The Trump administration has abruptly canceled a multimillion-dollar contract with a Catholic charity that houses and cares for migrant children amid the president’s feud with Pope Leo XIV.
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has helped provide vital services to unaccompanied minors for more than 60 years, but could now shut down within a matter of months after the administration canceled an $11 million federal contract.
The decision comes amid tensions between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo, the leader of the Catholic Church, over issues such as migration and the war in Iran. Trump has launched a series of attacks against the American-born pontiff, including suggesting Leo was “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday repeated an air rescue group’s prayer that borrows from a scene in Quentin Tarantino’s film “Pulp Fiction.”
During a Pentagon service, Hegseth said the prayer — called CSAR 25:17, an apparent reference to Ezekiel 25:17 in the Bible — was recited during a mission to recover the pilot of a U.S. F-15E fighter jet shot down in Iran earlier this month.
“So the prayer is CSAR 25:17 and it reads, and pray with me please, ‘The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children,’” he told those gathered at the Department of Defense.
Imagine it was someone other than President Donald Trump. Suppose a different leader were posting deranged rants in the small hours, insulting the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics, threatening entire civilizations with annihilation, and comparing himself to God. What would be the reaction?
We all know the answer. Both parties would be rushing to bundle him out of office before he did irreversible harm to the republic. Yet, as we all also know, different rules apply to Trump. Democrats, having had their fingers burned by two failed impeachment attempts, are reluctant to try again, for they know that there is no surer way to boost his support. Republicans, who privately despair at the electoral damage he is doing, let alone the constitutional damage, are paralyzed by fear of upsetting their primary voters.
. . .
A 79-year-old man who has long dealt in chaos is now being consumed by that chaos. His episodes are becoming more frequent, his good days further apart. What he has lost is not a sense of decency or decorum — he never had those — but any remaining sense of self-control.
Everyone around him can see it. Yet, whether from ambition, cowardice, or weary acceptance, they keep looking for ways to rationalize his behavior. The tragedy is no longer Trump’s. It is now America’s.
The Ukrainian military captured a Russian position using only ground robots and aerial drones — completely unassisted by any infantry, for the first time in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
No lives were lost when the robot force went into highly dangerous enemy-occupied territory and forced the soldiers there to surrender, he said in a video address to defense workers this week, without revealing additional details about the mission.
“The future is already on the front line — and Ukraine is building it. These are our ground robotic systems,” Zelensky said. . .
We’ve all seen the AI generated post that Trump published after his tiff with Pope Leo. Trump as Jesus, or as a Red Cross doctor, if you believe his take:
Screenshot
Some Republicans and Democrats have responded with disgust to the image, with the president’s explanation falling flat. However, there are those who are finding ways to at least ”understand” it:
Most disappointingly, was Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham’s defense of Trump’s decision to post the image and defend his subsequent explanation:
I had received some questions about President @realDonaldTrump’s recent posts, and here are my thoughts:
I do not believe President Trump would knowingly depict himself as Jesus Christ—that would certainly be inappropriate. I’m thankful the President has made it very clear that this was not at all what he thought the AI-generated image was representing—he thought it was a doctor helping someone, and when he learned of the concerns, he immediately removed the post.
When I looked at the illustration, I didn’t jump to the same conclusion as some. There were no spiritual references—no halo, there were no crosses, no angels. It was a flag, soldiers, a nurse, fighter planes, eagles, the Statue of Liberty, and I think this is a lot to do about nothing. There is so much ill-intended speculation. I think his enemies are always foaming at the mouth at any possible opportunity to make him look bad.
And the illustration from someone else he reposted on Truth Social yesterday, I must say that I like the fact that this is a picture of Jesus whispering in his ear, or at least His hand on his shoulder, guiding him. We all need that—we all need to be listening to Jesus. Again, I think there is an attempt to spin this into something that it isn’t. Remember, President Trump didn’t draw this, he didn’t create it, he reposted it on his social media because he thought it was nice—I would have to agree.
I’m not a Catholic, I’m an evangelical, but I appreciate how President Trump has defended religious freedom for people of all faiths, including millions of evangelicals and Catholics in the U.S. and around the world. He is the most pro-Christian, pro-life president in my lifetime, and he doesn’t shy away from it. I would hope that the President and Pope Leo can meet at some point, and that the Pope would have the opportunity to thank the President for his efforts to protect religious liberty for Catholics and people of all faiths.
