Asked
by Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo if he knew if he would be naming another
nomination, the president said he did not before adding: “It’s possible,
in theory, it’s two or three they tell me…It could be two, it could be
three, it could be one. i don’t know. I’m prepared to do it but, when
you mention Alito, he is a great justice.”
As
reported by Politico, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday
that Republicans would fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court quickly
should one open before the midterms.
“That’s a
contingency I think around here you always have to be prepared for. And
if that were to happen, yes, we would be prepared to confirm,” Thune
said, as per the outlet.
Senate Judiciary
Chairman Chuck Grassley told reporters on Capitol Hill that he would
recommend either Senator Ted Cruz of Texas or Senator Mike Lee of Utah
if Alito stepped down.
The Crooked
Court could get worse. But it would take more than Alito leaving it. If Alito steps down, even the worst choice by
Chump would be a match for Alito. So hopefully, it will only be Alito
that Chump gets to replace if he replaces anyone. Alito's old and
frail. And probably ready to go. Clarence Thomas is not going
anywhere. I think he'll leave when he dies. If he can make three more
years, he'll hold the record as the longest serving Supreme Court
Justice. He needs that to outrank Justice William O. Douglas. But this
year, in fact, in less than 30 days, he will move past Stephen Johnson
Field and John Paul Stevens.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Chump claims war may be winding down,
Americans struggle to manage with inflated prices from the war, NYT does
a deep dive in Homeland Security, Kristi Noem's work is under
examination, Pam Bondi skips her deposition before the House Oversight
Committee, Melania's speech last week appears to have been prompted by a
former friend announcing on social media that she was going to spill,
and much more.
Most
Americans still think their taxes are too high, according to recent
polls, even after last year’s tax law fulfilled several of President
Trump’s tax-related campaign promises.
In fact,
a new Fox News poll indicates people are more upset about taxes than
they were last year. The findings from the survey, which was conducted
in late March, are another sign that Americans are on edge about their
personal finances as the U.S. experiences a spike in inflation and
sluggish economic growth. Other polling finds that frustration goes
beyond personal tax obligations, with many believing that wealthy people
and corporations are not paying their fair share, while others worry
about government waste.
And why wouldn't they be on edge about personal finances? Paul Wiseman (AP) reports,
"U.S. wholesale prices surged last month as the Iran war drove up the
cost of energy. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that its producer
price index -- which measures inflation before it hits consumers --
rose 0.5% from February and 4% from March 2025. The year-over-year gains
was the biggest in more than three years. Energy prices surged 8.5%
from February." Tristan Bove (FORTUNE) notes Chump's
tariffs have hit all fifty states, "As farmers have faced higher costs
for livestock feed, fertilizer, and machinery, those higher costs now
appear on grocery store shelves across the country as food inflation,
according to the study."
“Stagflation”
is the phenomenon that dare not quite speak its name, but will soon
perhaps stalk the Earth. Crucially, that depends on how long the Iran
war lasts, and the skill of central banks and national treasuries, but
it could easily become an extremely uncomfortable reality in the coming
months.
Given that the United States is the
IMF’s major “shareholder”, and its irascible president is known to take
critical remarks personally, the IMF avoided mentioning Donald Trump by
name. But we all know who is to blame for this catastrophe – the
president, with his illegal, unplanned and unnecessary war.
The
IMF’s list of industrial casualties from this war is a long one. The
Gulf economies, which had in recent decades become a new hub for global
growth (and tax avoidance), are the hardest hit, for obvious reasons.
But, in the broader sense of their vast reserves of money and natural
resources, they can afford it. As with the spike in commodities prices
that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it is the
poorer people in Africa and Asia who will find the struggle to survive
even harder.
The emerging economies of East Asia, which rely
so heavily on the Middle East for their oil and gas supply, and for many
raw materials, will also suffer a slowdown, having already borne the
brunt of Mr Trump’s tariff war. China, in particular, will see growth
drop to its lowest in three decades – around 4.5 per cent. While
enviable by European standards, that is insufficient to sustain jobs
growth for the rising generation.
The advanced
economies will also suffer from the disruption to trade and investment,
and the cost-of-living crisis will intensify once more – including in
the United States. President Trump’s “hottest nation in the world” will
cool, even if its fossil-fuel providers enjoy a windfall.
And yet Chump's war of choice on Iran continues. Ben notes the latest this morning on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.
In a Wednesday morning interview with Fox Business, Trump said the war with Iran was "very close" to ending.
"I view it as very close to being over," Trump told anchor Maria Bartiromo.
Trump has repeatedly suggested the war is nearing an end without offering a clear timeline.
The
latest developments came as the International Monetary Fund warned
Tuesday that the global economy could be heading toward a recession
triggered by the war.
The velocity at which President Trump’s war on Iran has spiraled out of control is unsurprising.
History
neither repeats nor rhymes, but patterns flash like neon signs in the
recent U.S. experience in the Greater Middle East. The combination of
underestimating the enemy, overestimating one’s own power, and
altogether ignoring the need for a clear definition of victory leads to
escalation with no end in sight.
The president
raced to the top of the escalatory ladder, threatening to destroy
Iranian civilization on April 7. Mercifully, he backed down and offered a
ceasefire, leading to a single day of peace talks in Pakistan. Already,
however, Trump is ordering the U.S. Navy to blockade of the Strait of
Hormuz and is reportedly weighing the resumption of limited air strikes.
