Education Secretary Linda McMahon Makes Historic Visit To Jewish Day School

Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited an Orthodox Jewish Day School in Miami, the first education secretary to do so in years. McMahon reaffirmed this administration's commitment to fighting antisemitism and ensuring Jewish students feel safe on campus. Yehuda Kaploun helped facilitate the visit and joined One America's Stella Escobedo to talk about the historic visit.

Two Brothers And Roommate Of Laken Riley’s Killer, Jose Ibarra, To Be Deported

This undated image provided by Augusta University shows Laken Hope Riley, a nursing student whose body was found Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Ga., after not returning from a run. (Augusta University via AP, File) / (R) Jose Ibarra. (Photo via: Clarke County Sheriff’s Office)

OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
3:26 PM – Thursday, March 20, 2025

According to federal authorities, two brothers of the Venezuelan illegal alien who attacked and murdered 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, will be deported along with their former roommate — after entering a guilty plea to being in possession of fraudulent green cards.

In a case that turned into a hot spot over illegal immigration, Jose Ibarra, 27, was found guilty in November of murder and other charges related to Riley’s death. He was given a life sentence without the prospect of release.

According to the Justice Department, his brother, Diego Ibarra, 29, was arrested after providing a fake green card to a police officer investigating the February 2024 murder.

A news release from the department explained that agents also discovered fake Social Security cards for Jose Ibarra’s brother, Argenis Ibarra, 25, and roommate Rosbelis Flores-Bello, 29, in the apartment they lived in with Diego and Jose.

Additionally, the brothers admitted to police that they had fraudulent green cards in their possession.

Diego Ibarra pleaded guilty in July to two charges of possessing a fraudulent document and was sentenced on Wednesday to four years in federal prison. After serving his term, the department said he will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation.

Argenis and Flores-Bello pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a fraudulent document, and on Wednesday, they were each sentenced.

The news release stated that they would be handed over to ICE for deportation immediately. However, those deportation measures were not explained in detail in the announcement.

Diego Ibarra’s numerous “gang-affiliated” tattoos and social media posts showing him holding up gang signs while dressed in certain attire have led federal officials to conclude that he is connected to the Venezuelan group Tren de Aragua (TdA), which has been responsible for a slew of robberies, kidnappings, drug smuggling, sex trafficking, and allegedly shooting two New York Police officers — according to InSight Crime.

“[After illegally entering the U.S.] Tren de Aragua began to systematically exploit Venezuelan migrants, charging them money and clandestinely taking them to Colombia,” InSight Crime reported. “They began taking control of various nodes of the human trafficking market with the objective of sexual exploitation.”

However, a number of American citizens have also suffered at the hands of TATP members as well, such as Laken Riley.

“Violent criminal organizations and transnational gangs like Tren de Aragua are a plague upon our communities that rely on fear and violence to reign terror on hardworking, law-abiding residents,” stated HSI Dallas Acting Special Agent in Charge Travis Pickard. “By coming together as a law enforcement community to successfully locate and arrest these fugitives across state lines, we have sent a resounding message that we are united in our efforts to dismantle these violent criminal networks and put an end to the lawlessness that they spread.”

Tren de Aragua previously issued a “green light” to its fellow gang members to attack and fire upon U.S. law enforcement officers.

Following the death of Laken Riley, Republicans created the Laken Riley Act, a bill that “requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain certain non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting. The bill also authorizes states to sue the federal government for decisions or alleged failures related to immigration enforcement,” according to the 118th Congress.

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Quit Blocking My Agenda! Trump Presses Courts After Reprimand on Deportations

donald trump smiles
President Donald Trump (AP)

Thursday, 20 March 2025 08:01 PM EDT

President Donald Trump demanded Thursday that courts stop blocking his agenda, edging closer to a constitutional showdown after a judge suggested the administration ignored an order to block summary deportations.

A federal judge, in a strongly worded order, gave the Justice Department until Tuesday to explain why it went ahead with flights to prison in El Salvador of Venezuelan migrants, some of whom say they committed no crime and were targeted only for their tattoos.

Trump, in a scathing attack on the judiciary that would have been unthinkable coming from most presidents, demanded that the Supreme Court intervene.

"It is our goal to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and such a high aspiration can never be accomplished if Radical and Highly Partisan Judges are allowed to stand in the way of JUSTICE," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post aimed at Chief Justice John Roberts.

"STOP NATIONWIDE INJUNCTIONS NOW, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE," Trump wrote in all capital letters.

"If Justice Roberts and the United States Supreme Court do not fix this toxic and unprecedented situation IMMEDIATELY, our Country is in very serious trouble!"

Roberts, who was nominated by Republican George W. Bush, a day earlier issued a rare rebuke by the country's top justice to remarks by the president after Trump called for the impeachment of the judge who ruled on the immigration case.

