Whistleblower and President of the Air Marshal Association John Casaretti has called on President Donald Trump and Congress to separate the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in order to better protect air travelers from terrorist attacks, according to Breitbart.
“Everything the air marshals did around 2007 onwards was all through the lens of the TSA bureaucracy. TSA only cares about screeners,” Casaretti said. “They don’t have any deep experience with law enforcement. Unfortunately, the air marshals were listening to them. All of the policies were made by them, and bad policy after bad policy ensued. When it came to intelligence, when it came to hiring, standards were lowered.”
He continued, “They made the Air Marshal Service a career path for TSA screeners, so incredibly, where we started out as these high-speed anti-terrorism agents … to be a career path for TSA airport screeners. It actually blows my mind to this day, and it really needs to be changed.”
Casaretti spoke to Matthew Boyle about his recent Breitbart News op-ed titled “It’s Time to Reset the Federal Air Marshal Service,” which addressed his part in the shutdown of the Quiet Skies program in June
His whistleblowing about the program was a key reason for its shutdown, going all the way back to 2018.
The program had undercover air marshals “following ordinary U.S. citizens not suspected of a crime or on any terrorist watch list and collecting extensive information about their movements and behavior.”
One of the targets of surveillance was then-presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who is now DNI director handling national intelligence.
According to DHS, Quiet Skies "since its existence has failed to stop a single terrorist attack while costing US taxpayers $200 million a year.”
“The program, under the guise of ‘national security,’ was used to target political opponents and benefit political allies,” DHS stated in a press release.
“The American public would be better served if these [air marshals] were instead assigned to airport screening and check-in areas so that active shooter events can be swiftly ended, and violations of federal crimes can be properly and consistently addressed,” Casaretti argued.
He went on to say that the risk of terrorism “is greater right now than it ever has been before, certainly greater than pre-9/11. Every intel analyst with eyes on this is saying, ‘Hey, we’re in trouble. Something’s going to happen.’ And I’m trying to sound the alarm here because we’ve been saying this, as far as something’s going to happen, and why the air marshals need to improve for years."
Legislation to separate FAMS and TSA is in the beginning stages in both the House and Senate, with language having been drawn up, but it is still in legislative review before it can be introduced to the floor.
That means it's probably going to be a while before anything can happen.
Meanwhile, the risk of an incident is great, and everyone knows it.
Vice President J.D. Vance said Sunday on Fox News that Russia needs to "wake up and accept reality" that it can't win the war on Ukraine.
“We want peace here,” Vance said Sunday on Fox News. “We have been actively pursuing peace from the very beginning of the administration, but the Russians have got to wake up and accept reality here.”
Vance may have been alluding to comments made last week by President Donald Trump in which he said he thought Ukraine could actually win the war and regain all of its territory, even Crimea which has been under Russian control since 2014.
“After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Tuesday.
This messaging is different from what Trump and Vance have said in the past, as far as whether Ukraine could win back Crimea.
He had previously said that territorial concessions by Ukraine would have to be part of any peace agreement.
More than 250,000 Russian soldiers have died since the war began two-and-a-half years ago in February 2022. Ukraine's military losses are estimated at 60,000 to 100,000, with civilian losses numbering more than 14,000.
These estimates date back to June, so they are undoubtedly higher now.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to meet with the U.S. about the war in recent months.
“A lot of people are dying,” Vance said. “They don’t have a lot to show for it. How many more people are they willing to lose? How many more people are they willing to kill for very little, if any, gain in the military advantage on the ground there?”
No doubt, Putin's pride is preventing him from throwing in the towel and making a peace deal.
Even a deal that resets things back to how they were before the war would be seen as a defeat for him.
