Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Chump struggles on in his war of choice while his lawsuits lose steam, ICE caught with overstuffed prisons by members of Congress, a police officer -- off duty -- decides to try to force violence into a student protest, Senator Elizabeth Warren questions Jeff Bezos deal for the Melania documentary, and much more.
A
federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump's defamation claims
against the Wall Street Journal over a report by the newspaper about a
birthday letter purportedly written by Trump to Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge
Darrin Phillip Gayles of the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Florida on Monday said in a ruling that Trump's lawsuit
"fails to adequately allege actual malice," a legal standard in the U.S.
for proving defamation.
Trump
had been seeking at least $20 billion in damages in the suit against
the WSJ, parent companies Dow Jones & Co. and News Corp, the
reporters on the story and Rupert Murdoch. But the judge wrote in the
decision that Trump's complaint "is devoid of any allegations regarding
special damages."
However, the judge also declined to rule on the veracity of the WSJ's report.
"Because
the Court finds that the Complaint fails to adequately allege actual
malice, it declines to address these issues at this juncture. Moreover,
whether President Trump was the author of the Letter or Epstein's friend
are questions of fact that cannot be determined at this stage of the
litigation," the judge wrote.
Trump
filed the lawsuit in July, following up on a promise to sue the paper
almost immediately after it put a new spotlight on his well-documented
relationship with Epstein by publishing an article that described a
sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s
signature and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th
birthday.
The letter was
subsequently released publicly by Congress, which subpoenaed the records
from Epstein’s estate. Trump denied writing it, calling the story
“false, malicious, and defamatory.”
A
spokesperson for the president’s legal team revealed that it intends to
appeal the matter in a statement that read: “President Trump will
follow Judge Gayles’s ruling and guidance to refile this powerhouse
lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other Defendants.
The President will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in
Fake News to mislead the American People.”
The
president himself followed up by declaring “Our powerful case against
The Wall Street Journal, and other defendants, was asked to be re-filed
by the Judge. It is not a termination, it is a suggested re-filing, and
we will be, as per the Order, re-filing an updated lawsuit on or before
April 27th,” in a post on Truth Social.
Donald
Trump’s media corporation has dropped a defamation claim against the
Guardian and two other defendants over a report that federal prosecutors
were investigating $8m in payments the company received from entities
with ties to Vladimir Putin as possible money laundering.
A
filing in the 12th judicial circuit in Sarasota county, Florida, on
Friday confirmed that Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the
parent company of the president’s Truth Social platform, was withdrawing
its claims without prejudice, meaning it could refile the lawsuit at a
later date.
The Guardian reported in March 2023
that New York prosecutors had launched a criminal inquiry into money
wired to TMTG through the Caribbean by two entities that appeared to be
controlled in part by the relation of an ally of Putin, Russia’s
president.
The Trump media group, which at the
time was preparing to merge with the shell company Digital World (DWAC)
to launch a $1.3bn market capitalization, was sensitive to the
allegation it received loans from a potentially unsavory source – and it
filed a lawsuit claiming the Guardian had acted with bias or ill-will
against it.
In November, the
judge hearing the case, Hunter W Carroll, threw out most of the case
against Guardian News and Media Ltd; Penske Media Corporation, owner of
Variety, which also reported the story; and Will Wilkerson, a former
TMTG founder turned whistleblower.
Carroll is
an appointee of Rick Scott, the Republican former governor of Florida
and a Trump ally. His ruling stated the plaintiffs had failed to prove
that the defendants showed actual malice in their reporting, but he
allowed Trump’s group to file an amended complaint, which they did in
January.
A hearing in the case had been set for
Tuesday, according to the court docket, before TMTG’s decision to
withdraw entirely from the legal action.
Turning to the topic of ICE and Homeland security, an investigation is taking place into whether or not ICE kidnapped an American citizen. Mark Vancleave and Steve Karnowski (AP) report:
A Minnesota county is investigating the arrest of a Hmong American man
by federal officers that was captured on video as a potential case of
kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment, officials announced Monday.
Ramsey
County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a news
conference they are pursuing information from the Department of Homeland
Security that they need for their investigation into the arrest of
ChongLy “Scott” Thao, 56, on Jan. 18. Ramsey County includes the state
capital of St. Paul.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers bashed open the front door of Thao’s St. Paul home
at gunpoint — without a warrant as far as Choi and Fletcher have been
able to determine — then led him outside in just his underwear and a
blanket in freezing conditions.
“There are many
facts we don’t know yet, but there’s one that we do know. And that is
that Mr. Thao is and has been an American citizen. There’s not a dispute
over that," Fletcher said. “There’s no dispute that he was taken out of
his house, forcibly taken out of his home and driven around.”