The
United States was supposed to have learned these painful lessons after
the long nightmare in Vietnam. Despite serious doubts in his own mind
and among his chief advisers that victory was attainable, President
Lyndon B. Johnson sank his legacy in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
The
Homeland Security deputy secretary who was on the outs late last year
is back in the department following Kristi Noem’s firing.
Troy Edgar is serving in the same role under Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Politico reported on Monday.
Edgar
was sworn in last March, but his working relationship with Noem
deteriorated late last year, one Trump administration official and a
former DHS official told the outlet. The ex-DHS official said Edgar had
essentially been “ousted.”
In January, Donald Trump nominated him as ambassador to El Salvador, but that nomination has now been withdrawn.
“The
Admin is withdrawing Troy’s nomination and the withdrawal is expected
to be transmitted to the Senate today,” a second administration official
told Politico. “Troy never resigned from his DHS position so he was
able to return.”
Acting DHS Secretary Lauren
Bis told the Daily Beast in a statement: “DHS is fortunate to have
Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar continue in his role. He brings valuable
knowledge of the Department from the President’s first term when he
served as DHS’ Chief Financial Officer. He will play an integral role in
helping to make America safe again.”
The
main engine of Trump’s enforcement campaign is the Department of
Homeland Security. To understand how the agency has transformed, we
interviewed more than 80 former and current D.H.S. employees, as well as
officials in the Justice Department, which oversees immigration courts.
Many of them supported increased enforcement but criticized the
administration’s execution, aspects of which they characterized as
chaotic, dangerous and ineffective.
Career
employees described experiencing a frustrating sense of whiplash as
immigration policy has swung back and forth between Republican and
Democratic administrations. The root of the problem, as they see it, is
the failure of Congress over many decades to pass new laws that address
today’s realities. In February, the Department of Homeland Security shut
down after Congress failed to reach a deal on Democrats’ proposed
changes to enforcement tactics.
D.H.S. policies
bar employees from speaking to the news media without authorization.
Some of our sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they
feared retribution from the administration. We corroborated their
descriptions of specific incidents with colleagues, contemporaneous
notes and court documents. Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne
Mullin, former Secretary Kristi Noem and other agency leaders declined
our requests for interviews. We also sent the department detailed
questions.
It
amounts to a sweeping indictment of the agency under Noem, 54, who was
fired by Donald Trump on March 5 after a controversial 14-month run. As
the Daily Beast has reported, Trump’s aides had wanted her gone for
months before he finally acted, with the final straw reportedly being
her insistence, under oath, that he had personally signed off on her
$220 million vanity ad campaign.
The hits in the
Times feature come thick and fast. A former ICE field director
describes how Trump’s deputy chief of staff and immigration czar,
Stephen Miller, told a room full of agency chiefs that targeting lists
were irrelevant. “There is no list,” Miller said, according to the
Times. “Everyone is fair game.”
One former
senior ICE officer says that when agents fatally shot unarmed
Minneapolis mother Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7, 2026, Noem cleared the
shooting as justified within an hour, before any investigation had taken
place. The officer says the exoneration’s speed sent a message to
agents in the field that they could “push the limits.”
The
testimony about Noem’s arrival at the agency is withering. A former
associate counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recalls
her first DHS town hall, at which she entered to the theme song “Hot
Mama,” spoke for a few minutes, took no questions, and left. “It felt
like a South Park moment,” he told the Times.
An immigrant child detained by ICE with her family in Texas nearly died before receiving medical care.
The New Yorkerpublished
a long article Monday about the medical neglect of children under
Trump’s draconian immigration crackdown, and the story highlights
Amalia, who was detained by ICE with her parents and sent to Texas’s
Dilley Immigration Processing Center in December when she was only 18
months old.
At the time, Amalia was a healthy toddler with no known issues.
The water at Dilley smelled strange, so her parents, Kheilin Valero
Marcano and Stiven Arrieta Prieto, bought bottled water at the center’s
commissary for her, despite having no income in detention. (The article
noted that nonprofit organizations who work on immigrants’ rights, such
as Human Rights First and RAICIES, have found that families detained at
Dilley say the water there is “unclean, foul-smelling, and causes
stomachaches.”)
Marcano also said that one child
found a bug in her food in the facility’s cafeteria, leading other kids
not to want to eat. Not long after that, children in the facility began
to fall sick, including Amalia. In January, Amalia developed a high
fever, and at the facility’s clinic, Amalia was given ibuprofen and her
parents were told the fever was “good, because it means she’s fighting
off a virus.”
But after two weeks, the fever persisted, and Amalia started
vomiting and having diarrhea. Going back to Dilley’s medical clinic
didn’t help, as Marcano told The New Yorker
she waited in line on eight different occasions without her concerns
being addressed. Marcano at one point gave Amalia a cold bath to try to
lower her temperature, only for her daughter to pass out. She went to
the clinic and shouted, “Are you going to watch my baby die in my arms?”
Yesterday was April 14th, the day Pam Bondi was supposed to be deposed by the House Oversight Committee. She did not show. SCRIPPS NEWS SERVICE notes:
Pam
Bondi could face contempt proceedings if she does not testify before
the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the
federal handling of records related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey
Epstein.
Bondi did not appear for a scheduled
deposition Tuesday, prompting accusations from lawmakers that she is
evading a lawful congressional subpoena.