Still, Vance's question has got to be eating at Putin. As bad as things are, they could get a lot worse for Russia if Europe and the U.S. continue to back Ukraine as they have been doing all along.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's name appeared in the latest batch of documents from the estate of convicted human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released the latest batch of documents from the Epstein estate and Musk's name was one of a few high-profile names that were mentioned. Of course, there were more names that went unreleased, but Democrats clearly saw it as a political opportunity to highlight Musk's name.
Alongside Musk, billionaire Peter Thiel, the CEO of data mining company Palantir, was also mentioned as having a meeting scheduled with Epstein that never took place.
Oversight spokesperson Sara Guerrero stated, "It should be clear to every American that Jeffrey Epstein was friends with some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world. Every new document produced provides new information as we work to bring justice for the survivors and victims."
It's well known that Epstein knew anyone who was anyone, the real question is who was actually connected to Epstein's sordid crimes. In that sense, these new documents do little to explain what kind of connection existed between Musk, Thiel, and Epstein.
Over the past decade, it's become apparent that Epstein was an aggressive networker who did everything in his power to build relationships with other rich and powerful individuals.
Epstein;s connections to President Donald Trump are well known as the two often crossed paths in New York's elite circles. Democrats have often pointed to this fact to try and establish some kind of deeper connection.
Of course, Epstein and Trump had a falling out in 2004 over alleged bad behavior on the part of Epstein. So a connection between Epstein and another powerful figure doesn't tell that much on its own.
The new files show that Musk was scheduled to visit Epstein’s island in December 2014. Peter Thiel had a meeting scheduled in 2019. Most surprisingly, Stephen Bannon, a key Trump ally, was set to meet with Epstein in 2017.
However, the files had little to offer aside from those scheduled meetings. It's looking like this release was a publicity stunt to get these names associated with Epstein in a sensational news cycle.
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee blasted Democrats for selectively releasing names and withholding the names of Democrat officials who were mentioned in the Epstein files.
A spokesperson stated, "They are intentionally withholding documents that contain names of Democrat officials, and the information they released today is old news. We are focused on delivering transparency and accountability for the survivors, and will release documents in full."
It isn't even clear if Elon Musk actually met with Epstein in 2014, and seeing as how Democrats didn't release that information, it seems likely that planned meeting fell through.
Democrats are desperately trying to pin Epstein on the GOP despite the fact that Epstein's strongest relationships were with Democrats like former President Bill Clinton. Democrats spent the better part of two decades covering that relationship up.
It was Trump who knew that Epstein was no good for business decades ago but Democrats are doing everything in their power to cover that inconvenient fact up.
An intense conversation between President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump was reportedly about the escalator incident at the U.N. summit.
Cameras caught the president pointing his finger at the first lady, who responded by shaking her head during the exchange, filmed through the windows of Marine One as it landed at the White House.
It took next to no time for the mainstream media to take these images and run with them as signs that Donald and Melania are at each other's throats, an accusation that has been floated for the past decade despite the ironclad nature of the couple's relationship.
However, lipreading experts have confirmed that the couple was having an animated conversation about the viral escalator incident at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan the day before.
Clearly, neither Donald nor Melania was happy about the incident, which Trump has blamed on the U.N., along with a series of other incidents that Trump suspects were intentional acts of sabotage to make him look bad.
Forensic lip reader Jeremy Freeman told The Daily Mail that, "From my interpretation, I don’t think Donald Trump was having a go at Melania Trump — but at the shenanigans at the U.N."
Trump was furious about the incident with the escalator, which stopped suddenly and could have caused a disastrous situation for both the president and his wife, as well as the entourage.
Trump later posted to social media that, "It’s amazing that Melania and I didn’t fall forward onto the sharp edges of these steel steps, face first. It was only that we were each holding the handrail tightly or, it would have been a disaster."
Another lip reader, Nicola Hickling, believes that Donald Trump was being protective of Melania in the moment caught on the helicopter. She claimed that Trump was saying, "I can’t forgive them, they tried to hurt you," in the moment caught as Marine One was landing.