This is both sad and disappointing. An enormous part of the problem we face in a decade of Trump is the unholy veneration of a corrupt a godless individual like Trump. A destructive cult of personality has lead to the refusal to acknowledge his feet of clay. To the point where a noted believer and son of a church icon, would fall in line with Trump.
Listening to Sam Harris’s latest podcast makes me realize we are going to have to deal with Rahm Emanuel as a presidential canddate in 2028.
Emanuel is not dumb. I don’t see him winning. He loves to hear himself talk. He loves to interrupt. He doesn’t like to answer the question; he likes to say what he wants to say, the way he wants to say it.
A coldly ruthless personality may work well in a top position behind the scenes. I don’t think it will play well with voters.
But we’re going to have to hear his name over and over, and people will invoke it as a throwback to the supposedly great years of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Maybe his candidacy will make Josh Shapiro less of a novelty, since he will not be the only Jewish candidate running for the nomination.
Whoever wins the Democrat primary is likely to be the next President. I hope it’s not Emanuel. I don’t think it will be, but he is going to be a big distraction. If he can somehow take votes away from Newsom and throw them to Shapiro, though, good on him.
Young, eligible men will be automatically registered for the military draft pool starting in December as part of a measure tucked into the annual defense policy bill Congress signed into law late last year.
Men ages 18 to 26 must already register for selective service in case a draft is required. The last time a draft was in effect was February 1973, during the Vietnam War.
Note:
The nationwide measure has no connection to the ongoing war with Iran and was passed with bipartisan support months before the current conflict with the country. But the Trump administration has declined to rule out the possibility of putting US troops on the ground, and the war has led to renewed attention on the draft policy.
If sanctions on Russian oil have been lifted because of the war in the Middle East, will the U.S. sanctions be reimposed now that there is a ceasefire? I think that an answer to this question will expose the reason for lifting sanctions in the first place. We just need to wait and see.
In my view, Russia played the Americans again – played the President of the United States. The Russians lied about the role their oil supplies played in keeping oil markets stable. If the U.S. reimposes sanctions, that would be fair. But if it doesn’t…
We heard that Russia wanted Americans to buy certain energy assets in Europe belonging to Lukoil. I ask myself, “If I want to sell sanctioned energy assets, what do I do?” I come up with a scheme to lift sanctions. How else could I sell it?
President Donald Trump went after big-name conservative media figures Thursday over their criticism of his handling of the war in Iran, calling some of his former allies “low IQ,” “losers” and “nut jobs.”
Trump criticized Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones, who have all broken with him over the war.
“They’re losers, just trying to latch on to MAGA,” Trump wrote on Truth Social before dishing out personal insults.
“They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too!” he wrote.
He said Carlson “should see a good psychiatrist,” called Owens “crazy,” described Jones as saying “some of the dumbest things” and referred to Kelly as having “nastily” asked him about his past remarks about comedian Rosie O’Donnell.
Now is the time for Congress to act. Epstein was not alone. Several prominent male executives resigned from their powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized. Of course, this doesn’t amount to guilt, but we still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth.
I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors. Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress, with the power of sworn testimony. Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional Record.
Then, and only then, will we have the truth.
Trump said he did not have advanced knowledge of his wife’s statement.
Hungarians are set to cast their ballots on Sunday – in what has been described as the country’s most consequential set of elections in recent history. Viktor Orban, the far-right autocrat who currently holds power, received ringing endorsements from Donald Trump and JD Vance this week.
In fact, the US Vice President flew over to the European nation to meet with Orban, and addressed a rally of his supporters. This preceded a long-winded Truth Social post from President Trump, who yesterday encouraged the electorate to show their support for the incumbent.
This was, by all accounts, a last-ditch attempt to influence the vote in Orban’s favour. But has it worked? The evidence, at this point, suggests not. In fact, it would appear that the American influence has had the opposite impact – with the opposition party now EXTENDING their lead in the polls.
Of course, the question is: what comes after the election if/when Orban loses and refuses to leave office?
