Lawmakers said the Justice Department has indicated Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon -- a candidate to replace Pam Bondi as attorney general -- will represent her in a transcribed interview later this month, raising ethical concerns.
Senate Republicans are seeking $1 billion of taxpayer money to help fund "security adjustments and upgrades" linked to Donald Trump's White House ballroom project. The proposal was outlined in a reconciliation package focusing on federal law enforcement and border security spending, which was released by Sen. Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Monday.
Donald Trump has issued a fresh verbal attack against Pope Leo XIV, accusing the pontiff of "endangering a lot of Catholics" because "he thinks it's fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon". The remarks come two days before Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meets Leo at the Vatican in an effort to ease the tensions sparked by Trump's previous broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the US-Israeli war on Iran. "I think he's endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people," the US president added. "But I guess if it's up to the pope, he thinks it's just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon." Leo has never said that Iran should have nuclear weapons, but has repeatedly opposed the war on the country and the subsequent escalation of the conflict in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, calling for ceasefires and dialogue. Read more
IDF General Avi Bluth proudly stated the IDF is killing Palestinians at levels "not seen since 1967," where he also defended looser rules of engagement allowing IDF troops to fire at unarmed Palestinians. General Bluth acknowledged a discriminatory approach in the occupied West Bank whereby Jewish Israeli stone-throwers are not targeted by the IDF while Palestinians carrying out similar acts are fired upon. "In three years, we have killed 1,500 terrorists," he said, referring to Palestinians.
Israel is a US-subsidized Pariah Nation
NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch informs: "The NYPD delivered the fewest murders in recorded history for the first four months of the year and the month of April. During the four-month stretch, there were 76 murders, shattering the previous record of 86 set in 2018. April also saw the fewest murders in recorded city history with 19, beating the previous record of 21 set in 2014 and 2017."
- NYC population: 8,478,000 people
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) and NYPD Commissioner Jennifer S. Tisch
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is closing an office responsible for investigating misconduct and abuse in the immigration detention system. The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman is in the process of removing all its public signage and ending its inspections.
Plenty of money for military-grade weapons and equipment, none for inspections or oversight
President Donald Trump's voters stunned a political analyst on Monday after they accused the president of staging another "false flag" attack. Nine voters who voted for Trump at least twice told The Bulwark that they believe Trump may have staged the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Some noted that the circumstances of the shooting seem implausible, given the level of security that follows the president.
"The White House Counsel's Office is giving private briefings to the administration's political appointees on how to best prepare for congressional oversight as staff begin to brace for the likelihood of significant Democratic victories in the November midterm elections," the Washington Post reports.
Trump threatens to blow Iran off the face of the earth' if it attacks US vessels
US launched an operation on Monday in the Gulf, dragging the region back to the brink of full-scale war Read more
OpEd: When Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in February that the Defense Department would sever ties with Harvard University, he framed the move as an act of ideological hygiene. Harvard, he suggested, is an incubator of "woke" narratives awash in liberal orthodoxy with faculty that "squelch anyone who challenges their leftist political leanings." Later, the Secretary formally added 13 more institutions to the department's list of "canceled" educational relationships, accusing each of "sacrificing freedom of expression for the suffocating confines of leftist ideology." The ironies and contradictions in the Secretary's logic to purge the military of elite education, respectfully, demand serious discussion.
The reporter who helped put Jeffrey Epstein behind bars has revealed why she thinks that Ghislaine Maxwell will eventually get a pardon.
Julie K. Brown, the award-winning Miami Herald reporter who unraveled the massive Epstein story, thinks Maxwell will be "successful" in securing some form of reprieve"whether a commutation or a pardon"for her close involvement in her onetime boyfriend's years-long scheme to sexually exploit and abuse young girls.
Which you may not appreciate if you're not a 'Star Wars' fan...
Glenneda Zuiderveld is a Republican state senator and member of a far-right bloc that was pushing for strict immigration laws. Idaho's dairy industry, which powers the economy of the Magic Valley region anchored by Twin Falls, depends on foreign-born labor and fiercely opposed the measures. (No paywall) Read more
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to meetings with Pentagon staffers as his inner circle grows tighter, according to a report. The move comes as Hegseth has faced increased criticism and ousted more than two dozen Pentagon officials in recent weeks. It also comes as Hegseth leads the nation's efforts in the Iran war and constantly promotes the success the U.S. has had in its attacks. Hegseth has now grown increasingly isolated within the Pentagon, according to The Guardian.
The barefoot shoe is here.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) secretly helped state treasurer Stacy Garrity (R) in her 2024 re-election bid against her Democratic Party challenger Erin McClelland (D) because she had previously questioned whether Shapiro would be an appropriate 2024 VPOTUS running mate for Kamala Harris (D). Stacy Garrity, an "election denier" with an "extreme MAGA agenda," is who "Democrat" Josh Shapiro, who may run for POTUS in 2028, boosted over his fellow Democrat.
Disgraced ex-NYS Gov Andrew "Judas Iscariot" Cuomo also betrayed the Democratic Party by running (and badly losing) as an independent against Muslim Zohran Mamdani (D) in the 2025 NYC Mayoral Race
