The Pentagon has moved to allow swift terminations for civilian employees, allowing managers to fire workers with "speed and conviction" if they're underperforming, The Hill reported. The directive came from a Sept. 30 memo issued by Under Secretary of Defense Anthony Tata, which was made public on Tuesday.
"Supervisors and human resources professionals are directed to act with speed and conviction to facilitate the separation from Federal service of employees performing unsuccessfully," the top personnel policy officer wrote. Tata further informed the managing supervisors that they would be held accountable if they failed to take appropriate action on employees who weren't up to snuff.
This memo has stripped civilian personnel of previously held protections against such action, and some worry that this will become an excuse to dispense with those seen as disloyal to President Donald Trump. However, this was something Trump warned about before Democrats decided to allow funding to run out and the government to shut down.
So far, 334,900 civilian employees, which represents about half of that category of military workers, have been furloughed due to the shutdown. The longer it goes on, the greater the chance these cuts will become permanent, as Trump promised.
The left is attempting to frame these cuts as something nefarious, but cleaning house and saving on payroll budgets is exactly in line with Trump's priorities that he laid out during the campaign. Similarly, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been tightening up the ranks to rid the military of those who oppose the president's agenda for a stronger military.
"The sooner we have the right people, the sooner we can advance the right policies. Personnel is policy," Hegseth said last month to an audience of generals and admirals during a meeting he called of top military brass to the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia.
Earlier this year, Hegseth cut the Pentagon's payroll by 60,000 people, or about 8% of the workforce, through attrition or buyouts. Now, the memo has streamlined the process for managers, giving them the "flexibility to address performance issues swiftly and effectively," Tata wrote.
Managers use the Douglas Factors, the criteria for evaluating federal workers, to decide whom to cut. "This approach empowers supervisors to act decisively when performance undermines [Defense Department] objectives, reinforcing a culture of excellence," the memo touted.
This will ensure that all civilian employees who fill military roles unsatisfactorily will be weeded out, "so deficiencies in any role can warrant strong action." The employees fired under this change can challenge the decision and unfavorable review within seven days.
This action is part of Trump's promises, including his pledge to use a government shutdown to eliminate jobs. On October 8, just a week into the shutdown, Trump said he had a "substantial" number of government jobs that could be eliminated permanently, Fox News reported.
"We have a lot of things that we're going to eliminate and permanently eliminate," Trump told the press at a White House meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. "I'll be able to tell you that in four or five days if this keeps going on… If this keeps going on, it'll be substantial. And a lot of those jobs will never come back. But you're going to have a lot closer to a balanced budget, actually," Trump said at the time.
Meanwhile, Trump blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats for their failure to act to avoid the shutdown which is now nearly a month long. "I look at your leadership. I don't know who to speak to," Trump said of the Democrats.
"I'll tell you what, I'm getting calls from Democrats wanting to meet. I never even heard their names before... the Democrats have no leader," he added.
The American people voted for Trump to clean up the problems in Washington, D.C., including the dead wood in the military and those opposed to its mission. What's happening now is simply the fulfillment of that, and it's all being facilitated by the spineless Democrats who refuse to agree to funding to reopen the government.
A group of pilot unions is urging lawmakers to pass a continuing resolution that would end the government shutdown, Breitbart reported. Republicans have put forth a so-called clean continuing resolution that would fund priorities such as air traffic controllers through the end of the year, but Democrats stubbornly refuse to support it.
Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers continue to go without pay as the Democrats drag their feet. Due to this crisis, statements this week came from unions such as the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, and the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA), calling on lawmakers to act.
"We have seen the stress and tension this year on the National Airspace System due to short-staffed air traffic controllers. This shutdown only compounds the pressures they face as they now report to work without a paycheck," a statement from CAPA said.
The Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations went on to say that they were urging "Congress to end the government shutdown by passing a clean Continuing Resolution." However, Democrats simply won't budge.
Other unions also made impassioned pleas for the Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to end the shutdown. SWAPA president, Captain Jody Even, said in a statement that the union "strongly urges Congress to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to fund the government."