The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued a statement yesterday:
Washington,
D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee
on Oversight and Reform, released the following statement after former
Attorney General Pam Bondi missed the scheduled date of her deposition
before the Oversight Committee. Pam Bondi is attempting to evade a
lawful bipartisan subpoena the Committee issued last month. The subpoena
was issued following a bipartisan vote supporting a motion by Rep.
Nancy Mace to subpoena, “the Honorable Pamela Jo Bondi,” and not just
the Attorney General.
“Pam Bondi is evading a
lawful congressional subpoena by failing to appear before the Oversight
Committee for a deposition about the Epstein files and the White House
cover-up. This subpoena applies to her regardless of her title. She must
appear before the Committee, and if she continues to ignore the law,
Oversight Democrats will move forward with contempt proceedings
immediately. We will fight until there is true accountability and
justice,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
###
Bondi's not the only person garnering attention for The Epstein Scandal.
Even
in the UK, they're talking about -- and making fun of -- Melania Chump
and her claims to have not been close to Epstein and Maxwell.
President Trump said Friday that he had
known his wife wanted to speak about Jeffrey Epstein at some point, and
that he “thought she had a right to talk about it,” even if he had not
known what exactly she planned to say.
“It doesn’t bother me,” Mr. Trump said in a brief telephone interview, referring to the remarks Melania Trump made from the entrance hall of the White House a day earlier.
“I didn’t know what the statement was,” he said, “but I knew she was going to make a statement.”
And
she did. And it did not work out how she planned if her plan was to
draw a clear line between herself and Epstein and Maxwell. Jude Cramer (FAST COMPANY) notes:
If the first lady’s associations with Epstein had recently reentered
the headlines, her speech might have been understandable. But instead,
her statement left many scratching their heads and pointing at her and
her husband’s proven connections to Epstein, particularly the two men’s
friendship in the 1990s.
It also brought renewed attention to the infamous birthday message and lewd drawing
allegedly left for Epstein by Donald Trump in 2003, which read, “A pal
is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be another
wonderful secret.” The president has denied writing the message and sued
The Wall Street Journal’s parent company for defamation after the outlet reported on the letter.
A former model who’s flown on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet and has
close ties to President Donald Trump’s orbit warned late Saturday that
“the truth will come out” after reportedly threatening to “tear down the entire system” by revealing insider knowledge.
That woman is Amanda Ungaro, a former Brazilian model, former ambassador to the United Nations and ex-wife of Paolo Zampolli, Trump’s special envoy and longtime friend. The New York Times reported last month that Zampolli successfully pushed Trump in 2025 to deport Ungaro, then his ex-wife.
Now, Ungaro is vowing revenge.
“Now it’s war,” Ungano told the Spanish news outlet El País in its report published Saturday night.
“We’ll
see who wins. I kept quiet for years, and that’s why people are judging
me. ‘Why are you speaking out now?’ they ask. ‘Because the guy wouldn’t
let me live in peace!’”
Last week, an account on social media apparently belonging to Ungaro issued a series of threats directed at First Lady Melania Trump, vowing to “expose everything I know.” The threats were later suspected to be the potential motivation for the first lady’s surprise statement last week in which she denied having had a relationship with Epstein.
Amanda Ungaro? When Melania made her statement last week, many said she
was acting like someone trying to get out ahead of some news that would
be breaking. It appears to have broken. QUEERTY notes:
It all starts with a story in the New York Times about
a longtime Tr*mp friend who asked ICE to detain the mother of his child
so he could win a custody battle that flew under the radar recently.
Paolo
Zampolli, a former modeling agent and current presidential envoy,
reached out to a top ICE official when he learned his ex, Amanda Ungaro,
had been arrested on fraud charges in Florida.
Ungaro
first arrived in New York as a 17-year-old model on Jeffrey Epstein’s
plane in 2002. Later that year, she met Zampolli at a Manhattan night
club. They entered into a relationship, had a kid together, but never
married, and eventually broke up in 2023.
According
to documents, Zampolli told the ICE agent that Ungaro was in the
country illegally, and asked if she could taken into custody, hoping her
detainment would help him win custody of the couple’s teenage son.
“The
[ICE] official, David Venturella, promptly called the agency’s Miami
office to ensure that ICE agents would pick up [Ungaro] from the jail
before she was released on bail,” reports the Times.
OK, but what does this have to do with Melania?
Well,
Zampolli is credited with bringing the future FLOTUS to the United
States when she was a model in Slovenia, as well as with introducing her
to Tr*mp at the Kit-Kat Club in 1998, a story that she referenced
Thursday.
[. . .]
Then
this week, Ungaro–or at least someone claiming to be her–started
posting veiled threats towards Melania and fired AG Pam Bondi.
Though Ungaro doesn’t directly reference Epstein, the implication is apparent, especially after Melania’s remarks yesterday.
On top of that, Ungaro apparently taped an interview with a TV station in Spain that’s slated to air this weekend.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Washington, D.C. — As President Trump’s war in Iran
drives up food costs for American families and small businesses, U.S.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Minority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.)
led a group of four senators in pressing the Department of Justice (DOJ)
and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to crack down on food and
agriculture companies engaging in grocery price fixing. The senators
pressed the administration to lower costs for Americans by taking action
to stop anticompetitive practices in the food supply chain and
predatory pricing behavior, including breaking up illegal monopolies.
Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) signed onto the letter, which
comes as oil, fertilizer, and other costs continue to surge as President
Trump’s war in Iran continues into its seventh week — making the need
for action even more urgent.
In December 2025, President Trump issued an executive order
purportedly aimed at investigating “price fixing and anti-competitive
behavior in the food supply chain.”
“[T]he Administration has yet to take any meaningful action to tackle
consolidation and bring down food and farm input prices, which continue
to squeeze farmers, small businesses, and consumers…Now, more than
ever, it is time for the Administration to get serious about addressing
these problems,” wrote the senators.
Despite President Trump’s promises to bring down prices “on Day One,”
Americans saw their grocery bills rise faster than overall inflation
last year, leading them to pay an average of $310 more for groceries compared to 2024.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to Donald Trump’s illegal war
in Iran has effectively halted the shipment of one third of global
fertilizer supplies, leading to higher fertilizer prices for farmers
that are expected to be passed on to consumers in the form of higher
grocery prices.
Instead of working to lower costs, the Trump administration has
undermined antitrust enforcement in the food and agricultural
industries, including by forcing out the DOJ’s top antitrust official
and closing the FTC’s investigation into surveillance pricing even after
an initial report found that retailers frequently use people’s personal data to tailor prices for goods and services.
“Excessive consolidation and anticompetitive practices by dominant
firms are also major drivers of these price increases,” wrote the
senators.
Consolidation in the fertilizer and seed markets, which are similarly
dominated by just a handful of companies, are also driving up prices
for farmers and American families. Giant food retailers and suppliers
continue to engage in exclusionary contracting practices (such as
slotting fees, category captain arrangements, and volume-based rebates)
and discrimination.
The senators called for the DOJ and FTC to take the following
specific actions to take on retailers’ and suppliers’ anticompetitive
practices:
Crack down on violations of antitrust laws by giant corporations in
the meatpacking, seed, fertilizer, and farm equipment sectors, including
by breaking up these dominant companies;
Scrutinize and, where appropriate, block anticompetitive mergers and acquisitions in the food and agricultural sectors; and
Issue enforcement guidance on potential violations of the
Robinson-Patman Act and investigate and take enforcement action where
merited.
The senators also called on the FTC to:
Pursue rulemaking and enforcement action to tackle exclusionary contracting practices by corporations; and
Reopen its investigation into surveillance pricing and new rules and
enforcement actions to address exploitative surveillance and dynamic
pricing practices.
The lawmakers pressed for answers by April 27, 2026.
The
story of a 300-million-year-old fossil has been rewritten after
scientists discovered that it doesn’t actually belong to the world’s
oldest octopus as previously thought.
In fact,
it belongs to an animal related to a modern nautilus, which has
tentacles and an external shell, according to a study published
Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
“We
basically used a wide selection of new analytical techniques to
discover hidden anatomical characteristics within the rock,” lead study
author Thomas Clements, a lecturer in invertebrate zoology at the
University of Reading, England, told CNN on Thursday.
“And
we were able to determine that it is not an octopus, but is actually a
very decomposed nautiloid, which is a relative of modern nautiluses.”
The fossil, named Pohlsepia mazonensis, was found at the Mazon Creek site just south of Chicago, Illinois.
Paleontologists
had long been puzzled by the fossil as it is far older than the next
oldest known octopus, which dates back about 90 million years.
Clements
explained that the animal had been decomposing for weeks before it was
buried, giving its fossil an octopus-like appearance that led many
scientists to conclude that octopuses had lived far earlier than
previously thought.
Despite the fact that over 20 species are going extinct every day,
many animals have been able to adapt to be able to survive for millions
of years, like the dinosaur relatives still alive today. Humans have
managed to bring some animals back from the brink of extinction, like
the once considered extinct ferret that entered history books after
giving birth to kits after scientists were able to clone the
black-footed ferret.
These
are just a few examples of animals that have overcome all odds. But
perhaps even more impressive is the return of a prehistoric bird to New
Zealand that was declared extinct in 1898: the takahē. Takahē
populations are returning to the wild in New Zealand as the result of
conservation efforts to return these birds to their native land, which
is considered a big win for both experts and the Indigenous people of
New Zealand.
Aotearoa is the traditional Māori
name for New Zealand. It means "land of the long white cloud". While New
Zealand is still an accepted name for the country, many government
organizations in New Zealand are beginning to use "Aotearoa (New
Zealand)" or just "Aotearoa" on official documentation out of respect
for and to honor the Māori people. The rest of this article will refer
to the country as Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Takahē,
also known as South Island takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri), were
declared extinct in 1898. However, they were rediscovered in 1948, which
was a shocking discovery at the time, especially for the Māori, the
Indigenous people of Aotearoa (New Zealand). For many Māori at the time,
they had only heard stories of the takahē but had never actually seen
one.
Science
is about learning -- never ending learning. Things can go extinct or
appear to but come back. And things can be thought to be an octopus
only for new details to emerge. SAUDI MOMENTS notes a new, emerging possibility regarding the Americas:
The
newly found footprints in New Mexico were dated 23,000 years old, and
this shocking finding made world scientists go round in complete shock.
Such results indicate that humans lived in America way earlier than any
existing theory on migrations was previously proposed.
Scientists
are of the opinion that thousands of years ago, ancient people crossed
the coasts of the Americas using a boat. Watercraft technology provided
the means of moving the first Americans much faster than the walking
path would have.
