Posts on Sunday, March 16, 2025

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 16 that the Trump administration had sent more than 250 Venezuelans accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang to a prison in El Salvador amid an active federal court ruling ordering the deportation flights to cease. Rubio said El Salvador has agreed to hold the gang members “in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save ... taxpayer dollars,” (snip) Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted a video to X on March 16 showing agents leading men in handcuffs off a plane at night and into a prison. Prison officials are also shown shaving the prisoners’ heads.

The Houthi have said they will ban US vessels from navigation of the southern Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Gulf Aden, and that it will target US Navy ships in response to US airstrikes on Yemen. US attacks on Yemen on March 15 have claimed 53 lives, according to the Houthi, as US president Trump increased military action to reopen the Red Sea to commercial shipping. Posting on Truth Social, the US president said: “The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt, and attacking the core principle

As we’ve been reporting, President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act against members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and promptly put over 200 of them on a plane to be taken to El Salvador. While the flight was still in the air, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered a temporary restraining order preventing the deportation of any Venezuelans—and he also demanded that the plane turn around and return the gangsters to the U.S. (Attorney General Pam Bondi has already appealed the ruling.) The Trump administration ignored the order, however, and the gangbangers were unloaded Sunday

Amid continuing distrust of the Chinese regime’s data on infectious diseases and vaccination deaths, anecdotal reports from residents and health care professionals across China suggest an unusual number of deaths among millennials this winter season. Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics does not regularly publish data on mortality rates. Because of the regime’s record of publishing unreliable data, including its underreporting of COVID-19 infections in early 2020, analysts and the public often resort to relying on anecdotal evidence. In February, individuals working in China’s disease prevention and control sector told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times that the regime is likely underreporting the recent COVID-19 and bird flu

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared on "Sunday Morning Futures" with host Maria Bartiromo and promised an “unrelenting” campaign against Houthi militants if they keep targeting ships in the Red Sea. As we reported, President Trump ordered heavy attacks against the radical Islamist group in Yemen Saturday, killing numerous terrorists and damaging their infrastructure. Hegseth vowed that this will only be the beginning if the Iran-back proxies keep threatening crucial shipping lanes and attacking American targets: "The minute the Houthis say 'we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones,' this campaign will end, but until then, it will be unrelenting,"

The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise. "The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country," Saree said, vowing the Houthis "will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships

President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Friday that seeks to dismantle eight federal agencies, with the latest action building on his prior directive to eliminate elements of the federal bureaucracy deemed “unnecessary.” The president’s March 14 order directs the agencies to shut down all non-legally required functions, cut staff, and reduce statutory roles to the bare minimum required by law. He has given agency heads seven days to report compliance to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)—or justify the continued existence of whichever functions still remain.

Three months into his second term, President Trump hit the highest approval rating he’s ever had as commander-in-chief — while more Americans say the country is on the right track than at any point since 2004, a new poll found. That’s the good news, according to an NBC News Poll released Sunday. The bad news is that Trump still has not won over a majority of Americans, and 54% said they disapprove of his handling of the economy — the first time he’s lost a majority on that issue in NBC’s poll. Even so, the survey found that voters generally feel Trump is bringing “the right kind

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) went after Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) for criticizing recent Democratic party tactics. In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Jake Tapper confronted Crockett about the widely-mocked “Choose Your Fighter” TikTok video — which was slammed by Fetterman as “bizarre.” (Snip) “He’s not the one to talk about anything,” Crockett said. “I mean, this is a guy that doesn’t seemingly want to own a suit. own a suit, I’m not really sure. But I don’t show up in hoodies when I’m going on the floor.” The Texas congresswoman defended the video — in which six