First Officer Nick Silva of the APA shared similar sentiments in a statement. "Congress should reconvene and work in a bipartisan manner to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to fund and reopen the government,"
“We stand with our brothers and sisters in air traffic control and TSA who continue to show up to work every day without a paycheck. These men and women take their oath seriously to guarantee a safe National Airspace System so we, the pilots, can ensure the flying public reaches their destinations in a timely manner and without harm," Silva added.
Airlines for America, which bills itself as a "trade association for the leading U.S. airlines," said in a news release that paychecks being withheld from air traffic controllers and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) cause unnecessary risk. "Missed paychecks for the federal employees charged with the safe and efficient facilitation of our national airspace unnecessarily increases stress for the thousands of air traffic controllers, TSA officers and CBP employees who work every day to keep aviation safe and secure," the news release said.
The association added that it would "urge elected leaders to act with an appropriate sense of urgency to solve this problem and immediately reopen the federal government." They said the "quickest and simplest way to ensure those critical employees are paid is by passing a clean CR."
According to Fox News, Schumer and the Senate Democrats once again shot down the 13th Republican attempt to pass the clean resolution on Tuesday. The shutdown is in its 28th day, and Tuesday marked the first day that the air traffic controllers went without pay.
The U.S. military passed that milestone on Friday, and the federal nutrition program was unable to fund benefits on Saturday, which also marked the first day of open enrollment for Obamacare. Following the Democrats' downvote, GOP Rep. Tom Keane of New Jersey slammed Democratic lawmakers for holding out.
"Today, Senate Democrats voted for the 13th time against funding our government — after already rejecting a bill last week to pay air traffic controllers and other essential workers. This is outrageous. 13,000 air traffic controllers won't receive their paychecks today because of these political games," Keane posted to X, formerly Twitter, before concluding, "It's time to reopen the government."
Today, Senate Democrats voted for the 13th time against funding our government — after already rejecting a bill last week to pay air traffic controllers and other essential workers.
This is outrageous. 13,000 air traffic controllers won't receive their paychecks today because… pic.twitter.com/v1r4qK5kof
— Congressman Tom Kean (@CongressmanKean) October 28, 2025
The Democrats are digging themselves into a hole from which they have little chance of emerging any time soon. Hardworking Americans are going without pay because Schumer and his ilk are playing politics with the government shutdown, and that's not something voters are going to forget.
From the earliest days of his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made clear his intention to reverse the Biden administration’s border failures and to get control of the criminal operations that thrived during his predecessor’s tenure.
Amid news that a well-known Mexican cartel boss was arrested earlier this month, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has stepped forward to praise the president and the “seriousness” with which he is taking the thorny challenge organizations such as the Sinaloa group represent, as the Daily Caller reports.
The DNI’s comments came during a Saturday interview on Fox News, when she left little doubt about her position on Trump’s commitment to curtailing cartel influence once and for all.
Gabbard referenced the Oct. 15 arrest of Leonardo Daniel “El Pato” Martinez Vera, a Sinaloa Cartel Plaza chief whose underlings had reportedly been involved in everything from kidnapping to murder.
The DNI was asked whether the apprehension of El Pato – an operation aided by her agency’s Counterterrorism Center -- is likely to send a strong warning shot to cartel leaders who were able to run rampant at the nation’s southern border during Biden’s time in office.
Gabbard declared in response, “Yes, it’s very significant,” adding that she wished she could reveal details of the operation itself, one which was orchestrated by agents currently working without pay “because of the Democrats’ government shutdown.”
She underscored the importance of Trump’s no-nonsense approach to battling the cartels, stating that “people are seeing President Trump is not messing around with this. If they try to resort to their own games of bribery and all of this other stuff, then they will be putting themselves in the target.”
From the first days of his second term in office, Trump made no secret of his plans to tackle the cartels, issuing an executive order on Jan. 20 designating cartels and other organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.”
In doing so, the president declared that the “cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force, nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States.”
The order went on to state that the activities of the cartels “threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.”
