U.S.

April 13 (UPI) — President Donald Trump lashed out at Pope LeoXIV over his criticism of the war in Iran, claiming a reason the American was named pontiff was because the Church was trying to curry favor with his administration.

Since being elected the first American head of the Catholic Church in May, Pope Leo has criticized the Trump administration’s policies, particularly its aggressive immigration crackdown and military campaigns. As the war in Iran has continued, the Chicago native has ramped up his criticism of the New York real estate mogul and his administration.

Seemingly in response, Trump on Sunday called the pope “WEAK on Crime and Terrible for Foreign Policy.”

“Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump,” Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social platform. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

Amid the conflict, Pope Leo has repeatedly called for an end to the war in Iran and other conflicts, most often without mentioning the warring parties or their leaders by name.

In seemingly pointed remarks in late March, the pope said God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” Then early this month, the pontiff, speaking in Italian, described Trump’s threat to destroy “the whole Iranian civilization,” as “truly unacceptable!”

In his late Sunday statement, Trump said he preferred Leo’s eldest brother Louis Prevost, a noted supporter of the president’s far-right nationalist Make America Again movement.

“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left and focus on being a Great Pope, not a politician,” Trump said.

“It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”

Catholic Americans constituted a major electoral bloc in Trump’s 2024 election victory. According to the Pew Research Center, about 55% of Catholic voters cast ballots for Trump compared to 43% for his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Kamala Harris.

The statement comes as pressure mounts on Trump over the war in Iran, which was launched jointly with Israel on Feb. 28. During the current two-week cease-fire, U.S. efforts to secure a permanent end to the war are ongoing as calls from Democrats and critics for his ouster grow louder.

“The deranged and disgusting post from Trump attacking Pope Leo should certainly help him appeal to the more than 50 million Americans who identify as Catholics. Perhaps this will convince JD Vance to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said in a statement referring to the vice president, who is Catholic, and his ability to invoke a constitutional mechanism that could lead to Trump’s removal from the White House.

April 13 (UPI) — Eric Swalwell, the Democratic congressman running for California governor, announced that he was suspending his gubernatorial campaign as he faces accusations of sexual misconduct and assault from several women, including a former staffer.

“To my family, staff, friends and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in the past,” Rep. Swalwell said Sunday night in a social media statement announcing his campaign’s suspension.

“I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.”

The statement did not mention his House position, which many colleagues, including members of his own party, have asked him to step down from.

“Good first step,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., responded to Swalwell’s announcement on her personal X account.

“Now resign from Congress or face expulsion.”

Allegations of sexual misconduct, including rape, by four women against Swalwell were first reported Friday by CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle. One accuser, a former staffer, alleged she was raped by the 45-year-old congressman while she was drunk in 2024. She said she was left bruised and bleeding after trying to resist.

On Saturday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office confirmed to The Washington Post that it had opened an investigation into the allegations.

Swalwell refuted the allegations in a weekend video statement, framing them as political.

“For nearly 20 years, I have served the public — as a prosecutor and a congressman — and have always protected women,” he said. “I will defend myself with the facts and, where necessary, bring legal action.”

The suspension of his campaign came after a series of high-profile resignations and rescinded endorsements.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., resigned as his campaign’s co-chair, while Rep. Adam Gray, D-Calif., his other co-chair, said he withdrew his support for Swalwell.

Sen. Adam Schiff, a veteran Democratic lawmaker from California, also withdrew his endorsement, as did Sen. Ruben Gallego from Arizona.

On Sunday, more than 50 former Swalwell staffers signed a letter stating the allegations against the House member were “serious, credible and demand accountability,” while demanding that he suspend his gubernatorial campaign and resign from Congress.

“The people of California’s 14th Congressional District, and the people of this country, deserve representation from someone whose conduct reflects the values of public service,” the staffers said.

“Remaining in either role while these allegations hang unresolved is an insult to every person who has ever worked for him, reported to him or placed their trust in him.”

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., said she will file a motion to expel Swalwell from Congress if he does not resign first.

“You have 24 hours to announce you are resigning,” she said late Sunday in a social media statement.

Swalwell was a leading Democratic candidate ahead of June’s gubernatorial primary election to replace incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited from running for a third time in the blue state. The gubernatorial election is scheduled for Nov. 3.

