Trump administration Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday morning that it is safe to fly out of Newark Airport even though there have been two radar outages and a ground stop there in the last two weeks.

A 45-minute ground stop was put in place around 12:30 a.m. Sunday that was still causing brief delays (about 19 minutes per flight) on Monday morning.

The ground stop was due to malfunctioning telecommunications equipment at the Philadelphia Airport that affected Newark. Redundancies were followed successfully, but the ground stop was meant to slow things down to make sure that happened.

The incident followed 90-second radar outages on April 18 and May 9, which caused major delays even though the May 9 outage happened at 3:55 a.m.

Reduced flights

Duffy said the number of flights into and out of Newark would be reduced for several weeks while the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigated the incidents.

"I fly out of Newark all the time. My family flies out of Newark," Duffy said. "And just when we saw these two incidents… when we have issues, there are policies and procedures in place for controllers and for pilots. They know what to do. It is not ideal, by any stretch."

Duffy said more money is needed to update outdated equipment and air traffic control towers.

'We have to fix it, though. This is an American issue, and it's going to be an American congressional priority, I think, in this coming year, to get us the money to do the three or four-year build that it's going to take to get this completed,' he said.

"Really old equipment"

Duffy admitted to NBC News that he was "concerned" about the conditions of air space all over the country.

"I'm concerned about the whole airspace, right?' he said. "The equipment that we use, much of it we can't buy parts for new. We have to go on eBay and buy parts if one part goes down. You're dealing with really old equipment. We're dealing with copper wires, not fiber, not high-speed fiber. And so this is concerning."

He felt that the system was still safe for now because of redundancies, but that it should be fixed as soon as possible before it becomes too outdated to fix.

"We have redundancies, multiple redundancies in place to keep you safe when you fly," Duffy insisted. "But we should also recognize we're seeing stress on an old network, and it's time to fix it."

Duffy understood that reducing flights through Newark would impact travelers in New York, America's largest city.

"I hate delays," he admitted, but said it was a matter of safety, and that was more important.

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his plans to dramatically downsize the federal workforce, though his efforts have faced an onslaught of pushback in the courts.

In a noteworthy setback for Trump and broader GOP desires for greater government efficiency, a federal judge last week put a temporary pause on an administration move that would have laid off tens of thousands of employees, as Fox News reports.

Temporary block issued

The decision at issue was handed down by California-based U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, and it resulted in a 14-day stop on a wave of planned layoffs at multiple government agencies.

Illston's ruling came on the same day she heard arguments on the request for injunctive relief, and in it, the judge declared that the Trump move lacked necessary involvement from Congress, as NBC News noted.

“The President has the authority to seek changes to the executive branch agencies, but he must do so in lawful ways and, in the case of large-scale reorganizations, with the cooperation of the legislative branch,” Illston wrote.

The judge continued, “Many presidents have sought this cooperation before; many iterations of Congress have provided it. Nothing prevents the President from requesting this cooperation -- as he did in his prior term of office.”

Illston added, “Indeed, the Court holds the President likely must request Congressional cooperation to order the changes he seeks and thus issues a temporary restraining order to pause large-scale reductions in force in the meantime.”

Order's immediate impact

The judge's order puts a block – at least for now – on cuts planned by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management, as well as the Transportation, Interior, and Housing and Urban Development Departments.

Reductions were planned across 21 distinct departments and agencies, and as such, Illston's ruling represents a significant setback for Trump's downsizing agenda.

The restraining order will be in place for two weeks, and it embodies Illston's stated belief that no statutory authority exists that would provide the aforementioned administration arms to force other government agencies to initiate mass layoffs of this nature.

“Such action is far outside the bounds of any authority that Congress vested in OPM or OMB, and, as noted, DOGE has no statutory authority whatsoever,”' she determined.

Whether Illston's block will endure for the stated time period remains to be seen, as administration lawyers filed an appeal of the ruling late on Friday, seeking review by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Next steps awaited

The coalition of unions, nonprofit organizations, and local governments opposing the Trump workforce reduction move issued a statement reacting to the ruling, saying, “The Trump administration's unlawful attempt to reorganize the federal government has thrown agencies into chaos, disrupting critical services provided across our nation,” adding, “We are gratified by the court's decision today to pause these harmful actions while our case proceeds.”

Illston, a Bill Clinton appointee, has scheduled further arguments in the dispute on May 22, and precisely where this case will go from there, only time will tell.

A woman spat on acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin during a live TV appearance Thursday, the Daily Caller reported. Martin was speaking to Newsmax after President Donald Trump withdrew his nomination for top federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C.