"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in a brief statement.

"The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

James Boasberg, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, on Saturday issued an emergency order against the deportation of Venezuelans as they sought legal recourse.

He said that two flights in the air needed to turn around. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, who has offered to take in prisoners on the cheap from Latin America's largest prison, responded on social media: "Oopsie... Too late."

In a new order on Thursday, Boasberg said that an acting field office director for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement explained that the Trump administration was considering justifying its actions by saying the issue was a matter of "state secrets."

"This is woefully insufficient," Boasberg wrote, saying that "the Government again evaded its obligations."

He said that a regional official in charge of immigration enforcement was not in a position to attest to cabinet-level arguments against a federal court order.

He gave the Trump administration until Tuesday to explain why it did not violate his restraining order.

It was unclear if contempt of court charges or other remedies might be on the table.

FINALLY! RFK and TRUMP proven right by the New York Times!!

Stephen Gardner and Dr. Simone Gold https://x.com/drsimonegold discuss how the New York Times lied to the American people and admitted it years later. Will Fauci see his time in prison. Can RFK jr really Make American Healthy Again? Check out Dr. Gold's book coming out soon. Pre-order today! https://www.amazon.com/Selective-Pers... Check out Dr. Gold's online medicine platform. https://www.goldcare.com/

RFK Jr has started many thing since being sworn in. I hope he will accomplish them and much more. For example, he cancelled a huge push for the flu shot. He’s setting up a commission to study vaccine safety and efficacy. He’s changing the rules around food companies adding additives whether they are safe or not, many of which are completely banned in Europe. He’s called for an indepth study to find the cause of autism. He paused a $460 million covid vaccine pill study. He wants to get ultra processed food out of school lunches and much much more. Your thoughts on these and any you’d like to personally go deeper on?

Victor Davis Hanson: What More Can Musk Do?

Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully brought home stranded astronauts after months of delays. Musk has surpassed Boeing and even NASA, yet political narratives overshadow his success. So what’s causing this unpopularity? Victor Davis Hanson breaks down this phenomenon on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ Go back two or three years ago and [Musk] was an iconic Renaissance figure, we were told, by the very people who are now calling him disloyal or purely or not completely an American. It is one of the strangest phenomena of our time.”

Substantial evidence against LBJ in JFK assassination: Roger Stone | Rob Schmitt & Carl HigbieTonight

On Thursday's "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Roger Stone accused President Lyndon B. Johnson of being "at the helm" of the plot to kill President John F. Kennedy.

John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

Trump signs executive order to eliminate Dept. of Education, vows it ‘will work’

Trump Signs Executive Order Abolishing Dept. of Education

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 20: U.S. President Donald Trump stands with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon after signing an executive order to reduce the size and scope of the Education Department during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. The order instructs McMahon, former head of the Small Business Administration and co-founder of the World Wrestling Entertainment, to shrink the $100 billion department, which cannot be dissolved without Congressional approval. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
U.S. President Donald Trump stands with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon after signing an executive order to reduce the size and scope of the Education Department during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Sophia Flores
Thursday, March 20, 2025

Updated 2:25 PM – President Donald Trump has officially signed an executive order to reduce the size and scope of the Department of Education.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump signed the long awaited executive order, which instructs Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to shrink the size and scale of the $100 billion department.

“Everybody knows it’s right. The Democrats know it’s right,” Trump stated prior to signing the order. “We’re going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs, and this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it’s a common sense thing to do, and it’s going to work. It’s definitely going to work.”

While on his campaign trail, removing the Department of Education was a key promise Trump pledged he would follow through on if elected back to the White House.

Trump and his supporters believe that demolishing the department and returning education back to the states will help strengthen parental rights. Additionally, Trump believes that it will facilitate more successful academic outcomes for U.S. students.

9:45 AM – In a fact sheet regarding the measure, President Donald Trump is reportedly set to sign an executive order to close down the Department of Education on Thursday.

The executive order directs U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”

Additionally, the mandate would also direct all other programs or activities receiving funds from the Department of Education to cease if the initiative involves advancing “DEI or [leftist] gender ideology.”

According to the the White House fact sheet, this is occurring in an effort to “turn over education to families instead of bureaucracies.”

However, in order to officially abolish the Department of Education, Trump will still need Congressional approval.

The department was first established in 1979, after Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act. It was signed into law by former Democratic President Jimmy Carter.

Since its creation, there have been calls by many, including from former GOP President Ronald Reagan — to dismantle the department in order for educational decisions to be determined at the state and local level.

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Trump Slams ‘Radical Left Lunatic Judge’ in Deportation Case

By Sandy Fitzgerald    |   Wednesday, 19 March 2025 08:12 AM EDT

President Donald Trump early Wednesday once again slammed U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, calling him a "Radical Left Lunatic Judge" for his weekend order to stop deportation flights from removing alleged gang members from the country.