It's
good to see Minnesota leading the way yet again. There is no reason
that an American citizen should have been targeted by ICE, let alone
pulled from his home in winter wearing nothing but his underwear. This
was inhumane and there's no excuse for it. And if no one challenges it,
it can happen again. American citizens either have rights or they
don't. In this instance, ICE acted as though American citizens did not
have rights.
Choi
said he sent a letter to the federal government – known as a Touhy
request – demanding any evidence used to justify Thao’s arrest during
the operation.
Thao was detained as protesters
clashed with federal agents during Operation Metro Surge, the monthslong
immigration enforcement crackdown that roiled Minnesota.
Choi
said multiple people have made reports with his office regarding
federal agents’ actions, and said they need federal cooperation to fully
investigate.
Last night, on MS NOW, Rachel Maddow reported on ICE detention centers which are being revealed to be overflowing.
In Ariona, when two members of Congress visited Congress in February, in a scheduled visit, the prison cleared a large number of people out. But they went on an unscheduled visit last week and found prisoners "packed in like sardines," overflowing with prisoners.
Voters in Social Circle, Ga., overwhelmingly backed
President Trump in 2024. But when the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) purchased a 1 million-square-foot warehouse in the tiny city to
convert it into a mega detention center for immigrants, residents and
local officials pushed back hard.
In
February, the city notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
that it had shut off water and sewage services to the property until the
agency explained how it could operate “without exceeding our limited
infrastructure capacity.”
“We’re
against it,” Eric Taylor, the Social Circle city manager, told The
Hill. “Having something come in like this is just really a different
dynamic than what this particular community is about.”
Social
Circle, with a population of about 5,500, is by no means an exception;
it is one of two communities in Georgia that illustrate a national
trend. As the DHS has embarked on a $38.3 billion plan to boost
detention capacity by 92,600 beds, communities that back the president’s
agenda have said no to housing immigrants in their backyard.
New Jersey, alongside the GOP-leaning township of Roxbury, sued the DHS and ICE
in March over a purchased warehouse. Residents of Surprise, Ariz.,
protested against a 1,500+ bed facility, which the DHS and ICE reduced to 500+ beds last month amid the uproar.
In February, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) spoke out
against a warehouse conversion plan in Byhalia, Miss. Separately, the
Republican executive of Orange County, N.Y., told a January board
meeting that “an ICE facility will create chaos and will tax our
emergency management and first responders.”
“Just
not in their backyard. They’re fine with it somewhere else, they just
don’t want it back here,” Social Circle Council member Tyson Jackson
said of the opposition in his community — a sentiment apparently shared
in many other reliable red districts.
According to a document
released by ICE in February, the agency is seeking to stand up eight
large-scale detention facilities that each could hold 7,000 to 10,000
detainees for periods averaging less than 60 days, along with 16 smaller
regional processing centers to hold up to 1,500 detainees for three to
seven days.
Of course, ICE has its defenders. People like the crazed police Sgt. Dusten Mullen. Who? Rob Beschizza (BOING BOING) reports on a masked adult with a gun at a Phoeniz school walk-out to protest against ICE:
Officers
said they spotted him near a shopping center wearing a mask and openly
carrying a handgun with extra magazines. … Mullen's attorney said he is
cooperating with the internal investigation. A Phoenix police
spokesperson confirmed Mullen remains employed while their Professional
Standards Bureau looks into what happened. … According to the report,
Mullen told officers his plan was to let students assault him so they
could be arrested.
He showed up with
a gun with the intent of disrupting the peace. He showed up with a gun to disrupt a student ction. There's no excuse for what he did. Shortly after
it became known last week, he was placed on administrative leave. Kylie Werner (KTAR) reports:
A
sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department was put on administrative
leave Friday as his off-duty actions at a January student protest
against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Chandler are
being investigated.
ABC15 reported that Sgt.
Dusten Mullen showed up fully armed and masked to an ICE protest that
was conducted by Hamilton High School students, according to a Chandler
police report.
The report also stated that Mullen
confronted students despite police intervention and said he was going to
call other armed individuals to the area.
“As
law enforcement professionals, we are held to higher standards of
conduct — both in and out of uniform,” Phoenix Police Chief Matt
Giordano said in a statement Friday. “Our community expects integrity,
accountability and sound judgment from every member of this department,
and I expect the same. When we fall short, we must be accountable, and
we will not tolerate actions which undermine the trust the community has
placed in the department.”
I'm reading over a number of reports -- here, here and here,
for example -- and we're dealing with a grown adult imposing himself on
a student protest, wearing a mask, carrying a gun. That's outrageous
even before you get to the fact that he was an off duty police officer.
This is not how we foster civic activism among young people. He was
attempting to upset the protest and turn it violent. The fact that he
failed at what he was attempting does not change the fact that it was
wrong. Everything he did was wrong. He should not have a job on any
police force.