In furtherance of the presidential order, on Feb. 20, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designation of a host of groups, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13, Cartel de Sinaloa, and more as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”
The designations, Rubio explained, “expose and isolate entities and individuals, denying them access to the U.S. financial system and the resources they need to carry out attacks,” and they also “can assist law enforcement actions of other U.S. agencies and governments.”
In the wake of El Pato’s arrest, Gabbard’s ODNI took a victory lap, stating in a press release, “We will not allow cartel gangs who target Americans to roam freely, whether in the U.S. or across the border in Mexico.”
The agency added, “Now, thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are surging resources against cartels and gang leadership, disrupting their networks, and working alongside our Mexican partners to make communities safer and protect American lives,” not to mention undoing the damage Biden’s open-borders philosophy wrought for four straight years.
The New York Knicks have ordered Zohran Mamdani, who is the leading New York City mayoral candidate, to "cease and desist" after his campaign used the basketball team's logo in advertisements, the New York Post reported. The team made it clear that it does not support the Democratic socialist's candidacy.
The campaign used a logo similar to the basketball franchise's, with "Zohran" in the place of the Knicks' team name. The color scheme also mimicked the blue and orange logo with social media ads using the tag line, "This is our year. This is our time."
The organization said the ad was "likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or in some way connected with the Knicks." To make matters worse, the broadcast ad was run on Wednesday night during the Knicks' season opener.
NY Knicks issue Zohran Mamdani cease and desist over logo in campaign ad — stressing they ‘do not endorse’ https://t.co/XNQVxNcbck pic.twitter.com/x2c96oziIQ
— New York Post (@nypost) October 24, 2025
The team made it clear that Mamdani was to stop using the version of their logo to sell New Yorkers on his radical ideas. "The NY Knicks have sent NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a cease-and-desist letter for using the NY Knicks logo to promote his candidacy," the letter stated, according to Fox News.
"The Knicks want to make it clear that we do not endorse Mr. Mamdani for Mayor, and we object to his use of our copyrighted logo. We will pursue all legal remedies to enforce our rights," the legal missive added.
This comes as the team's head coach is hopeful for another NBA Finals appearance, representing the Eastern Conference. If they succeed, it will mark the first time in more than a quarter of a century that the team has reached this far since their last appearance in 1999.
The New York Knicks notched a win Wednesday night in their season opener, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-111 during the matchup in Manhattan. Perhaps the team owner, John Dolan, is worried that this winning year might be overshadowed by a connection with Mamdani.
After all, it's not like Dolan is not used to leftist politics. In 2022, he donated $70,000 to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's campaign. Mamdani is the favorite to win against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic side and "Guardian Angels" founder and political activist Curtis Sliwa for the Republicans, who will face off on Nov. 4.
There was mayoral race drama surrounding the Knicks even before the latest attempt to co-opt the Knicks' logo. According to The Hill, Mamdani slammed Cuomo for appearing courtside at Wednesday's game alongside the outgoing Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. Cuomo shared a photo at the game with Adams on his account on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday. Mamdani took it and ran with it, sharing the post labeled "Corrupting goes courtside," Mamdani said.
Corruption goes courtside. https://t.co/TaEItxMAmc
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) October 23, 2025
Cuomo is the only candidate who has not shied away from accepting Adams' endorsement should he offer it, and it appears Mamdani is positioning himself to attack him for it. Meanwhile, Cuomo has plenty of ammo against Mandani for his radical polices and lack of experience.
"I did things. You’ve never had a job. You’ve never accomplished anything. There’s no reason to believe you merit or qualification for eight and a half million lives. You never showed up for work, and you missed eighty percent of the votes. Shame on you," Cuomo said to Mamdani.
This is an embarrassing situation for Mamdani with the logo change, but it likely won't hurt his campaign. The people of New York seem eager to usher in a communist regime that will be the proverbial final straw that breaks the struggling city's back.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi believes that federal law enforcement officers should be subject to arrest if they break local laws that prevent illegal immigration enforcement, Breitbart reported. The California Democrat seems poised to go toe-to-toe with the Trump administration, but may be in legal trouble after making these statements.