April 12 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has dismissed all six members of the Presidio Trust board, removing the leadership of the federal entity that manages San Francisco’s Presidio.

Trump previously targeted the Presidio Trust in a February 2025 executive order that described the agency as an “unnecessary governmental entity” and called for it to be reduced.

The trustees, who were appointed during the Biden administration, were notified of their removal this week, Lisa Petrie, spokeswoman for the Presidio Trust, said.

Chairman Mark Buell told The San Francisco Standard that the White House sent him a short email saying the termination was “effective immediately.”

“I was surprised that this didn’t happen sooner,” he said.

The other board members include Charles M. Collins, Lenore Eccles, Patsy Ishiyama, Bonnie LePard and Nicola Miner.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi helped create the trust, established in 1996 to rehabilitate the former Army post after it closed. The national park is in her district.

The Trump administration has been reshaping the federal bureaucracy and has fired numerous government workers.

The Presidio, now a national park near the Golden Gate Bridge, includes museums, campgrounds, trails, hotels and a golf course.

April 12 (UPI) — At least six people were shot, and one killed, after several people wearing masks entered a Chik-fil-A restaurant in New Jersey and opened fire.

Around 8:40 p.m. EDT on Saturday night dozens of people inside the fast food restaurant ran when shots rang out, with at least a few of those shot being employees there, The Guardian and RLS Media reported.

The Union County, N.J., Prosecutor’s Office is conducting an active investigation and said it will release information as it becomes available, according to the reports.

“I have been briefed on the shooting last night in Union Township,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a post on X. “As local law enforcement continues their investigation, we remain in close contact with officials on the ground.”

The shooting, on Route 22 near Gelb Avenue in Union, N.J., started when the masked mob entered the restaurant and walked behind the counter before they started shooting, Fox News reported.

Police responded within minutes to reports of the shooting and located victims, with five being sent to the hospital and one pronounced dead at the scene.

The conditions of the other victims has not been released.

A global race to develop artificial intelligence-powered weapons is intensifying, with the United States, China and Russia pushing to gain an advantage in next-generation warfare, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Recent military displays and intelligence assessments suggest China may

April 12 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. Navy will block the Strait of Hormuz to cut off Iran’s shipping lanes after peace talks in Pakistan failed to produce a deal.

Vice President J.D. Vance, who Trump sent to negotiate a deal to end the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, said Saturday that the talks were not successful because the two sides cannot agree on what to do about the Iranian nuclear stockpile and who will control the Strait, CNN and The Washington Post reported.

Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that the United States was going to block the Strait — it will “take a little while, but it’ll be effective pretty soon,” he said — and that nations in the Gulf region have agreed to help in the effort.

The blockade, he said, will prevent “any and all ships” from entering or leaving the the waterway, including vessels belonging to Iran, which have been shipping its oil to other countries and reportedly been bringing weapons parts from China to the Middle Eastern nation.

Vance told reporters early Sunday morning that while Iran had not yet accepted the United States’ “final and best offer,” he expressed optimism that a deal can be reached.

“We just could not get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms,” Vance said. “I think that we were quite flexible.”

In a post on X, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is Iran’s leading negotiator in the talks, said that he and his colleagues had “raised forward looking initiatives, but the opposing side ultimately failed to gain the trust of the Iranian delegation in this round of negotiations.”

“Before the negotiations, I emphasized that we have the necessary good faith and will, but due to the experiences of the two previous wars, we have no trust in the opposing side,” he said.

April 11 (UPI) — Police arrested a 20-year-old man for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home in San Francisco.

Around 4:00 a.m. local time, the man reportedly threw the incendiary device at Altman’s house, causing a fire to a gate outside the home.

The man was arrested less than an hour later when he was allegedly attempting to burn down OpenAI’s offices, police said in a statement.

In a lengthy blog post on Friday night, Altman said that he was “underestimated the power of words and narratives,” after an actual incendiary device was hurled at his house following the publication of an article about him that he also called “incendiary.”

“We should de-escalate the rehtoric and tactics and try to have fewer explosions in fewer homes, figuratively and literally,” he wrote, having noted that “thankfully [the Molotov cocktail] bounced off the house and no one got hurt.”

Similarly, OpenAI said in a statement that nobody was hurt at the company’s offices and said they are assisting law enforcement with their investigation, CNN reported.