When Chumps goons aren't attacking people in the US, they're ignoring Americans stranded around the world. For example, Sarah K. Burris reports:
Two
American pilots have been stranded in West Africa for months, and the
government has done little to help them get home, one of them told
Semafor.
In an interview, Brad Schlenker, a
supporter of President Donald Trump, said he's been in detention in
Guinea since late last year.
The U.S. government, he said, has been “useless” in helping them.
“I voted for this administration because they were supposed to protect Americans,” he explained.
He
complained that there's no public attention to his plight and that the
State Department has taken a more "low-key" approach the report
described.
Schlenker said that he's heard from
some close to the situation that “if someone from the State Department
had simply called, if [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio or [Defense
Secretary] Pete Hegseth or someone else just picked up the phone, we’d
be out of here.”
He thinks that the issue might be related to one of Trump's mineral deals “weighing in on this situation."
"Guinea
contains some of the world’s largest deposits of bauxite and iron ore,
and the Trump administration has actively cultivated Conakry as a
partner during a wider push to secure African mineral resources," said
the report.
Fabio Nunez is the name of the other American pilot being held.
Chump has time for every vanity project in the world but doesn't have time to assist two Americans stranged in a foreign country. Harry Fletcher (INDY 100) notes:
Just
weeks after unveiling plans for a Miami skyscraper dedicated to
himself, Donald Trump has decided to imprint his legacy in another major
US location for "Americans to enjoy for many decades to come".
The
president unveiled plans for the 'Triumphal Arch' - where bears an
uncanny resemblance to France's Arc de Triomphe - which is set to stand
250-feet high over Washington DC.
[. . .]
The monument, if approved, would be taller than the US Capitol building and the Lincoln Memorial.
In
a relentless, unprecedented branding exercise, the sheer volume of
entities now bearing the name of President Donald Trump strains
credulity. We now live in a world of Trump RX and Trump accounts, of
Trump coins and Trump fighter jets. We have seen the John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts slapped with his name, the Institute of
Peace renamed after him, the christening of the President Donald J.
Trump International Airport in Palm Beach, a new fleet of guided-missile
warships designated as Trump-class destroyers, the Trump Gold Card visa
for wealthy immigrants, and even the unprecedented stamp of his
signature on U.S. paper currency, something reserved beforehand only for
the Treasury Secretary.
Of
course, that doesn’t even factor in the graveyard of branded detritus
across Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Ice bottled water, Trump
Airlines, Trump Mortgage, Trump Fragrances, Trump Board Games, Trump
Bibles, the infamous Trump University, and many more.
As we write about in our best-selling new book, Trump’s Ten Commandments
— the first assessment of the arc of Trump’s career by leadership
scholars — his grandiose image building is a key leadership lever of the
supposed master of the deal. Published by Worth/Simon & Schuster,
our book makes clear how the outer-borough arriviste from Queens was
never truly accepted by the Manhattan aristocracy, so he reacted by
plastering his name all over New York City in giant letters, putting
gold leaf where others would put wood or stone, creating a visual
vocabulary of success that regular people could easily and immediately
understand. He is obsessed with gold, because gold screams money to the
masses. This has always been his entire shtick: class for the masses. He
democratizes the performance of luxury in a comically over-the-top,
exaggeratedly accessible way. He offers middle-class tourists the chance
to walk through Trump Tower’s golden atrium, to bask in a glow that
feels like royalty.
This splashy indulgence was labeled a century ago as “conspicuous consumption”
by the economist Thorstein Veblen, who believed the average American
had a desire to emulate such garish symbols of success. Such an
ostentatious show of wealth may prompt some to imagine admiringly,
“That’s how I would live if I made $1 billion overnight.”
And
more than 20 years ago, when NBC invited one of us to review the first
season of The Apprentice, the result was a Wall Street Journal column
titled “The Last Emperor Trump.”
It infuriated Trump, drawing a parallel between the Roman crowds who
once packed into the Colosseum to cheer on gladiators and see the
emperor vote on the fate of the loser, and the latter-day TV viewers
huddled by their screens to see how Trump, with his imperial aura,
decreed the fate of contestants. This brutal method of leadership
selection rewarded the most gladiatorial aspirants who survived by
destroying their own teammates — odd in the context of leadership since
it left no team in place for the winner to lead.
No
successful emperor in history has engaged in Trumpian levels of
relentless personal branding. Julius Caesar did not stamp his name on
every aqueduct. Even Alexander the Great, who named Alexandria after
himself, showed relative restraint compared to what we are seeing now.
Historically, the leaders who obsess over ornamental personal monuments
tend to be those with more divisive legacies.