"If a President doesn't have the right to throw murderers and other criminals out of our Country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our Country is in very big trouble and destined to fail!" The president posted on his Truth Social page, a day after a separate post calling for Boasberg's impeachment.

Boasberg, a District of Columbia federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama, Saturday issued a 14-day temporary block on Trump being able to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 while deporting 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

In his order, Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal district court, said that any flights in the air with the deportees should return to the United States, but the Trump administration argues that the planes were already gone when the order was issued.

Trump on Tuesday said in an interview that "many people" have called for Boasberg's impeachment.

"I don't know who the judge is, but he's radical left," he told Fox News. "He was Obama-appointed, and he said we shouldn't be able to take criminals, killers, murderers, horrible, the worst people, gang members, gang leaders, that we shouldn't be allowed to take them out of our country. It's not for a local judge to be making that determination."

Trump also dismissed a rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who issued a statement after Trump called for the judge to be impeached, saying, "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

"He didn't mention my name in the statement," Trump said. "I just saw it quickly. He didn't mention my name."

Meanwhile, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, on Tuesday introduced a resolution to impeach Boasberg.

To impeach a federal judge, a simple majority must be reached in the House, but would then go to the Senate, where a trial would be held. It would take a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to convict the judge and remove him from the bench.

Wednesday Quick Takes Left-wing meltdown edition.

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Randi Weingarten's Meltdown

Raging union boss Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers appeared on MSNBC recently to rant, as is her wont, about the Trump administration halving the number of employees at the badly misnamed Department of Education. (See Weingarten’s profile here at Discover the Networks, the Freedom Center’s online encyclopedia of the Left.)

The DOE workforce cuts are part of recently-confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s “reduction in force” (RIF) process to ensure efficiency and accountability, and to get resources “where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers,” as McMahon put it. She has been tasked with winding down the department, which President Trump has declared he wants to abolish in order to return education to states and local communities.

“I’m so mad about this, I’m spitting mad because it’s hurting the people who can’t vote,” Weingarten fumed, adding, “Children don’t vote – let’s not take away their opportunity.”

This is rich, for a number of reasons:

First, children may not vote, but parents do; nevertheless, Leftists like Weingarten view parents as domestic terrorists and obstacles to the Marxist agenda to dumb down our youth, to cut them off from their cultural legacy, and to indoctrinate generation after generation of political foot-soldiers to ensure permanent one-party hegemony for the Democrats. Weingarten has consistently opposed parental rights bills and parental challenges to radical curricula, precisely because she cares about children only insofar as they can be weaponized against parents and the America she wants to help overthrow.

Second, Weingarten and her Left-wing union activists, like all union activists, care only about amassing and wielding power; if they cared about children at all, they would address the fact that the Department of Education has done incalculable damage to America’s youth in the few decades of its existence. They, and teachers unions like Weingarten’s AFT, have done more to “take away opportunities” from children than any other arm of government.

Third, the DOE does not teach one child or run one classroom anywhere in America; it is a bloated, unelected bureaucracy which does what bloated bureaucracies do: hoover up massive amounts of money to grow itself and to fund the campaigns of those politicians who will keep the money train running.

Ending the Department of Indoctrination will require a fight in Congress. So be it – its elimination can’t come soon enough.

Whoopi Goldberg Meltdown

When referencing Trump Derangement Syndrome meltdowns, one naturally thinks of one or more of the co-hostesses of ABC’s inexplicably long-running daytime propaganda-fest The View. And sure enough, ringleader Whoopi Goldberg launched into a fear-mongering rant on a recent episode, complaining about the Trump administration deporting illegal alien felons and gang-members – because Democrats, as I always note, are simply pro-crime (unless they’re targeting Donald Trump with lawfare; in which case, Democrats like to proclaim that “no one is above the law”).

“Keep your eyes open, y’all,” Whoopi warned the all-female audience. “’Cuz if they can just come up and take somebody ‘cuz they’ve made a decision that you’re supposed to be ‘that person,’” she continued inarticulately, “any one of us could find ourselves being deported to some country that we’ve never been to.”

Every word of Whoopi’s foggy blather, as near as I can decipher, is false. “Any one of us” cannot be deported, much less to a random country we have no connection to, unless that “one of us” is illegally in the country committing crimes or belonging to an international criminal gang, drug cartel, or terror organization. The Trump administration isn’t going to deport “any one of us” for no reason. You have nothing to fear, Whoopi, although cinematic performances as scenery-chewing as hers in the overrated Ghost should be a deportable offense.