President Donald Trump has begun to crack down on illegal immigration throughout the nation. Part of that includes sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions.
"While the President may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not. Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them," a joint statement from Pelosi and Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-CA) said.
This tough talk came after San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins allegedly saw federal agents "roughing people up" in Chicago and Los Angeles. "I had lead time to think about what authority I have and what I can do. This is something I felt very strongly about, and I had my office research it," Jenkins claimed.
Democrats don't care about the regular people who suffer at the hands of criminal illegal immigrants and other deviants who prowl about city streets. Instead, they're worried that these people might be treated a little roughly by law enforcement agents who aim to get them off the streets.
They want to see the agents, not the criminals, arrested, though Jenkins claimed it wouldn't come to having local officers cuffing federal agents. She said that they would use surveillance camera footage to determine if the criminals are treated too unkindly, and she would direct a judge to issue a warrant for the agent's arrest.
To really drive home that their priority is the comfort of suspected illegal immigrants, California Democrats passed a law banning government agents from wearing masks while making arrests, which would make it easier for Jenkins to pursue them. Of course, the agents were forced to do this after several attacks on ICE agents that put them and their families at risk, but Democrats seem unconcerned about that.
Meanwhile, Jenkins worries that Trump may ignore the arrest warrants altogether or challenge the move in court. "For me, this is about San Francisco and what I need to do for San Francisco," Jenkins claimed.
Others, like Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, believe this is not an overreach at all and see it as a stopgap against abuses. "As long as the ICE agents are acting legally, the state can’t prosecute them and hold them liable, even if it dislikes what they’re doing," Chemerinsky said.
Pelosi's tough talk against federal agents is not without consequences. While speaking to Fox News host Jesse Watters on Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi warned Pelosi and others making these threats that they could face consequences. Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is among those actively opposing federal agents and their mission to clean up crime on city streets.
She created the ICE Accountability Project, a nonprofit focused on making ICE officers "unmask" while making sure to log "purported criminal actions of ICE and CBP agents." Bondi warned Lightfoot that she "will be getting a letter from us tomorrow to preserve anything she has done as well, to make sure that she’s not violating the law," she told Watters.
"It appears she is. You cannot disclose the identity of a federal agent—where they live, anything that could harm them," Bondi added. She had the same warning for Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Jenkins, and Pelosi. "We told them: ‘Preserve your emails, preserve everything you have on this topic.’ Because if you are telling people to arrest our ICE officers, our federal agents, you cannot do that. You are impeding an investigation, and we will charge them.”
🚨 BREAKING: Attorney General Pam Bondi has just ORDERED NANCY PELOSI to “PRESERVE HER EMAILS” after she ORDERED ICE to be ARRESTED 🚨@PamBondi: “You are impeding an investigation, and we will charge you. If they think I won’t, they have not met me” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/l79LRwQNwP
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) October 24, 2025
This crusade against agents enforcing federal law has got to stop, but the Democrats believe they have a right to run roughshod over the laws of the land. Pelosi and her ilk are about to see what the Trump administration is willing to do to enforce the laws of the land and the will of the American people.
President Donald Trump said the Department of Justice "probably owes me a lot of money" for the many federal investigations against him that amounted to nothing but a hassle, Fox News reported. Sources say Trump is seeking $230 million in damages, but the president said it wasn't about the money but about principle.
There were several investigations launched against Trump, beginning with the Russia-collusion hoax during the 2016 campaign that was built on a false dossier. The FBI later raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in 2022 over the supposed mishandling of classified documents, which again was thrown out in court.
These investigations turned Trump's life upside down for years and threatened to keep him off the ballot, but they ended up being mostly baseless. Now, the New York Times claimed that Trump is seeking $230 million in compensation, which would be well within his rights.
After all, Trump spent millions on his legal defense and likely lost earning potential as his time and attention were turned toward these baseless investigations. However, when asked about it at the Oval Office by a reporter, Trump seemed genuinely unconcerned about the money and instead wanted justice.
When Trump was asked about the possibility of a lawsuit, he noted that it was certainly something to consider, given how much time and money had been wasted defending himself in these cases. "Well, I guess they probably owe me a lot of money for that," Trump told the female reporter.