Despite having no experience as a judge or attorney, Trump tapped him for his loyalty in firing prosecutors who went after defendants from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. However, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) threatened to vote against his nomination for precisely those reasons.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) realized this would hold up Martin's nomination, which would not proceed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. With Martin out, Trump tapped Jeanine Pirro, former District Attorney of Westchester County and Fox News host, instead.

For his part, Martin was moved to associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney while also running the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group. That didn't stop a crazed woman from taking aim at Martin after the news already broke.

The Attack

Martin was giving a live interview to Newsmax about the changes when he was approached on the street by a woman walking a dog. "Who the f— are you?" she yelled.

"You are Ed Martin," she said, realizing who the official was. She then walked right up to and spat at an unsuspecting Martin.

"You are a disgusting man," the unnamed assailant claimed, despite being the one to hurl spittle at him. The clip was shared to X, formerly Twitter, by Rob Schmitt.

"This afternoon acting DC US Atty Ed Martin was spit on by a psychotic lib during our interview. Hope she’s ready for a nice stretch in jail," Schmitt captioned the footage.

Justice Is Coming

This woman's attack was brazen and caught on video. It didn't take long for her to be identified and on her way to getting punished for such action against a government official.

The story was shared to X by conservative commentator Benny Johnson on Friday. "BREAKING NEWS: Trump's Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed Martin just confirmed to me that the feral leftist woman who spit on him LIVE during a Newsmax interview is being ARRESTED: 'Yes, we got her,'" Johnson's caption claimed.

"She has been identified by U.S. Marshals, arrested and will be charged under 18 U.S. Code § 111. She is facing 20 years in federal prison for knowingly assaulting a federal official and potentially millions in legal fines. This is JUSTICE in action," Johnson added.

The left is out of control in their hatred for Republicans and especially anyone associated with Trump. If they truly found the identity of this woman who allegedly spat at Martin, she will face prison time and more.

James Carville is sounding alarm bells after footage resurfaced of "Squad" member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) ranting against White men, Fox News reported. The Democratic Party strategist says Omar and her ilk "are more trouble than they're worth" for the party.

In 2018, Omar made a racially charged assertion against White men while speaking to Al Jazeera. "Our country should be more fearful of White men because they are causing most of the deaths within this country," Omar claimed.

"We should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of White men," Omar asserted. The video was recently reshared throughout social media, including on X under the Libs of TikTok account.

Poor Strategy

While speaking at the Sir Harry Evans Investigative Journalism Summit in London, Carville acknowledged just how terrible Omar is for the Democratic Party. "Ilhan Omar says that White men are responsible for most of the deaths in the United States," Carville reiterated.

"So let me get this straight, 69% of the people — why I’m stuck on that number, I don’t know — but 69% of the people going to vote are White. Of that, 48.5 are males," he added.

"So, I don’t know, my rough math is 33%? That’s a lot of pissed-off 33% of people that vote, and that’s a smart strategy?" Carville went on.

"And there are people that agree with her! There are people that actually agree with her!" Carville said incredulously.

"And I think it’s, honestly, I think these people are more trouble than they’re worth," he added. Indeed, Omar recently went viral with another offensive move after she told Myles Morell from the Daily Caller News Foundation to "f--- off."

Words Have Consequences

Omar is no stranger to controversy and making enemies, but Vice President J.D. Vance was particularly incensed by Omar's remarks. "This isn’t just sick; it’s actually genocidal language," Vance said on social media.

"What a disgrace this person is," he added. After receiving such criticism, Omar doubled down on her remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital and upped the ante.

"In this nearly 8yr old clip, I am referring to the rise of white nationalism in an annual report issued by the Anti-Defamation League that said White supremacists were responsible for 78 percent of ‘extremist-related murders.' PS you should look up what ‘genocidal’ actually means when you’re actively supporting a genocide taking place in Gaza," Omar said.

Besides her diatribe against White men, Omar is also often fond of making antisemitic remarks. In fact, Omar has been censured by her colleagues for making offensive remarks against Jewish people.

Omar is a lawmaker who is supposed to represent the people who voted for her in Minnesota. Instead, she represents the worst kind of bigotry and hatred for others, and Carville is right that it will be Democrats' undoing.

White House Border czar Tom Homan issued a warning to "Squad" member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) about continuing to help illegal immigrants evade deportation, Fox News reported. Homan said that the "tables have now turned."