Trump is famously protective of Melania Trump, and it's understandable that he would be absolutely furious if some staffer at the U.N. had gotten her hurt by suddenly shutting down an escalator.
Trump cited a report from The Times of London that U.N. staffers had been joking about switching off the escalator in order to make Trump walk to the hall to give his speech.
This prompted Trump to throw accusations of deliberate sabotage at the U.N., which is no friend of the Trump family. Trump's speech at the U.N. was essentially a diatribe of Trump tearing into the U.N. for being an ineffective and corrupt organization.
While the Trump's relationship appears to be as strong as ever, Trump's relationship with the U.N. has never been worse. Trump has long looked at the U.N. as a corrupt and ineffective organization that leeches off American financial support, and recent events have confirmed those views.
Trump ripped into the U.N.'s general assembly, citing how the organization and its many participating nations, mostly from Europe, had failed to assist the U.S. in any meaningful foreign policy.
While Trump has been putting in overtime achieving peace deals and ending international conflicts, the U.N. has done nothing but spend money.
The U.N. is a useless organization, and it's long past time that American dollars stop facilitating the organization that is comprised of ungrateful countries that hate America.
No matter how hard one tries, it's never really possible to erase something from the internet.
The latest example: footage of would-be President Donald Trump assassin Thomas Crooks dry-firing a weapon in his bedroom that quickly disappeared off the internet after he was killed by a Secret Service sniper were unearthed and posted on Candace Owens's podcast on Wednesday.
Cell phone video showed a handgun lying neatly atop Crooks's made bed, then progresses to him picking it up and taking a tactical stance as he dry-fires it at a real or imaginary target off-camera.
A second, shorter video showed Crooks again dry-firing the weapon, this time looking even more menacing than before.
Crooks, 20, shot President Donald Trump in the ear during a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally in August 2024.
The bullet was intended to kill Trump, but only grazed his ear when he turned his head at the last minute.
Crooks's digital footprint showed that he had been obsessed with assassinations, mass shootings, guns, and explosives.
As far back as 2019 when he was only about 15 years old, he made violent comments on YouTube videos.
Despite frequent internet searches on these topics and his comments, Crooks had not come to the attention of the FBI or other law enforcement before the assassination attempt.
Based on this information, it seems as though Crooks's motive was infamy or the ability to accomplish an assassination of his own, not any particular ill will toward Trump.
His violent comment in 2019 pertained to chopping the heads off anti-Trump Democrats, which makes one wonder why he would target Trump at all.
It may have just been a case of opportunity knocking when Trump decided to do a rally in Butler, near Crooks' home outside Pittsburgh.
The chance to act on his obsession was just too tempting to pass up, I guess.
Given that he is dead, we may never know what motivated him to try killing Trump.
As the five-year deadline approaches, the Justice Department appears ready to pursue a perjury indictment against former FBI Director James Comey for his congressional testimony, Fox News reported.
The case revolves around whether Comey misled lawmakers in September 2020 about his management of the FBI's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, with a grand jury in Virginia now reviewing the matter for potential charges.
Back in 2016, the FBI opened an investigation into possible Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, an effort that drew sharp scrutiny for its handling under Comey's leadership.
That probe, known internally as Crossfire Hurricane, examined alleged ties between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, setting off years of political tension.
Trump, who won the election, repeatedly denounced the inquiry as a "Russia hoax" and a "rigged witch hunt" that harmed America's relations with Russia.
From his perspective, figures like Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan had politicized intelligence agencies to target his presidency, a claim that resonated with many skeptical of bureaucratic overreach.
In May 2017, Trump fired Comey, later stating he had done the country "a great service" by removing him from the FBI helm.
Trump's critics saw the dismissal as obstruction, but supporters viewed it as a necessary step to restore trust in law enforcement institutions long plagued by perceived biases.
The investigation then shifted to special counsel Robert Mueller, who after extensive review found no sufficient evidence of criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia.