Whoopi then shifted gears from defending murderers and rapists from deportation, to complaining that DOGE investigations into government fraud and waste are somehow focused on “my stuff” – as if Elon Musk gets his kicks poring over Whoopi’s tax returns.

But her brain was already moving on from that non sequitur to another, as she fretted that the Trump administration was also taking away her “constitutional right to free speech.” She is the host of a talk show on a major network – in what way is Trump choking off her freedom of speech? We don’t know, because she didn’t cite a single example.

Whoopi Goldberg is an idiot. She can’t even formulate a complete sentence, much less a complete argument that anyone can follow, and yet somehow she heads up a political talk show.

Jon Stewart Meltdown

The Left is in such disarray and impotent distress that they are melting down not only over the Trump administration, but over each other. Talk show host and purported comedian Jon Stewart went into meltdown mode on The Daily Show Monday night after 10 Democrats, including Chuck Schumer, voted Friday with Republicans for a continuing resolution to keep the federal government open.

Stewart played a clip of Schumer from 2019 in which the Senate Minority Leader claimed he talked with members of the GOP “all the time” at the gym.

“In the gym, they’re only being agreeable with you because they want you to leave them alone, in the gym, on the stationary bike. ‘Oh, sure, Chuck, I’m definitely going to do that.’ But I have to tell you something, pedaling really hard and not going anywhere, it’s a great metaphor for the Democratic Party right now,” Stewart joked.

Earlier in the show, Stewart sarcastically said Democrats “finally have an opportunity to stand up and show their dispirited party that they still have the principles and the backbone to face down this wannabe tyrant.”

He noted that Schumer claimed in a recent New York Times interview that once Trump’s favorability poll numbers drop below 40%, Republican lawmakers would be forced to begin working with Democrats. He noted that with Trump at 48%, they need to “keep at it” until the president’s approval drops.

Stewart then told his audience, “Apparently the grand plan is, Dems keep fecklessly complaining until the 48 approval comes down to 40, which is a plan. But it’s forgetting one crucial piece of information in Schumer’s popularity calculation.”

He then showed an MSNBC clip revealing that “only 27% of voters have a positive view of the party – the lowest favorability rating in the history of NBC’s polling.”

Stewart ranted, “You’re at 27%! You’ve got to get Trump to lose eight points of popularity for you to get to the point where you’re only 13 points below him! Your approval is only seven points above where it turns red and goes into low power mode!”

As Weingarten, Whoopi, and Stewart demonstrate, the Democrats are a party of petulant children, panicked over the realization that not only have they lost the political dominance they held for four years, but that their radicalism has marginalized them out of the mainstream and into irrelevance – and they don’t know how to get any of it back.

Follow Mark Tapson at Culture Warrior

Trump Releases JFK Assassination Files, Includes Plausible Intelligence Involvement

President John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963) and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy ride with Texas Governor John Connally and others in an open car motorcade shortly before the president was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
President John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy ride with Texas Governor John Connally and others in an open car motorcade shortly before the president was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Blake Wolf
10:47 AM – Wednesday, March 19, 2025

President Donald Trump’s administration released around 80,000 pages of previously classified documents pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Tuesday.

With the historic release, President Trump made good on his promise of government transparency after announcing the release on Monday while touring the Kennedy Center.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also announced the release in a post on X, writing that the files include “no redactions.”

“President Trump is ushering in a new era of maximum transparency. Today, per his direction, previously redacted JFK Assassination Files are being released to the public with no redactions. Promises made, promises kept,” she wrote.

Newly released documents pertaining to to assassination revealed that an intelligence officer, Gary Underhill, was “very agitated” and quickly fled Washington, D.C., the day after Kennedy was shot.

Underhill then spoke with a friend, detailing how a “small clique within the CIA” was responsible for the assassination.

Underhill was then found dead in his apartment six months later, and the coroner ruled his death a suicide.

“The day after the assassination, Gary Underhill left Washington in a hurry. Late in the evening, he showed up at the home of a friend in New Jersey,” the documents stated. “He was very agitated. A small clique within the CIA was responsible for the assassination, he confided, and he was afraid for his life and would probably have to leave the country.”

“Less than six months later, Underhill was found shot to death in his Washington apartment. The coroner ruled it a suicide,” it continued. “The friends whom Underhill visited say he was sober but badly shaken. They say he attributed the Kennedy murder to a CIA clique which was carrying on a lucrative racket in gun-running, narcotics, and other contraband.”

The details of Underhill’s suicide have been questioned since he was found with a gunshot wound behind his left ear, which is an unusual position to commit the act, and Underhill “was right-handed.”

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Former Marine and defector to the Soviet Union, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested and charged with the killing.

President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Warren Commission in 1963, concluding that Oswald acted alone, however the latest documents released challenge that finding.