Several American
cave sites identify evidence of human habitation dating back maybe
30,000 years. These discoveries render a nonexistent chronology of
walking theories that compel scientists to entirely reconsider the
history of American settlement.
There
is a developing scientific momentum worldwide of a Pacific coastal
migration route. When the ancient seafarers sailed along the coasts that
were dotted with kelps, they were able to easily find food, and as they
continued their journey, they were gradually heading toward the warmer
regions of America.
The
genetic works of Native Americans show that the migration pattern is
much more complicated than the single-direction theories proposed. DNA
points in several different ways of the waves coming from an entirely
different geographical pathway.
The
history of the beginning of America is facing a scientific overhaul.
This continent was created humanely by boats, coastline and ancient
ocean navigators much more than any frozen land bridge could ever
create.
What
if Earth had already hosted a highly advanced civilization—millions of
years before humans ever showed up? And more importantly…would we have
any clue they were here? The Silurian Hypothesis dives into this
unsettling possibility, asking what traces a long-lost society might
leave—and whether we’ve already missed them.
The
Silurian hypothesis is an idea that explores whether modern science
could find proof of an advanced civilization that was present millions
of years ago. The best evidence for such a civilization might come from
things like carbon traces, radioactive materials, or temperature
changes.
Astrophysicists
Adam Frank and Gavin Schmidt introduced the Silurian Hypothesis in a
2018 paper that discussed whether evidence of an advanced civilization
before humans could be found in Earth's geological record. Here’s what
they discovered.
They
suggested that enough fossil carbon has existed since the Carboniferous
Period (about 350 million years ago) to support an industrial
civilization. However, finding direct proof, like ancient technology, is
unlikely because fossilization is rare. The primary issue is that
geological processes (erosion, plate tectonics) erase evidence over
time.
Instead
of direct proof, scientists might find clues like unusual sediment
layers or traces of nuclear waste. The hypothesis also suggests that if
an ancient civilization existed, its artifacts might still be on the
Moon or Mars, where erosion and geological activity are much slower.
According
to Frank and Schmidt, they highly doubt any industrial civilization
existed before humans. Still, they believe exploring the idea helps
raise important questions about astrobiology and the impact of human
civilization on Earth's history.
Monday, April 13, 2026. Chump attacks Pope Leo, the peace talks fall
apart over the weekend, Chump makes boasts he can't back up, the
administration's well known pattern of lying continues, Senator Tammy
Baldwin calls on Chump to address the latest avian flue outbreak, and
much more.
Further developments today in Chump's war on Pope Leo. So that we're all on the same page, let's drop back to Friday's snapshot:
The
Vatican has cancelled a papal visit to the U.S. for the 250th
anniversary celebration after Pentagon officials appeared to threaten
the leader of the Catholic Church for speaking out against Trump's
foreign policy.
Pope Leo XIV—the first American
Pope in history—strongly condemned U.S. actions in Iran though not by
name in his Easter message, stating that God "does not listen" to world
leaders who wage war.
Leo had already criticized
Trump's actions on Venezuela and his threats against Greenland and
Canada in a speech on January 9th stating, "a diplomacy that promotes
dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a
diplomacy based on force."
In response,
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal
Christophe Pierre—the Vatican ambassador to the U.S.—to a meeting. In
diplomatic parlance, an ambassador being summoned to meet with
government officials for a lecture is the first stage in disciplinary
action that can lead to a break off of diplomatic ties.
It
is being reported by The Free Press that in the meeting Colby told
Pierre, "The United States has the military power to do whatever it
wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side."
Someone
in the meeting then reportedly mentioned the Avignon Papacy to Pierre.
This refers to a 14th century attack on the Vatican by the French king,
in which Pope Boniface VIII was murdered by assassins and the Vatican
was forced to relocate to Avignon where it could be controlled by the
French crown for the next 67 years.
The
controversy surrounding the meeting is likely to further inflame
religious pushback to an unusual wave of spiritual saber-rattling by
President Donald Trump’s administration — particularly surrounding the
U.S. government’s military actions in Iran, which the president himself
has suggested are the will of God. Combined with his other incendiary
remarks about the war, the increase in faith-filled militaristic
rhetoric is pitting Trump and his administration against a growing list
of faith leaders, ranging from local clergy to the pope.
Faith
leaders have reacted with frustration to the administration’s penchant
for invoking the divine when discussing the Iran war, which was on full
display earlier Wednesday when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth led a
press briefing at the Pentagon on the five-week-long war with Iran.
After insisting Tuesday evening’s fragile ceasefire deal between the
U.S. and Iran was evidence of a broader military victory, the secretary
intimated the pause in fighting was the result of divine intervention.
After
MS NOW host Willie Geist reported on the exchange, contributor Mike
Barnicle, a lifelong Catholic, made a compelling case that the president
and his underlings created a massive and enduring problem for themselves.
“What do you make of what you're hearing here?” Geist prompted his guest.
“I
make that they are once again clowning the atmosphere up, the Trump
administration, the idea that they would try to intimidate Pope Leo, the
first American-born pope, is just absurd,"the incensed Barnicle
replied.“The idea that they would have anything to say critical of the
Catholic church or the pope itself, the pope himself is absurd,
especially given the Easter morning tweet from the president of the
United States, which was so deeply offensive to any breathing, thinking
human being that it's outrageous for the Trump administration to pose
any problems they allege they have with the Vatican.”