Homan appeared on The Ingraham Angle Tuesday to speak out against Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk. Last week, the leftist lawmaker held a town hall event in Queens where she taunted Homan about her flippant disregard for immigration law.

This comes after her office also hosted a February "Know Your Rights" webinar to help illegal immigrants evade capture. Homan indicated he is not taking these actions lightly.

He Means Business

Whether she is aiming for political clout or seriously telling illegal immigrants how to break the law, Ocasio-Cortez is playing a dangerous game. Homan did not take kindly to her latest stunt and called her out on it.

"I take pleasure [that] I can live in her mind rent-free every day, but we all know exactly what she's doing. She's educating the worst of the worst [on] how do we evade law enforcement," Homan said.

"But the tables have now turned. She's educating people how to get prosecuted, because you have a final order," Homan said, referring to the last step of the legal process to deport an illegal immigrant.

"It is illegal not to comply with that order. It's a crime to take steps to... not comply with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] removal orders or not comply with ICE actions taken in custody," Homan warned.

"You can't hinder your own removal that was ordered by the federal judge. I would like AOC to read Title 8, United States Code 1253 because it's starting tomorrow," he added.

Ocasio-Cortez Plays Chicken

As an elected official, Ocasio-Cortez surely knows that her role in helping lawbreakers evade capture is a crime. Still, she publicly proclaimed her intention to flout the law and help others do the same at her town hall meeting Friday.

"Tom Homan said he was going to refer me to the DOJ because I’m using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutional protections. To that I say: Come for me, do I look like I care?" Ocasio-Cortez said.

She taunted Homan, stating that there is "nothing illegal about it and if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me." However, Homan is not going to budge in this game of chicken that the two are playing.

"Game's over. We're going to look for these public safety threats, and we're going to take them off those streets in New York and every other sanctuary city," Homan said, vowing to prosecute anyone standing in the way of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Ocasio-Cortez and other leftists are brazenly encouraging others to flout immigration law because they think there will be no consequences. However, Homan doesn't seem to be a man to trifle with, and she may soon find out just how serious he is.

Democrats peppered Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with tough questions at a hearing for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Breitbart reported. Noem discussed issues such as budget cuts, immigration, and REAL ID travel requirements.

The hearing occurred on Tuesday as Noem faced the panel of four Democrats and seven Republicans. She defended President Donald Trump's positions and her own actions on several key issues.

The wide-ranging topics included Noem defending recent budget cuts and the immigration crackdown currently underway. There was also news on the REAL ID front, which has hit some snags in implementation.

Budget and immigration issues

As Spectrum News reported, Noem was asked about reducing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's budget by $491 million. "Despite the growing cyber threats, your budget cuts nearly half a billion dollars—half a billion dollars from the main agency charged with protecting our federal network," Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) charged.

Noem explained that it was reshifting priorities rather than cutting something necessary. "So in CISA, instead of doing censorship, misinformation and disinformation, they are back to securing our critical infrastructure," Noem explained.

She said it was the same thing for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, explaining that Trump "wants to eliminate FEMA as it exists today and to have states have more control over their emergency management response." Democrats challenged Noem on the cuts, but they clearly thought immigration was a winning issue.

Underwood pressed Noem on whether the government was able to deport American citizens. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) similarly took that line of questioning, referencing deported citizens who decided to take their American-born children with them.

"No, and we are not deporting U.S. citizens," Noem explained. "The specific cases that you're referencing with these children, it was the parents' choice to take their children, which is the policy of the Trump administration to keep families together," Noem said, destroying the narrative.

REAL ID

Noem also fielded questions about the REAL ID requirement that the Associated Press noted would go into effect Wednesday. All airplane travel, including domestic, requires a passport or a compliant identification card or driver's license.

This comes from a 2005 law that was a recommendation after the 9/11 Commission investigation. The thought is that state-issued identification documents must comply with uniform federal standards for national security purposes in travel and entering certain federal buildings.

During Tuesday's hearing, Noem announced that travelers without a REAL ID "may be diverted to a different line, have an extra step" at airports, but wouldn't be denied access to travel. "But people will be allowed to fly," Noem assured the public.

"We will make sure it’s as seamless as possible," she added. Although Noem said nearly 81% of Americans wishing to travel have the complaint IDs, many have worried about the problems it might cause for those who don't in the interim.

Noem handled herself like a pro during the onslaught of pointed questions. Officials in the Trump administration, including Noem, are doing a phenomenal job implementing and explaining his agenda.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit Friday against Colorado and the city of Denver for providing sanctuary for illegal immigrants, the UK Daily Mail reported. Attorney General Pam Bondi previously pursued legal action against Chicago, Illinois, and Rochester, New York, for the same reason.