Altman, whose home is located in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood, about three miles from the OpenAI offices, is one of several tech industry CEOs who are behind the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, The New York Times reported.

In his blog post, Altman said that he understands the debate around AI and how it is being used, and could be used in the future, and that he believes debates around its use are essential but should stop short of violence.

“I empathize with anti-technology sentiments and clearly technology isn’t always good for everyone,” Altman wrote. “We should have that debate.”

April 11 (UPI) — A federal judge upheld a previous ruling that that a Reconstruction-era federal ban on home distilling of alcoholic spirits is unconstitutional.

The 158-year-old law was aimed at preventing people from skirting tax collectors when it was enacted in an 1868 law that imposed excise taxes on distilled spirits and tobacco that was challenged by a man who wanted to distill bourbon whiskey at home.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned the law that has barred people from producing liquor in their homes because the federal government does not have the right to use its power of taxation to criminalize at-home distilling, FoxDC5 reported.

“The government contends that this prohibition was enacted to prevent tax evasion because ‘[a] distiller can more easily conceal a spirit’s strength (and thus avoid the proper tax rate) or conceal a distilling operation altogether if his still is in his house or connected with it,” the court said in its opinion.

“Congress’s taxing power ‘reaches only existing subjects,’ not activity that may generate subjects of taxation,” the court said. “Put otherwise, preventing activity that lest it give rise to tax evasion places no limit whatsoever on Congress’s power under the taxation clause.”

Although in-home production of beer and wine for personal or family use is legal, producing spirits at any location that is not an Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau-qualified and licensed facility is not legal, the U.S. Department of Treasure, under which the Bureau exists, said on its website.

The lawsuit was brought primarily by Rick Morris who manufactures stills for legally approved distilling operations and wanted to distill bourbon whiskey at his home for his brother and friends.

Upon finding that he could not legally do this, Morris founded the Hobby Distillers’ Association, members of which joined him in the legal battle.

While the ruling does not mean in-home distilling is a free-for-all, it means that people can obtain permits from the bureau to set up a distillery, follow federal regulations and pay applicable taxes, the HDA said in a blog post.

“This is a major victory for the plaintiffs — including members of the Hobby Distillers’ Association — and a turning point for hobby distillers nationwide,” the organization said.

April 11 (UPI) — Talks between the United States and Iran began Saturday morning between the two delegations in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Vice President JD Vance arrived at 10:30 a.m. PKT. At Nur Khan air base, Vance walked down a red carpet and met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Sharif said Friday that the United States is at a “make or break” moment in a national address Friday.

It’s not clear if the talks are direct or indirect, but CNN reported the talks are a mixture of both.

Though there was heavy security, with road closures and checkpoints, the mood in Pakistan was jubilant, The Washington Post reported.

Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violating the fragile cease-fire that began last week. The United States has said Iran is violating the agreement because the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Only two ships passed through it on Friday, The New York Times reported. Iran is angry that Israel continues to attack Lebanon, though Israel and the United States say they never agreed to stop fighting in Lebanon.

Israel has hit more than 200 targets in Lebanon affiliated with Hezbollah in the past 24 hours, The Times reported the Israeli military said.

Iran can’t find all the mines it set in the strait, The Times reported that U.S. officials said Friday, causing a snarl in Iran’s ability to comply with American demands.

Saturday morning, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the United States is “clearing out” the strait.

“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves. Very interestingly, however, empty Oil carrying ships from many Nations are all heading to the United States of America to LOAD UP with Oil.”

He didn’t clarify what “clearing out” of the strait means.

On Friday, he said that Iranians must negotiate.

“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

The U.S. delegation includes envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Iranian side has more than a dozen senior officials, including Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, along with senior security officials and Iran’s central bank governor, The Post reported.

Both sides seem motivated to see the war come to an end, but they remain at odds on several issues. Control of the Strait of Hormuz, war reparations, Iran’s enriched uranium and withdrawal of the U.S. military in the region are some of the sticking points.

As the dust settles following more than five weeks of sustained U.S. combat operations against Iran, we now have the clearest picture yet of the toll taken on American aircraft during Epic Fury. After flying more than 13,000 sorties, the United States lost 39 aircraft throughout the 39-day operation, with another 10 damaged to various degrees, according to TWZ’s internal tracking. The actual number is likely higher, as we only confirm losses via open sources.

