "I do feel there needs to be accountability at the top and at the highest levels, and I hope that we can get true accountability with future hearings and investigations and your testimonies that would actually either substantiate or discredit my beliefs."

Mills told Fox News Digital he has received support from colleagues who want to move forward with the impeachment process against Austin.

"We already have quite a few … a lot of members who want to go ahead and sign on to this," Mills said. "I will make sure that I submit this forward so that it can be considered for additional investigations and hearings for Secretary Austin."

The Florida Republican argued that it comes down to a "dereliction of duty" for Austin, starting with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, for which he says the defense secretary has failed to take adequate responsibility.

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Mills echoed his comments at the hearing, pointing to the closure of Bagram Air Base and the grounding of commercial flights in Kabul as key moments that led to the U.S. exit from Afghanistan going sideways. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed in an attack in Kabul during the chaos, and Mills said Austin has failed to hold himself accountable for it.

Mills said that in hearings Austin has boasted about his 41 years of military experience and the fact that he helped establish Bagram Air Base, something Mills argues only means Austin "should know better" than to close down the key installation.

Mills said that many officers on the ground could be relieved of duty for the failures that unfolded in Afghanistan and that Austin shouldn't be held to a separate standard because of his position.

"The secretary of state or secretary of defense shouldn't be treated any differently and in fact should be judged more harshly," Mills said. "Because accountability, actual failures and successes, start at the top."

Mills also argued that the failures in Afghanistan and a transition to more woke policies have contributed to the largest military recruiting shortfall in decades, something for which he says Austin shares blame.

"We are failing and falling behind," Mills said. "If you look at what's occurring, the failure to get a Status of Forces Agreement in Iraq, the failure to have a complete and cohesive military strategic objective, whether it's in Syria or an of the other things, this is on him as secretary of defense, and I look at that as a dereliction of duty."

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There have been three recent fentanyl overdose deaths in a Texas school district as law enforcement officials aim to crack down on drug dealers.

The Drug Enforcement Administration announced last week that a fourth arrest had been made in connection with drug sales in Carrollton, Texas. On the day of the arrest, a fourth student in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District suffered an overdose on campus after ingesting a pill but survived following a dose of Narcan.

Every school in the district now has access to Narcan after three middle school and high school students died from overdoses.

"Narcan is one of those things that will save a life if it's available and you have to have it readily available to do that," Dallas DEA Special Agent in Charge Eduardo Chavez told Fox 4. 

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Chavez said the arrests over fentanyl sales are helping take down criminal organizations operating in North Texas. 

"It’s a challenge … We are swinging," he said. "We are making progress, but it’s always hard."

Authorities have seized more than 11 million deadly doses of fentanyl in North Texas in the past year, according to Chavez.

Some of the people selling the pills in Carrollton are teenagers recruited by adult suppliers, he said.

Last month, federal authorities arrested Jason Villanueva, 22, Luis Navarrete, 21, and Magaly Cano, 29, in connection with multiple overdoses at RL Turner High School and two middle schools.

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And authorities arrested Donavan Andrews, 20, last week on allegations he was capitalizing off those other arrests. The authorities said his drugs resulted in at least two overdoses at Hebron High School, also located in Carrollton.

Andrews allegedly advertised the drugs on social media and received the payment through Cash App.

"It’s not necessarily one social media application," Chavez said. "A lot of these platforms offer some sort of anonymity for disappearing messages. So that makes it more challenging."

Chavez said the strategy for now in taking down drug dealers is to take them off the street one by one, a slow process he says will hopefully lead to bigger results.

"It tends to be a bit of a freelance market. Once we start connecting the dots, you tend to see common threads, a common individual at the top organizing it," he said. "It is not a microwave dinner where we will have answers in 30 seconds or less. It’s something like the slow cooker process to identify some other individuals and keep following it along."

The Carrollton-Faremers Branch ISD said in a statement that it is continuing to come up with strategies to combat the overdoses. 

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EXCLUSIVE: A recent memo sent to every Republican member of Congress is urging lawmakers to dismiss the United Nations’ "alarmist report" on climate change.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently called on wealthy nations to move up its net-zero emissions goal from 2050 to 2040. But a memo sent by the Competitive Enterprise Institute offered Republicans talking points for refuting both the UN’s findings and the Biden administration’s push to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

"In the wake of the latest alarmist report from the United Nations about emissions and climate change, I wanted to draw your attention to three new developments and realities that you should be aware of as debate about climate continues," the memo stated.

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The memo started by picking apart various claims from those who warn that global warming will lead to catastrophic changes to human and animal life. For example, it noted a short-term projection by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that suggests global temperatures peaked nearly a decade ago in 2015.

"Despite this reality, we are told every day that every emission warms the planet. That is clearly not the case. We should not mindlessly and recklessly proceed with dangerous and expensive emissions cuts until this paradox is resolved," the memo stated.