The Department of Justice asserted the federal government's authority in immigration law in its legal filing. "The United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters," the lawsuit said.

Bondi said that the state's lack of cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. The Justice Department attorneys believe that the state's "sanctuary policies" contributed to the gang takeover of an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado.

Democrats downplayed the fact that the Tren de Aragua gang occupied at least five buildings in The Edge at Lowry in the suburban area just outside of Denver. In February, the structures were condemned due to the dangerous situation the gang's occupation created.

Dire situation

President Donald Trump made illegal immigration a central issue during the campaign. At a presidential debate in September, Trump warned about the dire situation at The Edge at Lowry.

"We have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums. You see what's happening with towns throughout the United States. You look at Springfield, Ohio. You look at Aurora in Colorado," Trump said at the time, USA Today reported.

"They are taking over the towns. They're taking over buildings. They're going in violently," Trump added before blaming then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris for the situation.

"These are the people that she and Biden let into our country, and they're destroying our country. They're dangerous. They're at the highest level of criminality, and we have to get them out," Trump said during the debate with Harris, who was his Democratic opponent.

Although Democrats and their media accomplices attempted to deny this fact at the time, it was announced in January that the buildings would close the following month. This is all because the state chose to protect illegal immigrants over its citizens.

The victims

The residents who once called the apartment complex home finally had their say during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on April 1. One of those was Cindy Romero, who was forced out by the rampant and dangerous gang activity.

"I am a wife, a mother of five, a grandmother of three, a part-time worker and student, and a former resident of Aurora, Colorado. I am one of the many victims across the nation of the violent transnational terrorist organization Tren de Aragua and a former lifelong Democrat," she told the committee.

Her testimony was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Libs of TikTok. "They brought prostitutes, drugs, guns, and crime. The police were instructed to ignore pleas for help. Remember when the media and Democrats said this wasn’t happening?" the caption noted.

It's about time the people of Aurora, Colorado, and other sanctuary areas to see justice being served. Much to the chagrin of the Democrats, Bondi will continue to go after these places to right the wrongs, just as voters hoped when pulling the lever for Trump.

President Donald Trump has permanently ended the National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s experimentation on beagles, closing the agency's last experimentation lab over the weekend.

NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya announced the closure during an interview with Fox News's Rachel Campos-Duffy, which you can watch here:

Policy change

Bhattacharya said the move was part of a broader policy change that replaced animal experimentation with AI and other technologies that better mimic human health.

“It’s very easy, for instance, to cure Alzheimer’s in mice. But those things don’t translate to humans,” Bhattacharya said.

Bhattacharya acknowledged that people have had a hard time trusting the NIH since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the organization pushed school lockdowns and vaccines way too hard.

He didn't say it, but the Chinese facility where the virus most likely came from got funding from the NIH, which may be another reason why Americans are mistrustful of the NIH.

The experiments

The NIH confirmed the policy change on social media, saying it has begun an “initiative to expand innovative, human-based science while reducing animal use in research, including getting rid of all the beagle experiments on the NIH campus.”

The watchdog group White Coat Waste said that the NIH has killed 2,100 beagles since 1986 in septic shock experiments.

“The NIH pumps pneumonia-causing bacteria into beagles’ lungs, bleeds them out, and forces dogs into septic shock,” the group's report stated. “After four days of infection, NIH kills the beagles—and stuffs their bodies into a refrigerator.”

“We applaud the President for cutting this wasteful NIH spending and will keep fighting until we defund all dog labs at home and abroad," the group said.

Scandal

Other experiments on beagles that involved infesting puppies with ticks at Kansas City University became a big scandal in 2021 and turned public opinion against then-director Anthony Fauci.

DOGE has been looking for wasteful spending, and these experiments certainly don't need to be publicly funded.

If scientists want to kill beagles after torturing them, let them find someone in the private sector to fund it, if they can.

Liberals in Congress have been standing in strong opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration agenda ever since he took office in January, and one particularly outspoken lawmaker is ratcheting up the rhetoric and seemingly looking for a fight.

As Breitbart reports, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) essentially challenged the Trump administration border czar to seek charges against her for a February webinar in which she arguably provided advice on how to skirt Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigations.

Controversial webinar unfolds

It was several months ago that the office of Ocasio-Cortez hosted the aforementioned “Know Your Rights” live webinar, providing advice to migrants on what to do if they find themselves under ICE enforcement scrutiny, as Fox News noted at the time.