I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon — Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs. They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too! Look at their past, look at their record. They don’t have what it takes, and they never did! They’ve all been thrown off Television, lost their Shows, and aren’t even invited on TV because nobody cares about them, they’re NUT JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS, and will say anything necessary for some “free” and cheap publicity. Now they think they get some “clicks” because they have Third Rate Podcasts, but nobody’s talking about them, and their views are the opposite of MAGA — Or I wouldn’t have won the Presidential Election in a LANDSLIDE. MAGA agrees with me, and just gave CNN a 100% Approval Rating of “TRUMP,” not Hand Flailing Fools like Tucker Carlson, who couldn’t even finish College, he was a broken man when he got fired from Fox, and he’s never been the same — Perhaps he should see a good psychiatrist! Or Megyn Kelly, who nastily asked me the now famous, “Only Rosie O’Donnell,” question, or “Crazy” Candace Owens, who accuses the Highly Respected First Lady of France of being a man, when she is not, and will hopefully win lots of money in the ongoing lawsuit. Actually, to me, the First Lady of France is a far more beautiful woman than Candace, in fact, it’s not even close! Or Bankrupt Alex Jones, who says some of the dumbest things, and lost his entire fortune, as he should have, for his horrendous attack on the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, ridiculously claiming it was a hoax. These so-called “pundits” are LOSERS, and they always will be! Now Fake News CNN, The Failing New York Times, and all of the other Radical Left “News” Organizations, are “hailing” them, and giving them “positive” press for the first time in their lives. They’re not “MAGA,” they’re losers, just trying to latch on to MAGA. As President, I could get them on my side anytime I want to, but when they call, I don’t return their calls because I’m too busy on World and Country Affairs and, after a few times, they go “nasty,” just like Marjorie “Traitor” Brown, but I no longer care about that stuff, I only care about doing right for our Country. MAGA is about WINNING and STRENGTH in not allowing Iran to have Nuclear Weapons. MAGA is about MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and these people have no idea how to do that, BUT I DO, because THE UNITED STATES IS NOW THE “HOTTEST” COUNTRY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! President DONALD J. TRUMP
The president said he wanted to “discuss why Operation Epic Fury is necessary for the safety of America and the security of the free world.”
He aimed to show that one goal of Wednesday’s speech was to take on the confusion that has persisted as the administration shifted its reasons for launching the war.
But over the course of nearly 20 minutes, Trump did not offer any new explanations.
He maintained that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, calling such a prospect “an intolerable threat,” and said the country was building a vast arsenal of ballistic missiles that were a threat to America’s homeland.
While he said Iran’s ballistic missile capacity was greatly reduced, he didn’t explain how the operation had headed off Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He and his administration had previously insisted that the U.S. and Israel “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program in strikes last summer.
And as he painted the threats from Iran generally as having been wiped away, Trump didn’t back up that assertion, especially as multiple competing factions of power remain within Iran’s theocracy.
Iran long has insisted its nuclear program was peaceful. It had, however, been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.
On social media, the pastor [Dale Partridge] has attracted a following by posting incendiary commentary: railing against feminists, Catholics and gay people, describing immigration as “national suicide,” and labeling Islam and Hinduism “demonic.” He also calls for erasing women’s suffrage, which he lists as one reason “the world is falling apart.”
The 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment, the landmark legislative achievement of the movement to make women equal citizens, made it possible for women across America to vote. But for Mr. Partridge and a growing number of like-minded Christians, it drove America into national decline. Instead, they support “household voting.” One household, one vote — the husband’s.
While many Americans would see this as an unthinkable regression to a time when women were treated as second-class Americans, proponents of the concept believe deeply that this arrangement is what God envisioned in a marriage.
A grotesque double standard has existed in American professional sports for years, whereby violent criminal acts are punished with only a slap on the wrist while expressions of Christian faith or conservative values often result in immediate criticism or even dismissal from the team.
That was the case again this week following comments from Chicago Bulls guard Jaden Ivey, a third-year player out of Purdue University. In a series of Instagram livestreams, Ivey criticized Pride Month and the NBA for promoting what he called “unrighteousness.”
“The world can proclaim LGBTQ, right?” Ivey told viewers. “They proclaim Pride Month. And the NBA, they proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness.’ They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it in the streets. Unrighteousness.”