This
grasping for grandeur is far more than mere commercial branding or
entrepreneurial greed as Trump exploits the trappings of office. Such
desperate attempts at grandiosity evoke empty vanity, clutching at
physical monuments to prove a greatness that history has not yet
conferred.
For patrician statesmen, grandeur is
usually understated, radiating restraint rather than gawk-inspiring
shows of brazen wealth. It is ironic that Trump regularly compares
himself to Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln — both
renowned for their legendary humility. Biographers Ron Chernow, Joseph
Ellis, and Garry Wills have documented Washington’s reluctance to assume
command of the Continental Army in 1775, feeling he was not up to the
job, and his determination to limit his term of office, not wanting to
resemble a king despite his popularity. Similarly, Carl Sandburg, David
Herbert Donald, and Doris Kearns Goodwin have depicted a Lincoln marked
by humble, self-deprecating self-awareness.
By
contrast, Trump is a grotesque extension of what Arthur Schlesinger
described as “The Imperial Presidency” — a concept Schlesinger applied
critically to the Nixon era, though FDR and Ronald Reagan were masters
of majestic ceremony, mythmaking, and monumental landmarks.
Meanwhile, there's a war going on, one Donald started, and it's not going well as Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes this morning.
In announcing a complete U.S. blockade of
Iranian ports, President Trump took a drastically new approach to
trying to achieve what he has wanted for weeks — opening the Strait of
Hormuz to global traffic.
The
president seems to be hoping that the blockade will heap new pressure on
Iran after direct talks between U.S. and Iranian officials in Pakistan
over the weekend failed to end the war, and he suggested that other
countries would join the effort.
But on Monday, there were few volunteers, with only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel publicly supporting the idea.
Mr.
Trump’s proposed blockade “makes no sense,” Spain’s defense minister,
Margarita Robles, said in a television interview. “Since this war
started, nothing makes sense,” she added. “This is another episode in
the downward spiral the world has been dragged into.”
Experts said they doubted that the
blockade would get Mr. Trump any closer to an endgame that he could sell
as an American victory.
“I’ll save
you the waiting period: Iran is not going to capitulate,” said Danny
Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security
Studies in Israel who studies Iran and its proxies. “This regime
believes that the damage that will be sustained by this act will be
bigger for the U.S. and the international economy than for Iran.”
Imposing
a blockade entailed risks for the U.S., he said. It could further
increase oil prices, deepening the drag on the global economy. The U.S.
interdiction of ships belonging to, say, India or China could cause
diplomatic clashes. It will also bring U.S. ships into striking distance
of Iran’s missiles and drones, putting American military personnel in
harm’s way.
All these weeks later and Chump still doesn't know what he's doing next.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Warren: “Amazon's response reeks of desperation to please Donald Trump…This looks like bribery in plain sight.”
Washington, D.C. — In a new response to Senator
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Hank Johnson (D-Ga.),
Amazon claimed that there was “no improper” activity in its bid for the
new Melania documentary despite what appears to be a corrupt pay-to-play
arrangement with the Trump administration. Last month, the lawmakers opened an investigation
into Amazon’s investment in the Melania film and questioned whether it
was used to secure favorable treatment from the Trump administration on
antitrust suits, potential tariff exemptions, foreign trade deals,
federal contracts, and tax cuts.
The company refused to explain its massive overpayment for the film’s
rights, insisting that it followed a “thorough and competitive bidding
process” despite reportedly paying more than three times as the next
closest bidder.
Amazon also said that its decision to license the film was “based on
the film and series itself — the access, the story, and its cultural and
historical relevance,” again providing no business justification for
the investment.
In reaction to Amazon’s insufficient response, Senator Warren released the following statement:
“Amazon's response reeks of desperation to please Donald Trump. If
there’s nothing corrupt about this deal and the bidding process was
truly “competitive”, why won’t Amazon explain why it reportedly paid
three times as much as the next highest bidder? The logical explanation
is that Amazon is trying to buy the President’s favor by dumping
millions into the Trump family’s pockets. This looks like bribery in
plain sight, and Amazon must give Congress — and the American people —
answers now.”
Representative Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) also released the following statement:
“When we saw the oligarchs and tech bros gather in front-row seats at
Trump’s second inauguration – some of whom gave him millions for his
re-election campaign – it raised the specter that the rich and powerful
were going to wield dangerous levels of power and influence on the
nation through their largess to this transactional and corrupt
president. Amazon’s ‘nothing-to-see-here’ response makes this fear even
more of a reality. If there were truly nothing to see, then Amazon would
have answered these basic questions.”
Amazon reportedly invested at least $75 million in the documentary —
with reports indicating that about $28 million of that will go directly
to Melania Trump. To date, the film has only grossed around $16 million, raising questions about whether Amazon ever planned to break even on the film.
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.