America’s drone fleet absorbed the heaviest losses, accounting for more than 60% of total combat attrition. Up to 24 USAF MQ-9 Reaper drones were destroyed, according to the latest reporting from Jim LaPorta and CBS. Five fighters were downed while in the air, four F-15E Strike Eagles and one A-10 Warthog. An F-35A was hit over Iranian airspace, marking the first known combat damage to a 5th-generation fighter, but the pilot made an emergency landing safely. 20% of attrition was due to friendly fire, including three F-15Es shot down over Kuwait, or the deliberate destruction of assets to prevent capture during a combat search and rescue mission in Iranian territory. Some losses, however, will be felt more than others, such as the prized E-3G Sentry that was totally destroyed.

For the latest on Operation Epic Fury, read our rolling coverage here and check TWZ daily for live updates.

April 11 (UPI) — A panel of judges said Saturday it will allow construction on the White House ballroom to continue for now.

The panel of three judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit told the lower court judge who halted the project to seek more information about the national security risk that President Donald Trump claims the pause in construction causes.

In an earlier filing, the Trump administration said that stopping construction “would imperil the President and national security, and indefinitely leave a large hole beside the executive residence.”

The planned construction includes bomb shelters, a hospital, medical area and other “top secret military installations, structures and equipment,” the administration said.

Construction of the 90,000-square-foot building began with the demolition of the East Wing of the White House in October. The new building was to cost $200 million, but the ballroom’s price tag has since doubled. Trump said it will be financed by private donors.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon for the District of Columbia halted the work on April 1.

“The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!” Leon said in his opinion.

The appeals court said work on the project can continue until at least April 17.

“It remains unclear whether and to what extent the development of certain aspects of the proposed ballroom is necessary to ensure the safety and security of those below-ground national security upgrades or otherwise to ensure the safety of the White House and its occupants while the appeal proceeds,” the judges in the majority wrote.

The judges, Patricia Ann Millett, Bradley Garcia and Neomi Rao, were not unanimous. Rao dissented, arguing that the National Trust for Historic Preservation lacked standing to sue.

Trump has also said that the military was building a “massive complex” under the ballroom, but he hasn’t released any details.

The National Trust told the appeals court that Trump was confusing the above-ground ballroom with the below-ground bunker.

“As is obvious, the absence of a massive ballroom on White House grounds has not stopped this (or any other) President from residing at the White House or hosting events there,” the lawyers said in a filing. “Temporarily halting the ballroom project until it complies with the law will not irreparably harm defendants or the nation.”

Justice Department lawyers had asked the court to shelve Leon’s ruling.

“The upgrades to the East Wing are not cosmetic; instead, they involve the use of missile-resistant steel columns, beams, drone-proof roofing materials, and bullet-, ballistic- and blast-proof glass windows,” they said in a filing. “They also include the installation of bomb shelters, hospital and medical facilities, protective partitioning and top-secret military installations, air conditioning, heating, venting and more.”

On April 2, The National Capital Planning Commission voted Thursday to approve Trump’s plans for the White House ballroom. Though, that vote doesn’t override the court’s rulings.

April 11 (UPI) — Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who is running for California governor, is facing several allegations of sexual misconduct and assault.

CNN reported that four women have made allegations against him, including one woman who claims he raped her.

Swalwell denies any wrongdoing.

“These allegations are false and come on the eve of an election against the frontrunner for governor,” Swalwell said in a statement. “For nearly 20 years, I have served the public — as a prosecutor and a congressman and have always protected women. I will defend myself with the facts and, where necessary, bring legal action. My focus in the coming days is to be with my wife and children and defend our decades of service against these lies.”

The latest woman to make an allegation told CNN that Swalwell raped her when she was drunk and left her bruised and bleeding in 2024.

“I was pushing him off of me, saying no,” the woman told CNN. “He didn’t stop.”

She said another incident happened in 2019. She woke up naked in a hotel room with him after a night of drinking with no memory of what happened. She said she could feel physically that they had sexual contact.

On Thursday, Swalwell’s attorney sent the woman a cease-and-desist letter alleging that she “made false statements accusing Mr. Swalwell of sexual assault and nonconsensual sexual encounter.” The letter threatened to sue her, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. CNN reported another woman got a similar letter.