Hours later, the Bulls waived Ivey (effectively, they fired him) for “conduct detrimental to the team.” Coach Billy Donovan later said that there is “a certain level of standards and expectations that are here” and implied that Ivey was not being “professional.”
. . .
Compare that to how the Patriots responded when Henderson’s former teammate Stefon Diggs was charged with the violent assault of a woman.
According to police reports, Diggs engaged in felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault and battery following a dispute over pay with his personal chef. The chef claims Diggs slapped her, placed her in a chokehold that made it difficult to breathe, and threw her onto a bed. Diggs has pleaded not guilty, and his legal team has denied the allegations, arguing they are financially motivated and tied to the underlying pay dispute. The case is ongoing.
But that isn’t the only alleged crime that Diggs has been involved in. In recent years, he has faced multiple accusations tied to violent or abusive conduct, including a civil lawsuit alleging sexual battery and physical assault stemming from an incident in 2023, as well as a separate dispute with an ex-girlfriend who accused him of assault, causing a concussion.
At no point in this disturbing pattern of allegations did the NFL or Diggs’ coaches or teammates offer anything close to the condemnation Henderson is now facing – much less cut him from the team. Instead, the Patriots simply said they “support Stefon.”
Fourth news item
Far,far too many see Trump in this light. And many are allegedly people of faith but don’t have a problem with the pesky issue of this blasphemy. Jesus wept, indeed:
Paula White compares Trump to Jesus during event with faith leaders: "You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It's a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. Because of His resurrection, you rose up." pic.twitter.com/Ddc8hflU34
House Oversight Committee determined to make sure Bondi testifies in the Epstein matter:
Members of the House Oversight Committee said Thursday they will still fight to enforce their panel’s subpoena of Pam Bondi after her removal as attorney general.
. . .
Why it matters: Bondi has been a target of congressional investigators in both parties over how she has handled the release of the Justice Department’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
What they’re saying: Bondi “will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee.
“Oversight Democrats have been leading serious investigations into Bondi and Secretary Kristi Noem. If they think we are moving on because they were fired, they are gravely mistaken,” he added.
Sixth news item
An analysis one year after Trump’s proclaimed “liberation day”:
Based on the available facts, “Liberation Day” did not herald the era of economic prosperity that the president promised. Taxes, prices, uncertainty, and bureaucracy climbed, while US manufacturing, FDI, and the trade balance stood still. Exemptions proliferated; lobbying skyrocketed; and most Americans were worse off. There’s still much we don’t know about US tariff policy going forward, but there’s certainly one thing we do: While the “reciprocal tariffs” may be dead, the administration’s protectionism will—barring congressional intervention—unfortunately persist.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has taken steps to block or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military, some of whom are seen as having been targeted because of their race, gender or perceived affiliation with Biden administration policies or officials, according to nine U.S. officials familiar with the process.
The process within the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines is structured to ensure the most qualified officers get promoted. Hegseth’s decision to intervene in the process has raised concerns among some officials within those military branches and the White House, the nine U.S. officials familiar with the situation said.
Additionally:
On Thursday Hegseth fired the Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, whose term was expected to be four years ending in September 2027. George, the Army’s top officer, was senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden administration.
George recently asked to meet with Hegseth to discuss Hegseth’s blocking of promotions for some Army officers, which seemed to focus on women and Black men, but Hegseth refused to meet or discuss his decisions, according to two additional U.S. officials.
You do not fire your Army Chief of Staff in the middle of a war for no reason. You fire him because of what comes next.
Pete Hegseth called General Randy George on April 2 and told him to retire immediately. The Pentagon confirmed it within hours. No reason was given. Not publicly. Not privately. A senior Army official told Fox News that Hegseth offered George nothing: no misconduct, no operational failure, no policy disagreement on the record. Just a phone call and a career ending in the middle of the most significant American combat operation in two decades.
George is the 24th general or admiral Hegseth has removed. But he is not the 24th. He is the one that matters. The Army Chief of Staff. The man whose signature sits between a president’s intent and the order that sends soldiers across a beach or into a tunnel complex. The 82nd Airborne is deploying right now. Marines from the 31st MEU are staged on the USS Tripoli. JSOC operators are at forward bases in Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Kharg Island, 90 percent of Iranian oil exports, sits 16 kilometres off a coast that someone will have to decide whether to approach. And the four-star general whose job it was to advise whether that approach should happen was removed 48 hours after Trump told the nation the war would continue for two to three more weeks.