During Trump's first term, the Justice Department tapped special counsel John Durham to examine potential FBI mishandling in the Crossfire Hurricane operation.
Durham's findings led to charges against three lower-level FBI officials and highlighted serious bureau errors, though he concluded no illegal actions by top leaders like Comey.
Yet, those revelations fueled ongoing debates about accountability, reminding us that even well-intentioned probes can veer into problematic territory without proper oversight.
Fast forward to Sept. 30, 2020, when Comey testified before Congress about his role in the 2016 Russia investigation, statements now at the heart of the perjury allegations.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia is overseeing the current case, with the statute of limitations expiring next Tuesday under federal law's five-year window.
DOJ officials are nearing a decision on prosecution, as a source noted, with uncertainty lingering over which specific parts of Comey's testimony might trigger charges.
Trump has lambasted Comey for years, accusing him of dishonesty in handling the probe and related issues.
"I think they're very dishonest people. I think they're crooked as hell," Trump said in July about Comey and Brennan. "And maybe they have to pay a price for that."
Such pointed remarks, while blunt, underscore a broader conservative frustration with what many see as selective enforcement in Washington, where accountability often seems reserved for the politically inconvenient.
French President Emmanuel Macron was stranded on a New York City street behind a police barrier that closed the roads in anticipation of President Donald Trump's motorcade on Monday, Breitbart reported. In a video of the moment that went viral, Macron is seen good-naturedly calling Trump after a police officer denied his request to cross.
Macron was on his way to the French embassy when the street closures blocked his vehicle from making the trip. The French president attempted to negotiate with an officer from the New York Police Department to cross the barricade before he called Trump for help.
"Awkward moment: Macron stopped in New York because of Trump’s motorcade," the European news outlet Nexta posted to X, formerly Twitter. "Police who had blocked roads for Donald Trump’s motorcade mistakenly stopped the car of French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron got out of the vehicle, called Trump, and jokingly asked him to 'clear the road."
Awkward moment: Macron stopped in New York because of Trump’s motorcade
Police who had blocked roads for Donald Trump’s motorcade mistakenly stopped the car of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron got out of the vehicle, called Trump, and jokingly asked him to “clear the… pic.twitter.com/fcRd3Md336
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 23, 2025
As the New York Times reported, Macron and Trump are in the Big Apple along with other foreign dignitaries for this week's U.N. General Assembly meeting. From the video shared to X, which was originally captured by French news outlet Brut, Macron was seen taking the whole thing in stride.
"I have 10 people with me. I go to the French embassy," Macron first told a police officer in the video. Unfortunately, nobody, including the French leader, would be permitted past the police line while Trump's motorcade was expected through.
"I’m sorry, President, I’m really sorry. It’s just that everything’s been frozen right now. There’s a motorcade coming right now. I’m sorry," the NYPD officer told Macron.
Ever the diplomat, the French president tried to smooth-talk the officer some more. "I negotiate with you," Macron said, again to no avail. That's when Macron took out his cell phone and called a leader with infinitely more power than he has, whether on the streets of New York or the global political arena: Trump.
"How are you? Guess what? I am waiting the street because everything is frozen for you," Macron said into the phone and then chuckled. The video then cuts to Macron walking down the street with the phone still up to his ear. Later, the video shows Macron greeting a man and a woman on the street, with whom he takes a picture just after the man kisses Macron on the forehead.
The Times noted that Macron's staff confirmed that the video was accurate and that the French president reached out to Trump while waiting for permission to cross the street. His office also stated that Trump and Macron had a "very warm and amicable" conversation, which he hoped to carry over into a discussion of the situation in Gaza with Trump and officials from Qatar.
The NYPD thanked Macron for his generosity in handling the situation, as thousands of its officers are deployed to keep the city safe for world leaders during the yearly summit. "Merci to President Macron for recognizing the dedication and tireless efforts of our officers who safeguard this annual event,” the NYPD said.