A host of federal law enforcement agencies banded together with ICE to carry out deportation raids as part of Operation Take Back America within four days that ended on Friday. The United States Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Kentucky announced the arrest of 81 illegal aliens, 25 of whom now face various federal criminal charges. The operation, coordinated out of Louisville, netted illegal aliens from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, India, and Palau. Twenty-five illegal aliens among those arrested are now facing criminal charges, including unlawful reentry after deportation or removal, illegal possession of firearms, and possession of controlled substances.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has slammed the Trump administration’s decision to expel South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, calling it a “racist” and “Islamophobic” act of retaliation for his country’s stance against Israel. On Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool “persona non grata” after the ambassador accused President Trump of promoting white supremacy. The South African official’s remarks came a mere week after Trump said the country “is being terrible” to its farmers and announced that farmers seeking to flee for safety reasons “will be invited into the United States of America with a rapid pathway to citizenship.” Rubio made the announcement in a social media post,

President Donald Trump’s deputies deported 261 criminal migrants to detention centers in El Salvador, beating a U.S. judge’s desperate attempt to block the international enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws. Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, for accepting 238 Venezuelan migrants: We have sent 2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador. Also, as promised by @POTUS, we sent over 250 alien enemy members of Tren de Aragua which El Salvador has agreed to hold in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollars.

The Democratic Party has reached an all-time low in popularity in the latest national NBC News poll, as it searches for a path forward after a painful loss to President Donald Trump — and as the party’s voters spoil for a fight between their leaders in Washington and Trump. Just over a quarter of registered voters (27%) say they have positive views of the party, which is the party’s lowest positive rating in NBC News polling dating back to 1990. Just 7% say those views are “very” positive. “With these numbers, the Democratic Party is not in need of a rebrand. It needs to be rebooted,”

Severe weather has left over 30 people dead early Sunday after slamming into parts of the United States. AccuWeather reported in an update 12 people died in Missouri, eight in Kansas, three in Arkansas, six in Mississippi, three in Texas, and one in Oklahoma. The storms blew in over the past three days bringing winds, large hail, tornadoes, and flooding to more than 20 states and millions of people. “At least six new deaths and 29 injuries are being reported in Mississippi as a new round of severe weather ripped through the United States Saturday night into Sunday,” the outlet said.

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has been met with an unprecedented legal onslaught from far-left activist judges and radical groups determined to sabotage his administration at every turn. These rogue judges—many appointed by Clinton, Obama, and Biden—have launched a relentless legal coup to undermine the will of the American people and prevent Trump from carrying out his constitutional duties. Appearing on The War Room with Steve Bannon, Josh Hammer, Senior Counsel for the Article III Project, warned that what America is witnessing is no ordinary judicial activism—it’s a full-blown judicial insurrection. So far this year, President Trump has faced 125 legal challenges in just two months.

Because the US is tired of subsidizing the Canadian economy while also guaranteeing their security, President Donald J. Trump has floated the shockingly unexpected idea of annexing Canada as ‘the 51st state’. The idea fell like a bomb in the great white north, and in a first poll, more than 10% of the population is already behind it. In some Canadian provinces like Alberta, the idea is gaining ground. Bison farmer Don Casselman worries that Canada is doomed and, if Alberta is to save itself, it must break away and become a US state.

A video of former President Barack Obama discussing the "tough decisions" involved in cutting massive government waste and going "after every dime" has resurfaced, prompting comparisons to President Trump and Elon Musk's efforts today. The clip, posted by the White House in June of 2011, features Obama announcing a new effort to cut government waste. Viewers couldn't help but notice the similarities between his comments and today's efforts by Musk and his crew at DOGE. "Everyone knows that getting rid of the deficit will require some tough decisions. And that includes cutting back on billions of dollars in programs that a lot of people care about," Obama explains.