Additionally, the files also included a letter signed by President Kennedy’s son in 1994, explicitly calling then-Senator Joe Biden a “traitor.”

The letter began, stating “Dear Sen. Biden: You are a traitor…” which was previously released in a previous Freedom of Information Act request and shared on social media as early as 2020.

The FBI previously investigated the letter, however the case was closed in December 1994, with the agency claiming that it did not believe Kennedy was the real author of the letter.

Meanwhile, GOP Representative Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) stated that he believes the release of the files contains “false information.”

“Some of it, of course, is going to be false information that’s in there. Not necessarily placed there falsely, but the information they got that we know later is not truthful. One day it will be this group [responsible], another day it will be that group,” he stated.

“I honestly don’t think we’ll ever really know who pulled the trigger. I have my suspicions, as do a lot of people. I think that America deserves to know.”

President Trump has also vowed to release documents pertaining to the assassinations of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Jeffrey Epstein.

Correction, 11:20 a.m. – The correction updates the article from a letter written by Kennedy to a letter written by John F. Kennedy Jr., President Kennedy’s son.

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Zelensky To Discuss Cease-Fire With Trump Following Putin Call

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: (L-R) U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrives at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump and Zelensky are meeting today to sign a preliminary agreement on sharing Ukraine’s mineral resources that Trump says will allow America to recoup aid provided to Kyiv while supporting Ukraine’s economy. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(L-R) U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrives at the White House on February 28, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

OAN Staff James Meyers
8:22 AM – Wednesday, March 19, 2025

President Donald Trump will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, after Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin took place a day earlier, discussing a possible ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Zelensky said Putin’s promise following a call with Trump to stop Russian attacks on energy and infrastructure in Ukraine was “very much at odds with reality,” after Russia hit Ukraine Tuesday night with 150 drones, damaging energy facilities.

“Today I will be in contact with President Trump,” Zelensky said at a news conference in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. “We will discuss the details of the next steps with him.”

However, Putin accused Ukraine of targeting Russian oil facilities overnight.

“If the Russians don’t hit our facilities, we definitely won’t hit theirs,” Zelensky said alongside Stubb, according to the Associated Press.

Additionally, Zelensky said he is expecting to hear more about Trump’s plans for implementing a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the 47th president has been pushing for a ceasefire between the two sides. Russia and Ukraine are expected to exchange prisoners on Wednesday, a new development that Zelensky claimed is a welcome sign of building trust.

During his call with Trump, Putin demanded that Ukraine not recruit more military personnel or rearm troops during a ceasefire. Ukraine has said the demands are a move by Putin to weaken its country.

The Russian president has also cited NATO expanding its membership to Ukraine as a direct threat to Russia’s security and what it views as “root causes” of its initial invasion into Ukraine.

Zelensky has also said one of the toughest issues in future negotiations would be the issue of territorial concessions.

“For us, the red line is the recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories as Russian. We will not go for it,” he said.

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Victor Davis Hanson: The Left Lied. Now, America Pays.

Joe Biden’s fitness for office, the origins of COVID-19, Russian collusion, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the crisis at the border. These are some of the biggest deceptions pushed on the American people—lies that were once dismissed as conspiracy theories but have now been confirmed as truth. Victor Davis Hanson examines how these falsehoods shaped the country and eroded trust in key institutions in this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ What do all these lies have in common? One, nobody's ever apologized to them. Nobody's even tried to defend them. Nobody's tried to deny them. Nobody's tried to sustain them. They all did terrible damage to the United States.”

Mayor Johnson Terrorizes Chicago to Protect Illegal Alien Criminals

The sanctuary city for illegal alien criminals are unsafe for everyone else.

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While Mayor Brandon Johnson showed up to defend Chicago’s sanctuary city policies before Congress, federal immigration authorities were expelling Prince Knox, a ‘refugee’ affiliated with the Revolutionary United Front, which chopped off the arms of tens of thousands of people with machetes to take over and provide them with free health care, back to his native Sierra Leone.

Prince Knox was one of the many illegal aliens, criminals and assorted monsters protected by Chicago’s ‘Welcoming City’ ordinance and the Illinois Trust Act which forms its sanctuary system.

Chicago’s sheltering of illegal alien criminals has forced ICE to carry out ‘raids’ to get them.

The media has been running alarmist articles such as NPR’s claim that “migrants in Chicago are skipping health checks due to immigration crackdown fears”, and claims in other media outlets that illegal aliens are too afraid to shop, go to church or send their children to school.

The only reason for ICE’s raids is Chicago’s refusal to hand over illegal alien criminals.

Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling admitted, “there’s no need to be afraid to show up to work. There’s no need to be afraid to go to school. We have not seen federal agents running through Chicago looking for children, going to work locations and grabbing people.”