Unfortunately, Macron didn't strike the same friendly tone when speaking about the war in Gaza during a bilateral meeting with Trump. According to Reuters, Trump disagrees with France and other nations that recognize Palestine as a state, particularly after the savage invasion of Israel launched by Hamas in October 2023.
"I think it honors Hamas, and you can't do that because of October 7. You just can't do that," Trump told reporters this week during the meeting. Macron disagreed on this critical issue while sitting alongside Trump. "Nobody forgets the 7th of October. But after almost two years of war, what is the result?" Macron said. "This is not the right way to proceed," he added.
Trump is very skilled at handling world leaders, such as Macron, and is known for his ease with those who head both friendly and adversarial nations. While Macron spoke out against Trump's viewpoint at the U.N., where America is routinely outnumbered in such matters and is too often disrespected, Macron was astute enough to know that aligning with Trump's interests was a winning strategy on the streets of New York.
Professional golfer Phil Mickelson has been vocal on social media since the shooting of Charlie Kirk on September 10, and he's not happy with what one Democrat in Congress had to say about the conservative icon.
Mickelson posted on X on Saturday that he thinks Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) came to the United States illegally and should be deported to Somalia after Omar said that she thinks Kirk "spread hate" and "should be left in the dustbin of history."
"Ilhan spews hate every time she opens her mouth, she came here fraudulently and will hopefully be sent back to Somalia soon," Mickelson posted, just one day before Kirk was honored in a massive, six-hour memorial in Arizona where he lived with his family.
Ilhan spews hate every time she opens her mouth, she came here fraudulently and will hopefully be sent back to Somalia soon. https://t.co/2kOhBM1abS
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) September 20, 2025
Mickelson's comments are similar to those of President Donald Trump, who has struck back at Omar over previous critical comments the Democrat and far-left member of The Squad made about him.
"Ilhan Omar's Country of Somalia is plagued by a lack of central Government control, persistent Poverty, Hunger, Resurgent Terrorism, Piracy, decades of Civil War, Corruption, and pervasive Violence," Trump wrote. "70% of the population lives in extreme Poverty, and widespread Food Insecurity.
"Somalia is consistently ranked among the World's Most Corrupt Countries, including Bribery, Embezzlement, and a Dysfunctional Government. All of this, and Ilhan Omar tells us how to run America!"
He then repeated an unsubstantiated story about Omar marrying her brother to gain citizenship in 2009.
Omar did marry Ahmed Nur Said Elmi in that year, and reports circulated that they were siblings, but nothing was ever proven.
She divorced Elmi and remarried her previous husband, Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi, after establishing herself in the U.S., and the couple has three children.
She then divorced Hirsi and is now married to her political consultant, Tim Mynett.
Besides Omar and Kirk, Mickelson has boosted Sable Offshore Corp. in recent months and suggested that the company be allowed to extract oil and black tar seepage from the ocean floor for the benefit of both wildlife and the U.S. oil markets.
He has dropped the stock ticker $SOC on his socials and said Sable "is a win for EVERYONE including environmentalists!"
Of course, there has been backlash from his liberal followers, but Mickelson doesn't seem to care. It's nice to see boldness like that on the right where it hasn't been before.
The surgeon who tried to save Charlie Kirk after an assassin shot him in the neck at an event in Utah has proclaimed that his miraculously strong bones stopped the bullet that hit him from exiting and hitting more people.
Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet wrote on X about the “absolute miracle” the surgeon discovered, that the bullet stayed in Kirk's body due to his "strong bones" and was found just under the skin.
“I’m usually not interested in delving into most of this kind of online chatter, and I apologize this is somewhat graphic, but in this case, the fact that there wasn’t an exit wound is probably another miracle, and I want people to know,” Kolvet wrote.