The attorney letters said the claims were “undermined” by their “voluntary and cooperative relationship with Mr. Swalwell over the course of many years” after the alleged incidents.

The attorney also sent CNN a letter saying that Swalwell has never had nonconsensual sex with any woman or had sex with any staff member.

Swalwell, 43, is married and has three young children. He was elected to Congress in 2012.

On Friday afternoon, Swalwell allies, including California Democratic Reps. Jimmy Gomez and Adam Gray, withdrew their endorsements and called on him to drop out of the race, The Chronicle reported. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also called on him to leave the race, as well as Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

On Saturday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., announced on X: “I am filing a motion to expel Eric Swalwell from Congress.”

She created several more posts against Swalwell.

“I am extending a call to any Swalwell victims to contact my office with information,” she posted. “All victims deserve to be heard. I will be bringing a vote to expel Rep. Swalwell from Congress next week, will Democrats vote to protect this corruption? I am not going to serve with these sexual deviants, that is not what Congress is about.”

One woman said she met Swalwell online because she was interested in Democratic politics, CNN reported. She said she ended up extremely drunk inside his hotel room after a night out and didn’t remember what had happened. She said earlier in the evening he had kissed her and put his hand on her leg without consent.

Social media creator Ally Sammarco said she received unsolicited nude images from Swalwell, CNN reported. She had met him on Twitter to talk about politics.

Several organizations, unions and donors have rescinded their endorsements following the allegations.

April 10 (UPI) — The crew of the Artemis II crew returned to Earth after a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean after travelling farther from Earth than any humans in history.

The Orion capsule carrying the four-person crew is expected to make a water landing just after 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday evening, capping their 10-day mission to test NASA’s new spacecraft while taking the next steps to returning humans to the surface of the moon.

Thus far, the mission has been successful in most ways, but NASA engineers have noted that the most important part is the return to Earth.

“Every system we’ve demonstrated over the past nine days — life support, navigation, propulsion, communications — all of it depends on the final minutes of flight,” Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator, told reporters on Thursday.

“We have confidence in the system, in the heat shield, and the parachutes and the recovery system that we’ve put together,” he said.

One of the main concerns after the Artemis I uncrewed launch was unexpected charring on the heat shield of the Orion capsule, which protects astronauts from the heat created as the spacecraft reenters Earth’s atmosphere at 40 times the speed of sound.

A combination of adjustments to the heat shield and late mission burns to adjust the angle that the capsule reenters the atmosphere is expected to resolve NASA’s concerns after the first flight of the Artemis Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

WASHINGTON — Last September, the Department of Homeland Security started advising unaccompanied immigrant children that they could either self-deport or expect to face long-term detention.

But a federal judge in Los Angeles on Mondayordered the government to stop using such “blatantly coercive” language, ruling that the new advisals, as they are known, violated a 40-year-old court order that bans immigration agents from pressuring unaccompanied children to give up asylum claims and leave the U.S.

According to court documents, the legal advisal was given to recently detained immigrant children. Unaccompanied children are those in the country without a parent or legal guardian.

The minors were told they had the option to return to their country, that doing so would result in no administrative consequences and that they still could apply for a visa in the future.

But the children also were told that if they chose to seek a hearing with an immigration judge or indicated that they were afraid to leave the U.S., they could expect to be held at a detention facility “for a prolonged period of time.”

Those who turned 18 while in custody would be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation, they were told. The advisal, though generally passed on verbally, was written out in court documents by lawyers representing the immigrant children, which the government did not dispute.

“If your sponsor in the United States does not have legal immigration status, they will be subject to arrest and removal,” the advisals continued. “The sponsor may be subject to criminal prosecution for aiding your illegal entry.”

U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald said that “such a threat disturbingly mirrors” the testimony of Jose Antonio Perez-Funez, a plaintiff in a 1980s class-action lawsuit challenging the tactics of immigration officers.

Perez-Funez, who was 16 when he was arrested near the Mexican border, testified in 1985 in Los Angeles federal court that he agreed to self-deport because federal officers said he would face lengthy detention if he didn’t return to El Salvador.

Perez-Funez’s case originally led the court to establish due process safeguards for immigrant children, giving them the right to speak with a relative or attorney before signing forms that waive their pursuit of legal protection.

“The Government was thus already on notice that such a statement delivered in this environment is precisely the kind of inappropriate persuasion the Injunction sought to prevent,” Fitzgerald wrote.