A few years ago, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared that the EU wanted to "take a more active role in the Indo-Pacific." Now, the future of that commitment is in doubt as Europe is set to undergo a once-in-a-generation rearmament drive. The United States under President Donald Trump has mused out loud about rolling back security guarantees, potentially leaving European states to shoulder the burden of an uncertain ceasefire in Ukraine and, eventually, other conflicts sparked by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We are in an era of rearmament," von der Leyen said on March 4, as the Commission launched the "ReArm Europe" program, which aims to mobilize around €800 billion

The first seven weeks of President Donald Trump‘s second presidency have been as frantic and unpredictable as any term we’ve seen. The perpetual pace, driven by Trump taking questions from reporters on an almost daily basis, has kept Democrats scrambling to coalesce around messages attacking the president’s agenda. Frustrated and helpless, Democrats are being led by raw emotion to oppose Trump reflexively at every turn, including when the party is on the wrong side of every 80/20 matter.

The autopen affair is an incredible scandal. As we reported, many of Joe Biden's signatures on documents -- including on things like pardons -- were allegedly signed by an autopen. The Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project did a deep dive into Biden signatures and said most of what they saw was done by autopen. That raised many questions: had he even approved them, and were they valid? Then an updated story came out with a NY Post report where an unnamed aide was suspected of using the autopen without it being clear if Biden had approved.

President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador sends a reactionary message to federal Judge James Boasberg who had demanded all of the criminal gang members deported by President Trump be returned to the United States. Using his X Account, Bukele says, “Oopsie, too late.” El Salvador has taken custody of the criminals and put them in maximum security prison, a Terrorism Confinement Center. The President also shared a video of the repatriation.

The left is desperate to convince America that President Trump has no mandate, that he’s dividing the country, and that voters don’t support his efforts. They repeat these claims repeatedly, hoping that if they say it enough, people will believe it. But there’s just one problem. They’re wrong on every single count. A political mandate comes from the people, not the media, not the establishment, and certainly not the loudest voices on Twitter. The 2024 election results made one thing abundantly clear: the American people chose strength, leadership, and results over the chaos and incompetence of the left.

There’s a reason Democrats hate the free flow of information on X, Facebook, and other social media, and it’s not just that they simply hate hearing differing opinions, though that’s the result. If people think for themselves – and the more effective way to empower people to do that is to give them as much information as possible and allow them to draw their own conclusions – what they advocate for would be laughed off the stage. They’d never win another election, except in places where they fully control the education system and have created a welfare-dependent economy.

There’s no way to sugarcoat this for our friends on the left: the Democratic Party is imploding. After their humiliating defeat in the government funding battle, a devastating new CNN poll shows the party's favorability has cratered to an abysmal 29%—the lowest since 1992. The numbers don’t lie; this is a spectacular fall from grace. The party has hemorrhaged support, suffering a jaw-dropping 20-point collapse in favorability since January 2021, when Joe Biden was inaugurated. Even their own base is abandoning ship, with Democratic Party favorability among supporters plummeting from 81% to a pathetic 63%. Democrats can't even keep their own house in order.

How bad was the defeat Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer suffered in the spending bill battle? So bad that the left-wing media can’t even spin it as a victory. “Schumer, Facing Backlash From Democrats, Says He’ll Take ‘the Bullets,’ ” one New York Times headline reads. “[Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez [below, near right] Lashes Out at Schumer Over His Support for G.O.P. Measure,” says another. Axios reports that “House Dems go into ‘complete meltdown’ as Schumer folds.” President Trump’s march through the Washington swamp is producing enormous changes each day, and we can add to the list his reversal of the usual dynamic of shutdown politics.

It will not come as a surprise to CTH readers to hear the name Judge James Boasberg associated with efforts to protect the institutional interests of a corrupt DC deep state. Boasberg has a long, very long, and well documented history of protecting the DC apparatus {CTH Archives on Boasberg HERE}. On Saturday, without giving the Trump administration any time to respond, Judge Boasberg issued an immediate temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking DHS,(snip) and ICE from deporting illegal aliens and narcotrafficking gang members belonging to Tren de Aragua (TdA), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Boasberg ordered the flights of criminal gang members to turn around and immediately

Let's face it. Kamala Harris was a lousy presidential candidate. Candidates often have flaws. Some are weak on policy. Some are weak on performance. Some are weak on presentation. But she was bad on all of those things. There's a new book out that's gives us a great example of the problems with Harris. According to an excerpt, Harris' campaign insisted that she could only be seated in chairs that "met certain specifications": An excerpt from “FIGHT: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, published in The Hill, detailed the strict seating arrangements.