It then pointed out that a recent report from the Energy Information Administration that said the Biden administration will already fall well short of its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

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"Both the electricity utility industry and the Biden administration have now admitted that cutting net emissions to zero by 2050 ('net zero by 2050') are not happening," the memo outlined.

Finally, the memo showed various doomsday predictions related to climate change going back to 1967 that never came true.

"These three points fairly question the wisdom of any rush to judgment on climate and/or the dismantling of our energy grid," the memo to lawmaker claimed.

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House Republicans, armed with a new, narrow majority, are already chipping away at Biden's clean energy agenda. President Biden's $1.2 trillion Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, was hailed by supporters as the largest climate investment in history.

Guterres has the same view, and issued a dire warning in March about his body’s findings regarding climate change. "Our world needs climate action on all fronts — everything, everywhere, all at once," he said.

But last month, House lawmakers passed a comprehensive energy bill that they say will lower costs for families and reverse burdensome regulations on the fossil fuel industry.

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A California animal shelter's surveillance video captured people dumping unwanted dogs on the side of a remote road in Riverside County.

Footage from the Sierra Pacific Furbabies property shows the driver of a sedan dumping a Rottweiler on the side of the road. Employees said a puppy was found in the yard outside the shelter crying just a week prior.

"Over the years people have been dumping dogs out here for a long time. And there's really no need to do that," Sierra Pacific Furbabies' David Loop told Fox 11.

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Loop and his family estimate there have been about 20 instances in the 10 years they have operated the shelter where people have dumped off animals on the side of the ride.

"Honestly it's really sad," Ashley Loop told Fox 11. "The animals don't know obviously what's going on, and they've had their owners for so long. Everybody's really lucky to have him because he takes care of the animals."

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The Loops said people should contact an animal shelter if they would like to surrender their pet.

Animal control and the Riverside County Sheriff's Office are investigating the two recent incidents.

"We are working with the property owner on two separate incidents," the sheriff's office said in a statement. "We have the license plates but don't want to compromise the investigation at this point by releasing any information."

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A middle school student in Fontana, California, asked his teacher to help him with a word in a book he was reading for his English class when his teacher began demanding he say the word, which is a racial slur.

The Sequoia Middle School eighth-grader was reading "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain when he came across the N-word. The teacher was seen on video captured by one of the student's classmates repeatedly ordering him to say the word despite him appearing uncomfortable using that type of language.

The teacher claimed the slur is just a word and that it is included in the dictionary, and that he should be able to say it.

The student's classmates said they were also uncomfortable with the exchange.

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Some of the students told Fox 11 that the teacher, who is from another country, may not have understood the word can be offensive, while others said she should know to avoid using the word.

The student who recorded the video was pulled out of the classroom after her mother raised the issue with school officials. 

Other students in the class said the teacher still brings up the exchange. They said she stands by her actions.

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In a letter to the school's family and staff, the Fontana Unified School District said it has been made aware of the incident.

"While we acknowledge that this derogatory language comes from a novel first published in the late 1800s, and that historical context is important to consider when discussing literature, the District does not condone the language that was used in the video or using that language outside of the context of discussing the novel," the district's letter reads.

"Fontana Unified is currently investigating this situation," the letter continues. "While we cannot provide additional detail at this time, please be assured that the District takes this and all reports of demeaning language seriously, addresses the matter promptly and takes any necessary action."

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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sparked outrage on Thursday after she praised "fierce" kids who are transgender for their ability to "fight back."

Less than two weeks after a transgender shooter killed children and faculty at a Christian school, Jean-Pierre was one of many leaders sharing fiery rhetoric in support of transgender ideology. She blasted legislation from Republicans aimed at stopping transgender medical procedures on minors, claiming it is merely "gender-affirming" health care.

Jean-Pierre described such legislation as "a dangerous attack on the rights of parents to make the best health care decisions for their own kids." She went on to declare, "LGBTQI+ kids are resilient. They are fierce. They fight back. They’re not going anywhere. And we have their back. This administration has their back." 

She followed by praising "the kids across this country who have organized protest and school walkouts to tell the politicians in their states to stop this legislative bullying."

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Commentators across Twitter, however, suggested her rhetoric about fighting back was dangerous so shortly after a shooting by a trans person. 

"A trans person killed three Christian children just over a week ago and now the White House is now telling them to fight back," State Freedom Caucus Network communications director Greg Price tweeted.

"Quite a choice of words," Republican communicator Matt Whitlock tweeted.

One commentator called out the White House, saying they covered for the trans shooter, "’They’re going to fight back and the administration will have their back.’ Yep that’s pretty much exactly what happened with the shooting."

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"This kind of rhetoric helped cause Nashville... At least by liberals' own logic," Conservative writer Pradheep J. Shanker wrote, tagging Jean-Pierre in the tweet.

Conservative meme account Mostly Peaceful Memes called Jean-Pierre’s rhetoric, "Stochastic Terrorism from the White House."

New Founding digital communications director Logan Hall tweeted a picture of the transgender shooter Audrey Hale in response to the video, quoting the phrase, "they fight back."

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