Vice President JD Vance met with Vatican officials on Saturday during his trip to Italy over the Easter weekend. The event occurred amid tensions regarding President Donald Trump’s deportation of illegal immigrants from the United States.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is frantically backpedaling after his ill-conceived El Salvador publicity stunt blew up in his face. The Maryland Democrat, who initially trumpeted his mission to “rescue” a deported MS-13 gang member, is now desperately trying to rewrite the script of his adventure gone wrong.
Ten years have passed since the Department of Defense initiated a social experiment with women in the military. Pentagon officials promised that female trainees headed for previously all-male combat arms units would have to meet the exact same standards as men. Has the experiment played out as promised?
We are about to find out. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s March 30 Memorandum calls for a 60-day review to achieve high, uncompromised standards in combat arms units such as the infantry, Special Operations, and other occupations with extraordinary physical demands.
The US will abandon its efforts “within days” to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine unless there are clear signs a settlement can be reached, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said, as Kyiv says it has signed a memorandum with the US over a controversial minerals deal.
Speaking in Paris on Friday after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders, Rubio said Donald Trump was still interested in a deal. But he added that the US president had many other priorities around the world and was willing to move on unless there were signs of progress.
Rubio’s comments are the clearest signal yet that the White House is ready to walk away from its diplomatic attempts to negotiate an end to the war. Last month Ukraine agreed unconditionally to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire.
A Massachusetts family is demanding answers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), complaining its agents smashed a car window with a large hammer and detained a man whom they say had applied for asylum.
A lawyer for the family also claims agents were not looking for the man in the car, Juan Francisco Mendez, when they grabbed him on Monday in New Bedford while he was driving to a dental appointment. He is now believed to have been taken into Ice detention.
The lawyer, Ondine Galvez-Sniffin, told the Associated Press in an interview that the agents claimed they were looking for another man with a different name before they dragged Mendez and his wife out of the car.
"Do you want it hard or easy?" Feds break car window of illegal who wouldn't open door via @NewBedfordLight #mapoli pic.twitter.com/VtgcFdLc7Q
— JohnFGately (@johnfgately) April 15, 2025
On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi released police records showing Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the “Maryland man” who was deported to his native El Salvador by the Trump administration, was in fact a member of MS-13 and was in the United States illegally.
Contrary to the assertions of Garcia’s lawyers (and many in the corporate press) that there’s no evidence he’s a member of MS-13 and that the cops just made it all up, the police affidavit from Garcia’s arrest in March 2019 shows that he was arrested with multiple other confirmed MS-13 gang members, was wearing clothing associated with the gang, and was identified by a confidential police informant as an MS-13 gang member with a rank and a moniker.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has identified $1.4 billion in fentanyl-linked suspicious transactions, naming China, Mexico, Canada, and India as key foreign touchpoints in the global production and laundering network. The analysis, based on 1,246 Bank Secrecy Act filings submitted in 2024, tracks financial activity spanning chemical purchases, trafficking logistics, and international money laundering operations.
h/t handy n handsome
There are some things that just leave you speechless, and what happened in the White House Press Room today is one of them. And it didn’t just leave me speechless — it left the reporter pool stunned, too.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that she’d be holding an impromptu press briefing with a special guest on Wednesday afternoon, and if you missed it, it was a doozy.
In just 60 seconds, Karoline Leavitt SHREDDED the media straight to their faces for defending the so-called "Maryland father," a foreign illegal MS-13 gang member, over a real Maryland Mother, Rachel Morin, who was brutally murdered by a different illegal.
Why do THE LEFT… pic.twitter.com/nf6lt6aAlT— favilla4@yahoo.com (@AmericanPride73) April 15, 2025
Israel had planned to strike Iranian nuclear sites as soon as next month but was waved off by President Trump in recent weeks in favor of negotiating a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program, according to administration officials and others briefed on the discussions.
Mr. Trump made his decision after months of internal debate over whether to pursue diplomacy or support Israel in seeking to set back Iran’s ability to build a bomb, at a time when Iran has been weakened militarily and economically.
The first skirmish in the US-China trade war just concluded and Mark Carney is left licking his wounds.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government will allow automakers to import US-manufactured cars and trucks without tariffs, as long as the companies continue to build cars in Canada, and continued with previously announced expansions. Which of course, they all will vow to do – after all, there is no downside to a promise – meaning Canada just conceded to a key Trump demands.
h/t DS
We here at American Thinker have noted that the current Democrat plan regarding illegal aliens is to force them into the legal system to run out the clock. Now, Vice President Vance has chimed in to make the same point. (And no, much as I’d like to think it’s true, he probably hasn’t been reading American Thinker. Instead, what he says is common sense.)
PARIS — European leaders knew Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president would be a challenge. But the magnitude and speed with which Washington broke from decades-long defense policies forced governments across the continent to confront the unthinkable: Is the U.S. now more of a threat than a partner?
POLITICO reporters have dug deep into the events of a couple of weeks in February when everything changed. Europe experienced a series of Trump-induced geopolitical shocks that shook the transatlantic relationship to its core and rattled Europe’s faith in its most crucial ally.
It prompted leaders in Berlin and Warsaw to reverse — in a matter of days — their security doctrines, and diplomats to try to salvage what remains of the post-World War II order.
The Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution on March 28, officially recognizing March 23 as “Pakistan Day.” The resolution, introduced by State Representative Dr. Suleman Lalani, claims that Pakistani Texans have made “significant contributions in the state’s social, religious, linguistic, and economic spheres.” Pakistan’s Consul General in Texas, Muhammad Aftab Chaudhry, was present at the event.
The number of cross-border travellers going from Canada to the U.S. dropped by nearly 900,000 in March compared to the same month last year, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data — easily one of the worst year-over-year drops recorded outside of the COVID-19 health crisis.
The border figures show 4,105,516 travellers crossed the U.S. northern border in March of this year, down from 4,970,360 people who did the same in 2024 — a roughly 17 per cent decline that observers say is largely driven by President Donald Trump’s trade war, 51st state taunts and Canada-bashing.
Observers say … The Moon is made of Green Cheese.
Mark Carney was handed a gift again on Tuesday from the people he says he’s fighting against.
As the Liberal leader was busy preparing for Wednesday’s French-language leaders debate, Donald Trump’s White House put the idea of the 51st state back on the election agenda.
Today, I ordered a CBC reporter to ask the White House about Trump's 51st state comments.
Then, I had them write an article about it.
Putting scary headlines in front of Canadians is the only way I'll get votes.
This is why we can't defund the CBC – they work for my campaign. pic.twitter.com/hWQiOePU1d
— Mark Carney's Ego (@MarkCarney_Ego) April 15, 2025