Included in the presentation was information on how to respond if ICE officials appeared at migrants' homes or workplaces and warnings of potential “ruses” used to secure compliance with search demands.

The target audience was urged to record interactions with ICE and to learn the differences between types of warrants and searches conducted by the agency.

Though the congresswoman was not a direct participant in the presentation of information, she did write with regard to its content, “Our strategic advantage in this moment is our strength in numbers. It is time to use it. In nearly every way, we outnumber those who want to abuse their power and keep people in fear,” telling constituents that “if ICE comes to your workplace or home, whether you are a citizen or noncitizen -- YOU can defend your community and our constitution by exercising your right.”

The involvement of Ocasio-Cortez drew the attention of Homan, who then said during a Fox News appearance, “Is that impeding our law enforcement efforts? If so, what are we going to do about it? Is she crossing the line? So, I'm working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So, maybe AOC's gonna be in trouble now.”

AOC fires back

Shortly after Homan made his remarks, AOC offered a snarky retort to the border czar, saying, “Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start.”

During a town hall meeting last week, Ocasio-Cortez came back to the question of whether Homan was seriously pursuing prosecution over her involvement with the webinar.

AOC stated, “Tom Homan said he was going to refer me to DOJ because I'm using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutional protections. To that I say: 'Come for me, do I look like I care?'”

She pressed her point further by declaring there to have been “nothing illegal about it, and if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me.”

In addition to defiance with regard to Homan, AOC has ramped up her rhetoric about Trump's agenda more broadly, suggesting that his administration's removals of Venezuelan gang members has been akin to “sanctioned kidnappings.”

What comes next?

Law professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley has commented negatively on the prospect of AOC's prosecution over the webinar controversy, saying that it would amount to “an assault on free speech rights,” but the administration continues to express a hardline stance against those who would willfully interfere with the work of ICE.

With the issuance of an executive order by Trump last week designed to identify and possibly halt funding to sanctuary cities that thwart local cooperation with federal immigration authorities, it is quite clear that the administration is not backing down when it comes to its enforcement efforts, and confrontations such as the one between Homan and AOC are only likely to grow.

President Donald Trump's administration has revoked permission for Romania in the Visa Waiver Program due to national security and other concerns, Breitbart reported. Then-President Joe Biden added the nation on his way out of office.

The program allows foreign nationals from certain friendly countries admission into the U.S. for up to 90 days without securing a visa. The nations allowed in the program must have fewer than 3% of admitted individuals overstay their visits in the U.S. annually.

Biden added Romania to the program in January as he was leaving office. It was supposed to go into effect in March, but was under review.

Romania's overstay rate was 2.61% in 2024, down from 9% in 2023, 13% in 2022, and 17% in 2021. The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security officially announced the revocation of Romania's permission on Friday.

Growing Concerns

The VWP has become another system to exploit for criminals from the nations admitted to the program, including European nations. Even the 9/11 Commission Staff Report noted the potential for abuse and advised against its continuation.

Gangs of robbers from foreign countries have gamed the system to steal from wealthy Americans without worrying about obtaining visas to get into the U.S. Despite these known problems, the number of nations included has increased under just about every U.S. president since 1986.

However, the problem for Romania goes beyond the run-of-the-mill issues of other unchecked visitors. The Trump administration pointed to Romania's recent presidential election debacle.

"The Administration notes with increasing concern the recent developments across Europe of democratic backsliding. Efforts to suppress the will of the people draw into question the strength of our shared values," a senior White House official said.

"Healthy democracies do not fear opposing perspectives. Concerted efforts to delegitimize certain political perspectives draw a striking resemblance to the American experience that President Trump faced, including lawfare and censorship," the unnamed official added.

Romania's Election Woes

According to Fox News, Romania's election authority canceled the results of the country's presidential election due to concerns about Russian interference in the election. In this month's do-over, the authority completely shut out frontrunner Calin Georgescu.

"A direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide! I have one message left! If democracy in Romania falls, the entire democratic world will fall!" Georgescu warned in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on March 9. "This is just the beginning. It’s that simple! Europe is now a dictatorship, Romania is under tyranny!"

Vice President J.D. Vance echoed the warning. The vice president said "it looks more and more like old, entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation, who simply don't like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election."

The visa program has its own pitfalls, and Trump was certainly correct in limiting the nations that are allowed to participate. However, the injustice in the nation's elections presents another dimension to kick them out of the program, full stop.

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