Fitzgerald, a judge in the Central District of California, also denied a request by the federal government to end the permanent court-mandated safeguards for immigrant children.

In response to a request for comment, U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided a statement, attributed to a spokesperson who wasn’t named, that the agency is following the law and protecting children. The agency said the advisal document explains to unaccompanied children their options available under federal law.

“Many unaccompanied minors are brought to the border by smugglers and face real risks of exploitation, which is why providing a clear, lawful advisal is essential,” the statement said. “It ensures they understand their rights and options — and for many who were trafficked or coerced, returning home to their family is the safest path.”

Unaccompanied children are first held by Homeland Security before being turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is within the Department of Health and Human Services, for long-term housing. Federal law requires ORR to provide them with a legal consultation within 10 days.

“It is difficult to imagine a scenario more coercive than the one faced by [unaccompanied immigrant children] in the 72 hours before they are transferred into ORR custody, particularly for noncitizen children who likely do not know whether they possess any rights at all,” Fitzgerald wrote in his order.

In declarations to the court, children wrote that they felt threatened by the government’s advisals. One minor, identified as D.A.T.M., said the threats to prosecute their parents and of long-term detention caused them to sign voluntary departure papers.

Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney at the pro bono law firm Public Counsel, helped secure the 1986 court order. He said his legal team discovered Homeland Security had changed the advisals only after a government attorney notified him in November that the agency was going to seek to end the court-mandated safeguards.

“I consider this a war on children — the most vulnerable population,” he said.

The government has until Thursday to decide whether it will appeal the judge’s ruling. Regardless, Rosenbaum said, his goal is to establish more aggressive monitoring of unaccompanied children’s cases to ensure their rights aren’t violated again.

A new and not immediately recognizable launcher has emerged on the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Carl M. Levin. Last year, launchers for Coyote counter-drone interceptors appeared in the same general location on two other Burkes, the USS Bainbridge and the USS Winston S. Churchill. The Navy is currently known to be exploring several other options for integrating lower-cost anti-drone interceptors on various warships to bolster their defenses against this ever-growing threat. The new launcher could also be for deploying other kinds of munitions, drones, and/or decoys.

The Carl M. Levin and its new launcher can be seen in the background of a picture that the U.S. Marine Corps released on April 8, which is seen in parts throughout this story. The image was taken on March 29 at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The Levin, also known by the hull number DDG-120, is homeported there. A Japanese-language blog called OSINFO was the first to notice the launcher in the image and posted it to social media.

The new launcher is seen installed on the deck at the aft end of the Levin’s superstructure, between the destroyer’s port-side torpedo tubes and its rear Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) array. From what we can see of the launcher itself, it appears to have multiple cells. Whether or not it can rotate or is fixed in place is not perfectly clear, but the latter seems likely, especially given what appears to be a circular mount. It looks like it would swivel upwards for firing.

What the launcher fires and what purpose it serves are unknown. It was not seen on Levin at least as of December 2025. A cursory search at the time of writing does not now show it on any other Burkes, and it is not known whether the Navy currently plans to field it more widely on that class or any others. TWZ has reached out to the Navy for more information.

One distinct possibility is that this is a launcher for the White Spike counter-drone interceptor from Zone 5 Technologies. The launcher that Zone 5 has shown so far for White Spike is a four-cell design that is different from the one now installed on the USS Carl M. Levin. At the same time, it is also very similar in many respects, both in terms of form and likely function. The trapezoidal shape of its front is an especially prominent similarity as well as its overall configuration.

Zone 5 White Spike Counter UAS drone interceptor flight tests

White Spike has been under evaluation as part of a project called Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems – NEXT, or Counter-NEXT, which the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has been running since 2024. Its appearance on a Navy destroyer now would make sense given that Counter-NEXT has had a particular eye toward naval applications.

Anduril’s Roadrunner-M counter-drone interceptor has also been under evaluation as part of Counter-NEXT. However, the launchers that Anduril has publicly shown so far for those interceptors do not align with what is seen on the Levin. Furthermore, Roadrunner-M is designed to be launched vertically and recovered in the same way for reuse if it does not actually prosecute a target in the course of a mission, as you can read more about here.