The president made it clear he wasn't in it for the money. "No, I get no salary. I gave up my salary. It's a good salary. Not as much as these guys make, but that's OK. It's a lot of money, and I don't, as you know, I didn't take it in the first four years. I didn't take it these four years either," Trump pointed out.
However, he did acknowledge that the DOJ owes him. "But as far as all of the litigation, everything that's been involved, yeah, they probably owe me a lot of money," Trump said.
"But if I get money from our country, I'll do something nice with it. Like, give it to charity or give it to the White House while we restore the White House, and we're doing a great job with the White House, as you know, the ballroom is under construction," Trump added. A clip of the exchange was posted by RedWave Press to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
Reporter: “Are you asking the Justice Department to pay you compensation for [the] federal investigations into you?”
President Trump: “Into me? I don’t get any compensation. I do it for nothing. I gave up my salary… They probably owe me a lot of money for that.”
“If I get… pic.twitter.com/w5Lgygvv3X
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) October 21, 2025
While the media was singularly focused on the financial implications, Trump just wants justice after all he's been through. "We'll see what happens. We have numerous cases having to do with the fraud of the election, the 2020 election, and because of everything that we found out, I guess they owe me a lot of money," Trump said.
"But I'm not looking for money. I'm looking for — really, I think it's got to be, it's got to be handled in a proper way… We don't want it to happen again," Trump said, once again alluding to the fact that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from under him.
"We can never let what happened in the 2020 election happen again. We just can't let that happen," Trump added.
The president went on to say that he does not know the exact figure his legal team may be seeking. "I don't know what the number is. I don't even talk to them about it," Trump said. He noted that he would be the one to decide based on the law ultimately, but Trump admitted it would be "awfully strange to make a decision where I'm paying myself."
Since the day the results came in, the president has contended that he was robbed of his 2020 victory. Though he has never produced definitive proof of those accusations, Trump notably went on to win the 2024 presidential election handily, clinching both the popular vote and the Electoral College. He accomplished this even while the government was busy prosecuting him, and Trump deserves justice for this.
MSNBC host Jen Psaki is being called out for suggesting that Vice President JD Vance's wife, Usha, finds him "scarier" than President Donald Trump and is perhaps a hostage in her own home, Fox News reported. The former White House press secretary made this outrageous claim on the podcast I've Had It, released on Wednesday.
The title of the podcast episode, "Devil Wears MAGA with Jen Psaki," clearly conveys the viewpoint of all involved. Psaki served as the press secretary under then-President Joe Biden, where she was often forced to cover for the feeble-minded commander-in-chief and toe the Democratic Party line.
Now she has a cushy cable news gig because of it, but her unbelievable bias continues to come through in her remarks. This is especially troubling because, as a leftist woman, she is supposed to be supportive of her fellow females in the public eye, but Psaki made the most disparaging comments about Usha Vance and her relationship with her husband.
Psaki and hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan pulled no punches in Tuesday's sitdown, which already had over a million views by the following day. "I think the little Manchurian candidate, JD Vance, wants to be president more than anything else," Psaki said about the vice president.
"I always wonder what's going on in the mind of his wife. Like, are you OK?" she said of Usha Vance, who has been married to JD since 2014. The couple also has three children together.
"Please blink four times. We'll come over here. We'll save you," Psaki added, implying that a woman who made a vow to her husband is somehow now a hostage.
Psaki, who arguably held the highest job in her profession as Biden's mouthpiece, then went on to disparage JD Vance's ambition. "And that he's willing to do anything to get there. And your whole iteration you just outlined, I mean, he's scarier in certain ways in some ways," Psaki went on.
"And he's young and ambitious and agile in the sense that he's a chameleon who makes himself into whatever he thinks the audience wants to hear from him," Psaki added. This remark was more than just a one-off, as it appeared in the episode's tagline.