A “climate of fear” is being spread by Johnson and his political allies, as well as the media, which is covering up the fact that ICE is arresting gang members and dangerous criminals. Their goal is to use fear to build up opposition to ICE’s arrests of the ‘worst of the worst’.

Ever since Trump took office, there’s been a civil war in Chicago between ICE immigration authorities who have arrested hundreds of illegal alien criminals and Mayor Johnson, the Chicago City Council and their political allies who are conspiring to block those arrests.

Pro-illegal alien activists track the movements of undercover federal immigration enforcement personnel to sabotage their operations and tip off their targets. Rep. Delia Ramirez, a member of the Homeland Security Committee in Congress, described ICE enforcement as “these acts of terror and intimidation” and urged pro-illegals, “if you see ICE activity, potentially in unmarked vehicles, we encourage you to report that to our local immigration rights organizations.”

Mayor Johnson similarly described the federal government’s renewed commitment to immigration enforcement as “acts of terror to radically shift our way of life.”

In D.C., he told Congress that he was “building a Chicago that embodies the dream of my father.” Brandon’s dad had apparently envisioned a city overrun by illegal alien gangs like Tren de Aragua taking over apartment buildings even in Chicago’s ultra-violent South Side.

“Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance and our other laws and policies do not lead to more crime, they do not prevent cooperation with federal law enforcement on criminal matters, and we do not harbor criminals,” Johnson falsely told Congress. Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot helped tighten the Welcoming City sanctuary city ordinance to protect criminals who had been arrested.

Two Latino City Council members tried to roll back the extreme sanctuary city arrangement. ICE had offered to stop immigration raids if Chicago law enforcement were allowed to turn over criminals directly to it. The proposal by Alds. Raymond Lopez and Silvana Tabares failed by 11 to 39. Johnson led the campaign against it bragging that he would continue to defy the law “to stand by and protect Chicago’s immigrant communities against threats from ICE.”

Johnson and Chicago authorities complain about ICE raids, claiming that immigration authorities are targeting schools and churches, and have resorted to outright lies to spread fear.

“Earlier today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at Hamline Elementary School,” Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova said at a press conference. “School staff followed CPS established protocols. They kept ICE agents outside of the school and contacted CPS law department and CPS Office of Safety and Security for further guidance. ICE agents were not allowed into the school and were not permitted to speak to any students or staff members. Here is the bottom line, our students and staff are safe.”

Chicago school staff weren’t interfering with ICE personnel, but with Secret Service agents who were investigating death threats being sent over the proposed TikTok ban.

Chicago Public Schools head Pedro Martinez kept up the lie on MSNBC, falsely stating that the Secret Service “presented credentials and shared that they were from ICE.”

Why did top Chicago education officials lie? To spread fear and build up opposition to immigration enforcement by frightening students and parents as they had done from the very beginning with an email offering “mental health resources available at every CPS school to help students who may be feeling concern and anxiety about the incoming administration”.

“Every violent crime is devastating, but scapegoating entire communities is not only misleading, it is unjust, and it is beneath us,” Johnson argued.

The ‘communities’ in question are illegal alien criminals and international gangs.

ICE isn’t terrorizing anyone. Mayor Brandon Johnson is using terror to protect the sanctuary city system. Johnson and other Chicago politicians know that ICE is only coming for illegal alien criminals. He isn’t protecting “families” or “communities”, but murderers, rapists, terrorists and child molesters. And he’s protecting them by forcing ICE to carry out immigration raids so that he can claim that the deportation of criminals is “terrorizing” Chicago’s Latino communities.

Because Johnson wasn’t protecting immigrants or even illegals, he was protecting criminals.

In D.C., Johnson claimed that everything was going well and crime was down in Chicago, but, Chicago authorities are once again rigging crime statistics by not recording crimes, not making arrests and not solving crimes. Johnson shut down ShotSpotter, which helped detect homicides. And only 1 in 7 violent crimes ended in an arrest. Chicago authorities now claim to have cleared 60% of murders. Last year they claimed to have a clearance race of 54%, but the actual clearance rate for murders that ended in an arrest was only 23%. Or less than 1 in 4 murders.

Despite Johnson’s claim that crime is down, there have already been 77 murders this year.

Mayor Johnson, whose love for illegal aliens is only exceeded by his love for criminals, has turned Chicago into a sanctuary city for criminals where most murders are filed as unprosecutable.

And the illegal alien criminals who commit them are treated as undeportable.

A sanctuary city for illegal alien criminals is a deeply unsafe place for everyone else.  A third of Chicagoans are worried about migrant crime, and 1 in 5 say their children are now unsafe in school because of mass migration. But there’s no sanctuary for Americans in Chicago.

In Congress, Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose approval rating is at 6%, defended his pro-illegal alien criminal policies by claiming, “I was elected to represent the people of Chicago and that’s what I do”, but a majority of Chicago residents want less immigration; only 20% want more.