“I
went to parochial school for eight consecutive years, and I got thrown
out nearly every year by the nuns. You know, every grade — you deserve
early stuff like that,” he recalled. But the one thing that you get to,
to hold on to when you're raised Catholic, born Catholic, raised
Catholic, especially by my mother, we used to call her 'my mother, the
nun.' The one thing you retain, I would think, is that the theory of the
Catholic church is rooted in a simple phrase: the least among us.”
“So
if you look at the Trump administration's behavior toward the least
among us, it is almost criminal,” he accused. “It is certainly a sin
because they don't care for the least among us, and that we should all
care for the least among us. Because when we care for them, we care for
ourselves.”
In the wake of the meeting, the Pope reportedly refused Trump's invitation to attend the nation's 250th anniversary events.
Instead
of spending July 4th in the U.S., the Pope will instead visit
Lampedusa, a small Mediterranean island that has become an entry point
for African migrants attempting to reach Europe.
A Vatican official speaking to The Free Press said the Pope has no plans to visit the U.S. while Trump is in office.
“The Pope may well never visit the United States under this administration," the official reportedly said.
Pope Leo has called out the war on Iran and he has called out the US war on immigrants.
60 MINUTES, last night, did a segment on the Catholic Church and the war on Iran and on immigrants.
When President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran this past
week, it came after a chorus of world leaders called for an end to the
war. One of those voices belonged to Leo XIV, the first-ever U.S.-born
pope in the history of the Catholic Church. The 70-year-old pope was
born Robert Prevost and grew up in Chicago. For many years he was known
simply as Father Bob. Leo is measured, deliberate and soft-spoken. But
the American pope has become increasingly outspoken against certain
policies of the American president. So we asked three influential
American cardinals who know him well, why Pope Leo's church has emerged
as a voice of moral opposition to the war in Iran and the crackdown on
immigration.
"Peace be with you:" those were the first words that Pope Leo uttered as the new leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.
His
selection was a surprise, celebrated by many of the 53 million that
make Catholicism the largest Christian denomination in the United
States.
Norah O'Donnell: What do you think having an American pope has done for the Catholic Church here in the U.S.?
Cardinal Joseph Tobin: I think it's put Chicago on the map.
Cardinal Blase Cupich: Finally. We're proud - we're proud that we produced a pope. Chicago can say that.
The
archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, as well as Cardinals
Robert McElroy of Washington D.C., and Joseph Tobin of Newark, New
Jersey, agreed to their first ever joint interview. Their candor
surprised us, about the new pope and what they're hearing in the pews.
Cardinal Joseph Tobin: We're the three American cardinals that are
actively serving dioceses right now. So we listen to a lot of people.
It's part of the job description. And I think we're aware of the
anxieties of people about the threats to peace at all different levels.
Norah O'Donnell: Would you like to see this first American pope be more outspoken on issues that he disagrees with?
Cardinal
Joseph Tobin: He's the pastor of the world. He's not a pundit. So the
distinction is he's not going to pronounce on everything. But he's going
to pronounce on what's important.
He started in January with a speech criticizing U.S. military action in Venezuela.
After
that, the Vatican's ambassador in the U.S. was called to the Pentagon
for a meeting, which two church officials described to 60 Minutes as
unpleasant and contentious. Both the Pentagon and the Vatican have said
since in multiple statements that it was routine and provided an
opportunity for an exchange of ideas.
In March, we traveled to Italy and managed to ask Pope Leo a question about the war in Iran.
Norah O'Donnell: Holy Father, can I ask you what your hopes are for the Middle East?
Pope
Leo XIV: I am praying for peace, I hope that ceasefire would be the
most effective way to work together to find peace for all parties, to
respect all parties and to come to a solution, which is too many years,
and you know, creating problems for everyone, so … Work for peace.
Since
our visit, the pope's tone has sharpened; this past week he issued a
rare condemnation of President Trump's threat to destroy Iranian
civilization. The pope called it, quote "truly unacceptable."
He also took the unusual step of issuing a call to action.
Pope Leo XIV: "Contact the authorities — political leaders,
congressmen — to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war
always."
On Sunday evening, Mr. Trump attacked Leo after several influential American cardinals appeared on “60 Minutes”
to discuss why they had followed the pope in speaking out against the
global and domestic conflicts created by the Trump administration.
“It’s
an abominable regime, and it should be removed,” Cardinal Robert
McElroy said during the “60 Minutes” appearance, referring to the
leadership in Iran. “But this is a war of choice that we went to, and I
think it’s embedded in a wider moment in the United States that’s
worrying, which is this: We’re seeing before us the possibility of war
after war after war.”
Several prominent Catholics have come to the pope’s defense after the president’s attack.
Archbishop
Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,
said in a statement: “I am disheartened that the President chose to
write such disparaging words about the Holy Father. Pope Leo is not his
rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who
speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”
James Joseph Martin Jr., an American Jesuit priest and writer, wrote
on social media: “I doubt Pope Leo XIV will lose any sleep over this,
before he begins his pilgrimage to Africa tomorrow. But the rest of us
should. Because it is unhinged, uncharitable and unchristian. Is there
no bottom to this moral squalor?”
Katie Rogers also notes
that in his post, Chump claimed credit for Pope Leo becoming Pope,
alleging that it was done -- the choice made -- to appease Chump. His
ego is out of control. He trashed the Pope as "weak on crime" and other
nonsense.