Although the hosts heartily agreed with Psaki, many other sane Americans did not like what she had to say about the vice president's wife. "Unhinged Jen Psaki is now smearing JD Vance, suggesting that his wife, Usha, wants to leave her husband and offers to 'save' her," the LibsofTikTok account posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
"She also thinks JD Vance is 'scarier' than Donald Trump. @MSNBC should be ashamed to pay her salary," the post added and included the clip from the show.
Amy Curtis, a writer for Town Hall, similarly expressed outrage at Psaki's comments. "Also, this is an absolutely vile thing to say. Usha Vance is happily married," Crutis pointed out in her post to X.
"She made a vow to JD, and those words mean something. It’s also an insult to women who are in actual bad marriages," Curtis concluded.
These people on the left have no limits to their depravity and will attack anyone and everyone in Trump's orbit. What Psaki said was unconscionable, and she should apologize to the Vances and to the American people for such vile remarks.
Actress Cheryl Hines said her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., suggested they pretend to be separated during the contentious 2024 presidential election, The Hill reported. Hines said Kennedy, who is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services, worried that his wife would "take the heat" from the media and his opponents.
During the campaign, Kennedy initially ran to be the Democratic candidate beginning in April 2023. He was looking to unseat the incumbent then-President Joe Biden, but he received severe pushback from his own party.
By October 2023, Kennedy was running as an independent but would drop out of the race and join President Donald Trump's campaign with his agenda to make America healthy again. However, this pivot was not without its pitfalls, and one of them was how his wife would be treated.
"Some people were very upset that I was even married to Bobby. They were vocally coming at me because I’m married to Bobby. So Bobby felt like, ‘You shouldn’t be having to take that heat. So why don’t we just say we’re separated?’” Hines said in an interview with Fox News.
Hines was interviewed ahead of the November 11 release of her memoir Unscripted, where she shared about her marriage and the impact of the campaign. "What needed to happen — and what did happen — is we got closer together," Hines said.
"For a couple to say, ‘Maybe we should just say we’re not with each other anymore and our lives would be easier’ — it’s like, well, things have gotten to that point. That’s pretty dramatic and pretty extreme," the Curb Your Enthusiasm star later told Fox News.
"And that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to write the book … experiences that are very once in a lifetime," she added. It wasn't just political jousting or bad press that the couple had to worry about. In September 2023, a man with a gun pretending to be a U.S. Marshall was arrested in Los Angeles rally for Kennedy.
Given what some have called a family curse after Kennedy's father and uncle were assassianted, Hines was particularly concerned. "I was very fearful for his safety. As most people know, his uncle, John Kennedy, was assassinated. His father, Robert Kennedy, was assassinated while he was running for president," Hines recalled.
"So when Bobby ran for president, it was very stressful. For good reason. I mean, I saw somebody breaking into our house — watching him walk into the backyard — and I see the security guy coming at him with his weapon out. It’s 10:00 in the morning," she added.
The physical threats were bad enough, but Hines has also been subjected to vicious media attacks because of her marriage. Perhaps RFK Jr.'s instincts to protect his wife were spot on, considering the treatment on a recent episode of ABC's The View last week.
Co-host Sunny Hostin attempted to paint Robert Kennedy Jr. as unqualified for his spot in the HHS because he isn't a doctor, though, as Hines pointed out, neither were many of the others who have held the job. "Bobby’s background, everything I have seen him do, he has dedicated his career to suing big corporations because of toxins that are — have been affecting people’s healthcare, people’s health, I should say," Hines said of her husband.
Robert Kennedy Jr. has been at the forefront of environmental lawsuits, particularly in cases where the harmful consequences have been particularly severe. Hostin attempted to criticize Robert Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine skepticism, but Hines countered that her husband merely wants to remove harmful substances from food and medicine. "Even baby formula, we’re finding out there’s arsenic. There’s lead," Hines noted.
Being married to Robert Kennedy Jr. is no easy feat, considering the amount of hatred leveled at him from the people supposedly in his own party. He's also a member of Trump's administration, and that combination makes him and his family a target, no matter what his past politics were.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pushed back Sunday on ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl's comments about "No Kings" protests and the new Pentagon press rules, saying that "this is the modern Democrat party" at work spreading lies and hate.