According to Johnson, around 1% of the city budget now goes toward illegal alien migrants.

While 80% of Chicago residents are sick and tired of Johnson, illegal alien criminals love him. In Cook County, that 1 percent votes earlier and more often than most Americans do.

Federal Judge Halts Trump And Musk’s Attempt To Dismantle USAID, Challenging DOGE Cuts

(L) U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang. (Photo via: United States District Court – District of Maryland) / (R) A worker removes the U.S. Agency for International Development sign on their headquarters on February 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

OAN Staff James Meyers
4:00 PM – Tuesday, March 18, 2025

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Elon Musk likely acted unconstitutionally with his directive to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), also halting the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from making any more cuts to the agency.

The Trump administration is likely to appeal the decision.

Maryland U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang imposed a preliminary injunction, mandating that the Trump administration restore email and computer access to all employees who work for USAID — including those who were placed on administrative leave.

Chuang was nominated by former Democratic President Barack Obama on September 25th, 2013, and he received his commission on May 2nd, 2014.

The judge has also restricted the Tesla founder and DOGE from taking action against USAID without “express authorization” from an official at the agency.

“The court finds that Defendants’ unilateral action to shut down USAID likely violated the United States Constitution,” Chuang wrote in a 68-page ruling, giving the White House seven days to confirm in writing that access was restored to USAID employees.

The administration will have two weeks to submit documentation confirming that USAID “will be able to reoccupy USAID headquarters at its original location.”

The ruling comes after the DOGE organization shut down USAID, fired all employees, and removed signage from its headquarters in D.C. — in addition to ending programs worldwide. Soon after, the administration applauded the cutting of wasteful government funding, including $60 billion in foreign aid spending and 92% of USAID grants.

After taking back the White House, Trump was highly critical of the agency, explaining that it had “been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out.”

72nd Secretary of State Marco Rubio was named as its acting administrator.

The main legal questions asked about the actions of DOGE are what Musk’s role is, whom Trump has previously suggested is the leader of the organization. However, lawyers for the administration have stated in legal documents that Musk is a “special government employee” (SGE) of the president.

NPR also previously reported that Musk is not being paid for his work with DOGE.

In February, Vice President JD Vance responded to Democrats’ complaints regarding Musk’s DOGE involvement.

The judge continued, explaining his “reasoning” for the ruling.

“If a president could escape Appointments Clause scrutiny by having advisers go beyond the traditional role of White House advisors who communicate the president’s priorities to agency heads and instead exercise significant authority throughout the federal government so as to bypass duly appointed officers, the Appointments Clause would be reduced to nothing more than a technical formality,” Chaung wrote.

“Under these circumstances, the evidence presently favors the conclusion that, contrary to defendants’ sweeping claim that Musk acted only as an advisor, Musk made the decisions to shutdown USAID’s headquarters and website even though he ‘lacked the authority to make that decision,’” Chuang continued.

“This record must be considered alongside the fact that Musk appears to have been involved in the shutdown of CFPB [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] headquarters as well,” Chuang stressed in his opinion.

“And there is evidence that shows or strongly suggests that Musk and DOGE, despite their alleged advisory roles, have taken other unilateral actions without any apparent authorization from agency officials.”

In response, Musk ripped into the ruling by reposting an X post from conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. Kirk stated: “the only two clauses of the left’s constitution were ‘Thou shalt have open borders’ and ‘All American money will be sent abroad.’”

“Today’s decision is an important victory against Elon Musk and his DOGE attack on USAID, the United States’ government, and the Constitution,” said Norm Eisen, a CNN legal analyst and executive chair of the State Democracy Defenders Fund — who represented the plaintiffs.

“This case is a milestone in pushing back on Musk and DOGE’s illegality,” he continued.

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Victor Davis Hanson: Gavin Newsom’s California in ‘Existential Freefall’

California is on the brink of disaster—$76 billion in debt, skyrocketing taxes, crumbling infrastructure, and a vanishing middle class. California native Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the harsh realities of Newsom’s policies in this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” From high taxes to a failing power grid, Hanson asks the critical question: Why is California becoming unsustainable? “The state started the year 2024 $76 billion in debt. You are now broke. Even that was not enough. What is your plan to address that? “We are in an existential freefall. And you as governor either can't or won't do anything about it. And if this continues, in another decade, this is going to be a completely medieval Third World society, if it isn't already.”

SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule Carrying 2 Astronauts Returns To Earth After Being ‘Stuck’ For 286 Days

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This Handout image was provided by a third-party organization and may not adhere to Getty Images' editorial policy.) In this handout image provided by NASA, A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water on March 18, 2025 off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images)
In this handout image provided by NASA, A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water on March 18, 2025 off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images)

OAN Staff Abril Elfi
4:33 PM – Tuesday, March 18, 2025

After spending 286 days stranded in space, two NASA astronauts who have been documented throughout the journey safely returned to Earth on Tuesday — where their families joyfully celebrated their long-awaited homecoming.

In addition to the two American astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and the American commander of the Crew-9 mission were aboard as well.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, carrying Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, as well as two others, splashed down off the Gulf Coast of Florida near Tallahassee — just before 6 p.m. ET.

Boats were already waiting at the scene to inspect the capsule and retrieve its parachutes.

The recovery team typically checks for any signs of toxic propellant from the thrusters, as it can make astronauts and other crew members become ill. A recovery team climbed onto the capsule to prepare it for lifting onto the recovery ship.

After approximately half an hour, a recovery ship named “Megan,” which pulls the capsule out of the water, finally reached them. The capsule was then pulled out of the water and placed on the recovery ship. The team then reportedly cleaned the outside of Megan and opened the side hatch to get the crew down.

Nick Hague, the commander of the Crew-9 mission, was let off first — sliding down and being placed on a stretcher.

Next up was Russian cosmonaut and aerospace engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov, who spent 170 days in space. Hague and Gorbunov were launched to the ISS onboard the Dragon Freedom spacecraft in September 2024.

Williams was next off, followed by Wilmore, returning to Earth after being in space for 286 days. They originally arrived at the space station aboard the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.

Following their initial medical examinations, the astronauts will be brought to shore by helicopter from the recovery ship, and then to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for additional medical testing.

While astronauts may be reunited with loved ones as soon as they arrive at the center, NASA said it is common for them to spend a few days at the facility’s astronaut quarters — before flight surgeons clear them to return home.

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French Politician Demands The U.S. To Return Statue Of Liberty, Press Secretary Leavitt Unleashes ‘Historical’ Comeback

(L) The Statue of Liberty is lit up at night on Liberty Island in New York Harbor on August 17, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images) / (R) French MEP and co-president of the “Place Publique” political party Raphael Glucksmann delivers a speech. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Staff Blake Wolf
4:10 PM – Monday, March 17, 2025

A Socialist member of the European Parliament is reportedly demanding that the U.S. return the famous Statue of Liberty, back to France — arguing that the United States has “chosen to side with the tyrants.”

 

“Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” demanded Raphaël Glucksmann, the French Socialist member of the European Parliament.

“We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers demanding scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty,’” Glucksmann stated at a convention held by his political party, Place Publique.

“We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently, you despise it. So, it will be just fine here at home,” he continued.

The Statue of Liberty was first unveiled in the New York Harbor on October 28th, 1886, as a gift from France to commemorate the centennial of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Known as the “Father of the Statue of Liberty,” a French man named Édouard de Laboulaye first proposed the idea of having a sculptor design and build a monument that represents freedom as a gift for the United States.

As an “ardent supporter of America, Laboulaye wished to commemorate the centennial of the Declaration of Independence as well as celebrate the close relationship between France and America. He was equally moved by the recent abolition of slavery in the U.S., which furthered America’s ideals of liberty and freedom,” according to the Ellis Island Foundation.

The statue weighs around 450,000 pounds, standing at 305-feet-tall, and it was designed and built by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.

Glucksmann, the French Socialist politician, has also previously criticized President Donald Trump for temporarily pulling military support for Ukraine and for cutting federal funding to certain colleges and research institutions.

“The second thing we’re going to say to the Americans is: if you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research. Have made your country the world’s leading power, then we’re going to welcome them,” Glucksmann continued.

A day later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to Glucksmann, characterizing him as an “unnamed low-level French politician,” while informing reporters that the U.S. will be keeping the statue.

“My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that It’s only because of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” in reference to Nazi Germany’s incursion into France. She also noted that France “should be very grateful to our great country.”

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Victor Davis Hanson: The Trump Counterrevolution’s Next Moves Abroad

President Donald Trump is leading a “counterrevolution” of sorts when it comes to restoring order in America’s international relationships. Here’s the advice Victor Davis Hanson prescribes on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words”: “  We need to be very careful how we speak. The quieter we can be, the more effective and more encompassing can be the reforms. We're going to try to make sure that we're not an existential enemy of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and an array of anti-Western societies. “ As far as Ukraine, Donald Trump is under all sorts of criticism because he, at first, had a legitimate beef with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy. … All he has to say is, ‘Vladimir Putin did not invade during my first term. He invaded during Barack Obama's term and Joe Biden's term. Even during George W. Bush's term he invaded. It wasn't I who got us into this mess. We cannot watch aimlessly and helplessly as 1.5 million lives are consumed by death, wounding, capture, missing—these casualties.’”

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