“I just spoke with the surgeon who worked on Charlie in the hospital … He said the bullet ‘absolutely should have gone through, which is very very normal for a high-powered, high-velocity round,'" he added. "I’ve seen wounds from this caliber many times and they always just go through everything. This would have taken a moose or two down, an elk, etc."
There had been speculation online that authorities were lying about the circumstances of Kirk's death because the high velocity round would normally have gone through the flesh and exited on the other side.
“But it didn’t go through. Charlie’s body stopped it," Kolvet said.
Kolvet said he described to the doctor how staffers, students and others were standing in the trajectory of the bullet behind Kirk, had it passed through him.
"'It was an absolute miracle that someone else didn’t get killed,’ ” Kolvet said the doctor told him. ”‘His bone was so healthy and the density was so so impressive that he’s like the man of steel. It should have just gone through and through. It likely would have killed those standing behind him too.’"
“In the end, the coroner did find the bullet just beneath the skin. Even in death, Charlie managed to save the lives of those around him. Remarkable. Miraculous,” Kolvet wrote.
Estimates for attendance at Kirk's memorial yesterday ranged from 90,000 to 200,000, and more than 100 million people streamed the six-hour event online.
Reports said that the attendance was greater than for both slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and President John F. Kennedy Jr.'s memorials.
Vice President and close personal friend to Kirk, J.D. Vance labeled Kirk a "martyr for the Christian faith" and Trump called him a "martyr for America's freedom."
While many on the right will no doubt use Kirk's death to galvanize support for conservatism, he said in one of his last interviews that he wanted to be remembered most for his faith and devotion to Jesus Christ.
Kirk was mocked after his death for being "hateful" because of comments he made about the LGBT community and affirmative action, but many have been surprised by the way he debated and many times gently addressed those who were affected by these realities in a way that showed compassion while also expressing what he viewed as truth.
A Florida federal judge tossed out a $15 billion defamation lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against The New York Times in a stunning decision on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday made the bizarre declaration that Trump's lawsuit was overly long and full of “tedious and burdensome” language, which seems like an odd judgment considering the inherently long and tedious nature of litigation.
Judge Merryday gave Trump's legal team 28 days to file an amended complaint that should not exceed 40 pages. The option to amend the complaint seems to further reinforce suspicions that this is an attempt to undermine justice and delay Trump's case.
Judge Merryday didn't rule on the merits of Trump's defamation case, but instead is kicking the can down the road.
In his decision, Judge Merryday wrote, "A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally. This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner.”
Defamation Case Lives On
A spokesman for Trump's legal team, Aaron Harison, confirmed that the lawsuit would continue “in accordance with the judge’s direction on logistics."
The lawsuit is pointed at four New York Times journalists and cited a book and three articles published within a two-month period prior to the 2024 election that Trump's team argue defamed Trump and attempted to influence the outcome of the election.
A book written by Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig focused on Trump’s finances and his pre-presidency role in “The Apprentice," which was partly but far from entirely responsible for Trump's nationally recognizable profile.
Trump's lawsuit posits that Buettner and Craig “maliciously peddled the fact-free narrative” that "The Apprentice" was what made Trump a national celebrity. The article also included defamatory claims about Trump’s early business dealings and his father, Fred.
This lawsuit is one of many lawsuits filed against major media organizations, including ABC News, CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” and the Wall Street Journal.
Trump has already scored out of court settlements but the New York Times has chosen to go to court and is banking on a friendly anti-Trump judge to protect them from a serious financial hit.
Winning a defamation case is extremely difficult but Trump has already secured major wins in his settlements with ABC and CBS. Should he succeed against the New York Times, it will usher in an era where individuals have more power to hold the media accountable.
The media claims that these defamation lawsuits are an attack on the 1st Amendment but the media has held the power to ruin lives and dominate political discourse for decades.
The media's monopoly on public discourse has been to the detriment of the nation and the fundamental Constitutional freedoms of the average American. America's journalist class has gotten away with lying for years, and it's time for consequences.