Chump's post was the posting of a tiny boy who can't grow up.
Pope Leo XIV said on Monday that he was not afraid of the Trump administration, hours after President Trump lashed out at the pontiff on social media.
Leo,
speaking to reporters on a flight to Algeria ahead of a 10-day tour of
several African nations, said: “I have no fear of the Trump
administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel,
which is what I believe I am here to do.” Asked directly about Mr.
Trump’s comments on Truth Social, Leo said: “It’s ironic — the name of
the site itself. Say no more.”
Vice President JD
Vance said on Sunday that 21 hours of peace talks in Pakistan, between
the United States and Iran had failed to produce an agreement to end the
war, leaving the question of what happens after the current two-week
cease-fire up in the air.
“They
have chosen not to accept our terms,” Mr. Vance said in a brief news
conference in Islamabad, though he left open the possibility that terms
could still be reached. “We leave here with a very simple proposal: a
method of understanding that is our final and best offer,” he added.
“We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”
President Donald Trump
was booed while entering a UFC event on Saturday night with his family
walking behind him, just as news broke that negotiations between the
United States and Iran had failed.
Vice President JD Vance
announced the negotiations had stalled without reaching any agreement
over the ongoing war during a speech in Islamabad, Pakistan, while Trump
was walking next to Dana White at UFC 327 in Miami.
Unable
to quickly remove Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz—the world’s
most important oil transit corridor—with its current equipment, the US
is switching tack: President Trump announced Sunday in two Truth Social
posts that the Navy will launch its own blockade of “any and all Ships
trying to enter, or leave” the passage, and intercept those that have
paid Iran’s tolls to cross.
The announcement will almost certainly mean a further spike in oil
prices when markets open on Monday, and it’s a move that does little to
help Trump’s sagging domestic approval, leaving much of Iran’s hold on
the global oil supply intactGasoline costs will keep rising.
Military commitments and expenses, will keep growing. The MAGA coalition
will continue to crack.
Meanwhile, Trump’s two main promises on Hormuz this weekend, to clear
Iranian sea mines from the strait—efforts he said were “starting” in
another Truth Social post Saturday—and to detain “every vessel in
International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran,” are dubious.
That’s first and foremost because the US doesn’t have the resources
to get rid of the sea mines. State-of-the-art demining vessels, if left
alone by Iran, could clear the strait in a matter of weeks or months.
But the Navy has no “significant mine clearing capability,” the Wall Street Journal reported in March, and its unmanned anti-mine vessels are unreliable even in clear waters that pose far less of a challenge than Hormuz.
Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chest-thumping claims about Iran’s losses
don’t appear to line up with intelligence assessments.
Iran
still has thousands of ballistic missiles that could be pulled out of
hiding or dug up from underground storage sites, officials familiar with
U.S. intelligence assessments revealed to The Wall Street Journal.
The report undercuts the self-proclaimed secretary of war’s claims that Iran’s missile program has been obliterated.
Hegseth
is only one liar in the administration. Kristi Noem headed a whole
department of liars when she was the Secretary of Homeland Security.
And there's Doctor Oz. Ali Swenson (AP) reports:
President Donald Trump's administration this week acknowledged it made a significant error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe
into New York’s Medicaid program, a glaring mistake that undercuts a
federal campaign to tackle waste, mostly in Democratic-led states.
The error, which the administration admitted first to The Associated
Press, prompted health analysts to question how many of the Republican
administration’s sweeping anti-fraud efforts around the country were
based on faulty findings. One of a few mischaracterizations it made
about New York's Medicaid program, it also reflected a common criticism
that’s been made of Trump’s second administration — that it tends to
attack first and confirm the facts later.
“These
numbers could have been cleared up in a phone call, so it’s really
slapdash,” said Fiscal Policy Institute senior health policy adviser
Michael Kinnucan, whose recent analysis called attention to the Trump administration’s inaccurate claim.
The mistake appeared in comments made last month by Dr. Mehmet Oz,
the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
in a social media video and in a letter to New York’s Democratic
governor announcing the fraud investigation.
A
February 2025 memo from Bondi directed DOJ attorneys to "vigorously"
defend Trump's policies and referred to them as "his" counsel, according
to a former Justice Department attorney who spoke anonymously to
Bloomberg. The result, sources say, is a culture where lawyers are wary
of pressing federal agencies about the accuracy of information they
receive, because challenging it feels like challenging the boss.
In
March, DOJ lawyers admitted to using incorrect information to defend
migrant arrests in Manhattan, made inaccurate statements in a Rhode
Island hearing about voter records, and missed a key deadline in
Washington state due to unfamiliarity with local procedures.
Again, the entire administration lies. But it's the lies about the Iran war that really register as Americans suffer daily. Robert Reich notes:
Trump
gas — like Trump shoes, Trump cologne, the Trump Bible, Trump shoes,
Trump NFTs, Trump crypto, Trump resorts, Trump University, and
everything else he’s tried to sell as a good deal — is turning out to be
a ripoff.
The
average cost of gas tracked by the AAA was $4.17 a gallon yesterday.
The station at the end of my street is selling it for over $5 now. If
you drive a Mini-Cooper, as I do, which demands premium grade, you’re
shelling out over well over $6.