The replacement is Vice Chief General Christopher LaNeve. He was Hegseth’s senior military aide before this appointment. The man who carried the Secretary’s briefcase now commands the Army the Secretary is reshaping. The chain of command did not break. It shortened. The distance between a television studio and a combat order just collapsed to zero intermediaries who were not personally selected by the man giving the order.
No reason was given. That is the tell. When someone is removed without explanation during a crisis, the explanation is the crisis itself. George either objected to something or was about to. The ground option. The power plant strikes. The Kharg raid. The escalation that turned a highway bridge in Karaj into rubble on the same day he was told to leave. Something in the next two weeks requires a chief who will not push back, and the Pentagon solved that problem by installing one trained as Hegseth’s aide.
A former Fox News weekend host just fired a four-star general with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, replaced him with his own former assistant, and did it during a live war in which the next decision could put American soldiers on Iranian soil for the first time in history. No hearing was held. No misconduct cited. The Army woke up on April 3 with a new chief it did not choose, in a war it did not start, preparing for a phase the previous chief apparently could not be trusted to execute.
The question is not why George was fired. Every general in the building knows why. The question is what order is coming in the next fourteen days that required removing the one man in the chain of command who might have said no.
The war has no perimeter. The chain of command has no objectors. And the next phase has no one left to stop it.
Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900. We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
According to reports, the president was frustrated with Bondi, believing that she had not sufficiently executed his plans.
Trump had grown “more and more frustrated” with Bondi in recent days, a person familiar with White House deliberations said, adding that while he likes her as a person, he doesn’t think she has “executed on his vision” in the way that he wants.
But changing the Justice Department’s leadership doesn’t guarantee the president the outcome he seeks, as courts have so far largely blocked the administration’s efforts to go after his enemies, and Congress successfully sought and won the release of the DOJ’s files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
And of course, Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files has led to Trump’s embarrassment and anger. And that must never happen.:
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said Bondi had “completely whiffed” on her handling of the files, including giving out binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” to a group of conservative social media influencers last year.
The Justice Department and FBI then released a joint unsigned memo in July declaring that they’d conducted an “exhaustive” review of the sprawling case, and that no additional people were expected to be charged and no other information about it would be released publicly.
That led to the House Oversight Committee issuing a subpoena for the files, and after the department failed to turn over all the files, to the bipartisan passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which produced embarrassing allegations about the president and members of his administration.
Bondi’s interim replacement is already familiar to voters (he oversaw the transfer of pedophile and trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to more comfy digs):
Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, also has deep ties to Trump. He was the lead defense attorney when Trump stood trial in 2024 on charges of falsifying business records related to a hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The seven-week trial ended with Trump convicted on all 34 counts, but spared from any penalty. He also represented Trump in two federal cases.
Yeah, he should do a bang up job in his new role. The thing is, with anyone selected by Trump for a position of power and influence, they must be prepared to do whatever it takes to protect and not embarrass the president, even if it means bending the law or ignoring it outrightly.and they must be willing to use the DOJ to retaliate against Trump’s perceived enemies. Of which there are many. Loyalty must be to Trump alone. Clearly, some Republicans consider that a worthy goal, and even a badge of honor.
President Donald Trump is again trying to exert control over American elections, signing an executive order Tuesday that aims to create federal lists of citizens and ask the U.S. Postal Service to transmit mail ballots to only those people.
. . .
The order asks the Department of Homeland Security to create “state citizenship lists” from federal citizenship and naturalization records, Social Security records and other federal databases.
Those lists would then be sent to the states to verify their voter rolls, and the USPS would be asked to transmit ballots only addressed to people on state citizenship lists. It’s unclear how the USPS, a chronically underfunded agency, would absorb the mandate to police election mail as required by the order.
Good grief.
Those who respect and adhere to the Constitution are right to expect this:
Election experts said they expected the order would be deemed unconstitutional by the courts.
“This will be blocked by the federals courts before the ink is dry,” said David Becker, founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, which works to support election administrators.
“The Constitution clearly gives the power to regulate these issues related to mail ballots to the states,” Becker continued. “The president has been excluded by the framers from dictating election policy to the states.”
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