In a report with “exclusive details,” the New York Post writes today, Texas nonprofit housing migrant kids took $3B in grants from Biden admin — and boosted executive salaries up to 139% — before Trump pulled plug The nonprofit in question, the Austin, TX-based Southwest Key Programs, has been around for decades, but as the Post shows, their operations exploded under the multi-billion-dollar Biden grant. The group’s CEO now earns almost $1.2 million a year. And how did that turn out? The Post reports, At the same time, Southwest Key was hit with investigations — and a federal lawsuit — that alleged some migrant kids in its care were sexually abused by employees or

Poor Hunter Biden. First, his meal ticket father leaves office and disappears from public view (for which blessing many of us are breathing a sigh of relief), then his California house burns up, along with a bunch of his "priceless" art. The guy just can't catch a break. On Saturday, we learned that Hunter's woes are worsening. He was facing an uncomfortable deposition in California, but a kindly judge allowed that case to be dismissed as Hunter's too broke to continue. So now the poverty-stricken former First Son has jetted off to Cape Town, South Africa, accompanied by his Secret Service retinue, to suffer from his poverty

A court ordered Starbucks on Friday to pay $50 million in damages to a delivery driver who was severely burned by spilled beverages, CNN reported. The jury in California sided with Michael Garcia, who was picking up drinks in a drive-through in Los Angeles when he was handed beverages with improperly secured lids. According to the lawsuit filed in the California Superior Court in 2020, he “suffered severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals when hot drinks ultimately spilled” on his lap. The lawsuit ultimately accused the coffee chain of breaching its duty of care by not securing the lids, according to the report.

Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ) might no longer be a US Senator, but that doesn’t mean she will keep her mouth shut, especially when there is an opportunity to shove it in the faces of her former colleagues. Sinema was brutalized for not going along with the Senate Democrats’ initial plan of removing the legislative filibuster. This week, Democrats learned the value of the 60-vote threshold in limiting debate on legislation with the continuing resolution that will keep the government open for another six months as congressional Republicans hash out the budget reconciliation package. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) killed the first cloture vote and caved on

A federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump on Saturday from invoking the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without a hearing – ordering any flights carrying the supposed criminals to turn around. US District judge James Boasberg quickly ordered the Trump administration to halt all removals after the commander in chief signed off on a presidential action invoking the 1798 law – aimed at targeting Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, The Washington Post reported. The chief judge in the District of Columbia said he heard that “flights are actively departing”

There are almost 700 federal district court judges. I say “almost,” because while officially there are 677 of them, some retired judges have taken senior status and may sit from time to time on cases, so the figure is inexact on any given day. Since President Trump was sworn in for a second term, there have been an avalanche of cases seeking relief from executive actions. Last month alone district court judges issued 15 temporary restraining orders. “That’s more nationwide injunctions than there were issued for the first three YEARS of the Biden Administration. District court judges are out of control.“

SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission successfully docked at the International Space Station on Sunday morning, setting the stage to finally retrieve the two NASA astronauts who have been stuck in orbit for months. The Space-X space capsule docked at the ISS at 12:05 a.m. EST Sunday morning after lifting off Friday from Florida. Video feed showing Crew-10’s dramatic docking onto the ISS was shared live on X. Astronaut Sunita Williams is seen shortly after the crew docked early Sunday. One camera showed the docking from the perspective of the ISS, with Crew-10 approaching as a cloudy atmosphere over Australia rotates in the background.