To put this in perspective, the average price for a gallon of gas in the
U.S. the day before Trump launched his war was $2.98. Between then and
today, the U.S. has experienced the largest increase in gas prices in 60
years.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Tammy Baldwin's office:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
urged the Trump Administration to make good on its promise to address
avian flu outbreaks and deliver much-needed support to Wisconsin farmers
and their workers. Baldwin warns that without urgent action, egg prices
could again spike to 2025 levels, when they hit $6 per dozen. Baldwin’s
call follows three recent avian flu outbreaks in commercial egg-laying
facilities in Wisconsin, which have impacted more than 4.3 million birds
and resulted in over 80 layoffs at local Wisconsin farms.
“I
write again regarding the ongoing highly pathogenic avian
influenza (HPAI) outbreak that continues to devastate our nation’s
poultry flocks and dairy herds,” wrote Senator Baldwin in a letter to
United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. “The
disease has repeatedly disrupted domestic and global agricultural
markets and strained household budgets since 2022.”
“These recent outbreaks could potentially repeat the alarming egg
prices seen in 2025, which peaked at $6 per dozen. Repeated supply
shocks to markets have increased grocery costs across the country,
hurting American consumers when affordability concerns are at an
all-time high,” Baldwin continued.
Since March 2022, Wisconsin has lost 11.6 million birds across 50
commercial and backyard flocks. Between late February and March of this
year, Wisconsin has experienced three major outbreaks in commercial
poultry flocks, affecting more than 4.3 million egg-laying hens. As a
result, two Wisconsin farms have been forced to temporarily lay off more
than 80 employees.
In her letter, Senator Baldwin urged the Trump Administration to move
forward with finalizing and implementing a national avian influenza
vaccination strategy, as included in United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Five-Pronged Approach from February 2025.
In December 2025, Senator Baldwin pushed the Trump Administration
to ramp up its avian flu response as the first dairy herd in Wisconsin
tested positive for avian flu. Last year, Senator Baldwin also led her
colleagues in demanding
the Trump Administration release funding for labs that are dedicated to
early detection, response, and control of animal diseases and outbreaks
like avian flu. Additionally, she called on
President Trump to quickly develop a plan to contain the avian flu
outbreak that is devastating the nation’s poultry flocks and dairy herds
and driving egg costs to reach record highs.
A full version of this letter is available here and below.
Dear Secretary Rollins,
I write again regarding the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza
(HPAI) outbreak that continues to devastate our nation’s poultry flocks
and dairy herds. The disease has repeatedly disrupted domestic and
global agricultural markets and strained household budgets since 2022.
Emergency disease response has been expensive for American farmers and
taxpayers, and down the chain, American consumers have been burdened by
high costs at the grocery store. The Administration must follow through
with its promises in “USDA’s Five-Pronged Approach to Address Avian
Flu,” including by finalizing an avian influenza vaccine policy that
maintains markets for American farmers. These actions must include
strong agency coordination with agricultural, animal health,
environmental and public health industries.
Continued outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have
resulted in the loss of over 200 million birds nationwide since February
2022, including 11.6 million birds on Wisconsin farms. In the last two
months, Wisconsin has experienced three major outbreaks in commercial
poultry flocks, affecting more than 4.3 million egg-laying hens. This
past December, Wisconsin reported its first confirmed case of the
disease in dairy cattle through the National Milk Testing Strategy.
Exposures typically tied to poultry and dairy operations have resulted
in 71 human cases of avian influenza across the U.S., including one
confirmed case in Wisconsin and two deaths nationwide.
Despite USDA-backed biosecurity measures, migrating wild birds
continue to infect domestic poultry flocks and dairy cattle across the
U.S., making clear that existing containment strategies are
insufficient. Spring migration patterns are expected to increase cases
through May, often impacting poultry flocks with egg-laying hens. These
recent outbreaks could potentially repeat the alarming egg prices seen
in 2025, which peaked at $6 per dozen. Repeated supply shocks to markets
have increased grocery costs across the country, hurting American
consumers when affordability concerns are at an all-time high.
Farmworkers also take financial hits from these outbreaks. Just this
past month, 87 employees have been laid off at two Wisconsin farms
following the depopulation of their flocks due to avian influenza. It is
estimated that these individuals will be without work for five to seven
months while the farms repopulate their flocks. Unfortunately, this is
not the first time Wisconsin farmers have had to temporarily close their
doors and lay off workers, and if the USDA continues to slow walk its
approach in addressing avian influenza, this will certainly not be the
last.
The Administration has yet to make meaningful progress towards the
avian influenza vaccine response called for in USDA’s Five-Pronged
Approach to Address Avian Flu. While the USDA funded $100 million for
its “HPAI Poultry Innovation Grand Challenge,” which included
investments to develop novel vaccines, in the fourth year of the avian
influenza outbreak, there has been no movement to stand up a vaccine
pilot program. At the same time, USDA has spent roughly $2.5 billion
compensating farmers for their extensive losses. Payments for outbreak
response snowball while the status quo continues. American farmers,
taxpayers and consumers cannot continue to absorb these costs.
I once again urge the Trump Administration to deliver on its pledge
to address avian influenza, including by following through on a
nationwide avian influenza vaccination policy. Agriculture and public
health stakeholders are calling for a comprehensive and coordinated
response to avian influenza. As the outbreak continues, farmers and
consumers deserve a response that matches the rising scale and pressing
urgency of this outbreak.