Last year, the U.S. Navy had said that it planned to integrate launchers for Anduril’s Roadrunner-M counter-drone interceptors, as well as Raytheon’s Coyote, on an unspecified number of Arleigh Burke class destroyers. As already noted, the launcher on Levin is in the same general spot as the Coyote launchers that have been installed on the USS Bainbridge and the USS Winston S. Churchill.

There is certainly demand from the Navy for more counter-drone capabilities for its ships, in general, which grew substantially in the wake of the service’s experiences during operations in and around the Red Sea in recent years. The latest conflict with Iran has only further underscored the still-expanding scope and scale of uncrewed aerial threats.

Lockheed Martin has also previously shown a concept for installing four-cell launchers capable of firing AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles (JAGM) in the same general location at the aft end of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer. As its name indicates, JAGM was originally developed for use against surface targets, but Lockheed Martin has been looking to evolve it into the counter-drone space. JAGM is derived from the AGM-114 Hellfire. The millimeter-wave radar-guided AGM-114L variant, in particular, has already emerged as a counter-drone weapon in recent years, including for shipboard use. JAGMs fired from warships could also be used for close-in defense against other targets, including swarms of small crewed or uncrewed boats.

There is still a possibility that the launcher now integrated on the USS Carl M. Levin could have other purposes beyond the counter-drone role.

A launcher for drones, including types configured as loitering munitions or decoys, could be another possibility. In recent years, the Navy has notably been experimenting with long-endurance drone-like decoys to help lure incoming anti-ship cruise missiles away from friendly ships and otherwise confuse opponents. In February, DIU put out a call for containerized drone launcher designs that could be employed at sea or on land. TWZ has previously laid out a detailed case for the many benefits that could come along with integrating launchers for swarms of drones configured to perform a variety of different tasks onto Navy ships.

Levin‘s new launcher could be used to fire shorter-range decoys and/or other kinds of countermeasures, as well.

Broadly speaking, the Navy has a long history of integrating new and improved capabilities, including weapon systems and countermeasures, on small numbers of Burkes. In some cases, those modifications have then begun to make their way onto more ships of the class, or have otherwise informed larger upgrade programs. The Arleigh Burke class is set to be the workhorse of the Navy’s surface fleets for years to come, and the ships will require continual updating as new threats and other developments emerge.

Whatever its purpose, the new launcher at the aft end of the USS Carl M. Levin is the latest example of how the capabilities of the Navy’s Burkes continue to evolve.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

MIAMI — President Trump shared video of a deadly attack allegedly by a Haitian immigrant accused of bludgeoning a woman with a hammer at a Florida gas station, portraying the killing as justification for his administration’s mass deportation agenda.

Rolbert Joachin, 40, was arrested and charged with killing a woman on April 2 in Fort Myers, about 160 miles northwest of Miami. Authorities said the man was from Haiti and arrived in the U.S. in 2022. The woman who was killed was identified as a 51-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh and a mother of two adult daughters.

Trump, who posted the video late Thursday to his Truth Social account, has often sought to portray immigrants as bringing crime to the U.S., and the video emerging from the Florida attack presented him with a new, particularly graphic opportunity to do so. Trump also often paints Democrats and his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, as allowing in immigrants who posed a criminal or national security threat to the U.S.

Critics say the president unjustly paints all immigrants as criminals in an effort to bolster his immigration agenda, when studies have found that people living in the U.S. illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes.

“The video of her brutal slaying is one of the most vicious things you will ever see,” Trump said in his post, describing the man as an “animal.”

Graphic video captured woman’s killing

The woman who was killed was working as a clerk at the convenience store of the gas station, according to court documents. The killing happened outside the store and the man was arrested the same day.

In security camera footage of her killing posted on the Department of Homeland Security’s X feed, the man can be seen repeatedly slamming the hammer into a black vehicle parked in front of the gas station. Eventually a woman in black pants and a pink shirt comes out and appears to question him.

The man, wearing a yellow shirt and black shorts, walks up to the woman and immediately swings the hammer at her head. The woman falls down on the sidewalk in front of the gas station’s front doors. The man attacks the woman with the hammer multiple times before stepping over her unmoving body and walking away, out of the frame of the camera.

The victim was later identified in a police report as Nilufa Easmin, 51. A GoFundMe started by Samir Bahadur Syed, the President of the Bangladesh Association of Southwest Florida, described her as a “devoted mother who worked tirelessly to provide for her two young daughters.”