Karl attempted to take Johnson to task for calling the "No Kings" protests "hate America rallies," saying, "Just on this notion that these are 'hate America' rallies — and you not only talked about anarchists, Antifa advocates, pro-Hamas wing — you said this is the modern Democratic Party. But I remember not that long ago what you said after the murder of Charlie Kirk when you said that we should view fellow Americans, not as our enemies, but as our fellow countrymen."
Johnson said he was trying to warn the public about the "modern Democrat party," which definitely has its "hate America" contingents.
"Look at what's happening in New York," Johnson said, referring to the mayoral candidacy of Zohran Mamdani. "They're about to elect an open socialist Marxist as the mayor of America's largest city."
The exchange followed questions about the Pentagon's new press policy, starting out with Karl characterizing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as being "afraid to interact with journalists who cover him."
"Fear is not part of the secretary of War’s make-up, OK?" Johnson shot back.
Karl criticized Hegseth's requirement that journalists agree to certain conditions to get access, as well as the fact that he has had only two press briefings during his tenure.
Dozens of journalists turned in their badges last week rather than comply with the new requirements.
"I can’t remember, and I don’t think you can either, a secretary of Defense who has been so transparent, out in the open, talking about priorities, principles and things," Johnson said in response.
Karl then swerved to the current government shutdown, demanding to know why Congress isn't in session trying to resolve it.
"The House did its job, exactly a month ago today on September 19. We passed the clean resolution," Johnson anwswered. "The Democrats have voted 11 times, except for three Democrats in the Senate, they voted 11 times to shut down the government and cease and halt those programs," Johnson said.
At one point he circled back to the "No Kings" protests, saying, "If President Trump was a king, the government would be open right now."
While in some ways, the press seems to be getting a little fairer in regards to how they're covering Republicans including Trump, the "No Kings" protests seem to have emboldened them to show their true feelings once again.
As my mom used to say, "This too shall pass." Trump is not a king, and everyone knows it whether they want to admit it or not.
Amid years of scandal and suspicion regarding his ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein, a prominent member of the British royal family has just been forced to take what is surely a most regrettable step.
As Breitbart reports, Prince Andrew, son of the late Queen Elizabeth II and brother of King Charles, has announced that he will cease use of his royal titles and honors conferred upon him, including that of the Duke of York, in the culmination of a staggering fall from grace.
In what some believe is his anticipation of new, damning revelations about his past ties to Epstein by way of a posthumous memoir from alleged victim Virginia Giuffre, Andrew issued a statement last week informing the public of what he characterized as his decision regarding his titles and honors.
“In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” the announcement began.
The statement continued, “I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.”
Andrew added, “With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honors which have been conferred upon me.”
The royal concluded with a defiant note, declaring, “As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Giuffre’s upcoming book contains salacious allegations regarding her interactions with Andrew facilitated by Epstein, details that contradict the prince’s prior public denials, and suggest a far closer relationship than previously acknowledged.
According to NBC News, Andrew’s woes continue to mount, as Metropolitan Police in London are said to be “actively looking into” reports that the prince attempted to wrongfully obtain personal information about Giuffre in a bid to discredit her.
The Mail on Sunday was reportedly informed that Andrew sought assistance from his own police protection officer in probing Giuffre’s background, doing so in advance of the publication of an infamous photo showing him with his arm around the then-17-year-old girl, with Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell also seen in the shot.
“We are aware of media reporting and are actively looking into the claims made,” a police spokesperson stated.
This and other revelations rumored to be imminent appear to have been the final straw regarding Andrew’s status, with the BBC reporting that the royal was under “enormous pressure” from his brother, King Charles, as well as the future king, Prince William, to abandon his titles.
Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, with whom he continues to reside, will no longer be known as the Duchess of York, though their daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, will retain their royal titles, as the New York Post explains.
For now, the disgraced pair will be permitted to remain in their home at Royal Lodge, which is subject to a long-term lease with the Crown Estate, though there have long been rumblings that King Charles – and perhaps also Prince William – would like to end that arrangement as well.