Syed said that Easmin arrived in the United States about three decades ago and resided in Miami and Palm Beach before moving to Florida’s west coast. She was a single mother, and her two daughters — one 23 years old and the other about 26 — were born in the U.S., Syed told the Associated Press.

He added that Easmin had been working at the convenience store for nearly five months and that she also held another job.

Fort Myers police said they responded to a report of a woman being hit with a hammer at a Chevron gas station. When officers arrived they found a woman on the ground with blood around her head and multiple cuts.

Officers later located Joachin walking on the street and took him into custody. The police said he has confessed. He was charged with murder and property damage and appeared in court on Wednesday. His arraignment is set for May 4.

An email message sent to the public defender listed in court records as Joachin’s lawyer seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Trump administration criticizes temporary deportation protections

Trump blamed Biden for granting the man temporary protection to stay in the U.S.

Kelly Walker, acting field office director for ICE enforcement and removal operations for the Miami field office, said during a news conference Friday that Joachin arrived in a “water vessel” near Key West, Fla., in August 2022. He was arrested and given Temporary Protected Status in 2023. That status was revoked this week, Walker said.

The Trump administration has harshly criticized the use of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, which can be granted by an administration to citizens of a country going through turmoil or strife. Immigrants who qualify are allowed to stay in the U.S. and work for a temporary period, although Republican critics contend that the Biden administration misused its TPS authorities to broadly allow hundreds of thousands of people to stay in the country.

There are several lawsuits at the federal courts challenging Trump’s efforts to terminate TPS for more than one million people, including 350,000 Haitians. In March, a federal appeals court sided with a lower judge’s ruling against the end of temporary status for Haiti and the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 29.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration have often highlighted crimes committed by immigrants and created a website where one can look up people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the crimes they’ve committed in the U.S.

The administration often highlights “Angel Families” who have lost family members to crimes committed by immigrants.

On Thursday, ICE held an event marking the one-year anniversary of the reopening of an office dedicated to assisting those families, including emotional testimony from some of the surviving family members.

Salomon, Bellisle and Santana write for the Associated Press. Bellisle reported from Seattle and Santana from Washington.

NEW YORK — Calls inside Congress for investigations into the prediction market platform Polymarket are increasing after the latest instance in which groups of anonymous traders made strategic, well-timed bets on a major geopolitical event hours before it occurred.

On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that at least 50 new accounts on Polymarket placed substantial bets on a U.S.-Iran ceasefire in the hours, even minutes, before President Trump announced it late Tuesday. These were the sole bets made on Polymarket through these accounts.

In January, an anonymous Polymarket user made a $400,000 profit by betting that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro would be out of office, hours before Maduro was captured. In the hours before the start of the Iran war, another account made roughly $550,000 in a series of trades effectively betting that the U.S. would strike Iran and that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be removed from office.

Such prescient wagers have raised eyebrows — and accusations that prediction markets are ripe for insider trading. And the issue goes beyond these three geopolitical events, according to at least one report.

Researchers at Harvard University released a paper last month in which, using public blockchain data, they estimated that $143 million in profits have been made on Polymarket by individuals who potentially had insider information about events ranging from Taylor Swift’s engagement to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y who sits on the House Financial Services Committee as well as the subcommittee on digital assets and financial technology, sent a letter Thursday to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission demanding the regulator review and investigate these well-timed trades. The CFTC regulates the derivatives markets, which includes prediction markets.

“This pattern raises serious concerns that certain market participants may have had access to material nonpublic information regarding a market-moving geopolitical event,” Torres wrote. The letter was shared exclusively with AP.

“What is the statistical likelihood that of anyone other than an insider trader placing a winning bet 12 minutes before a market-moving presidential announcement?” Torres said in an interview with AP. “There are two answers: God, or an insider trader. And something tells me that God is not placing bets around Donald Trump’s posts on Truth Social. “

Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket allow users to bet on everything from whether it will rain in Phoenix, Ariz., next week to whether the Federal Reserve will raise or lower interest rates.

Americans have limited access to Polymarket, which was banned from the U.S. in 2022. The company has moved to reenter the country by acquiring a CFTC-licensed exchange and clearinghouse, giving it a legal pathway to start offering contracts domestically. The company has begun a limited rollout in the U.S.

Polymarket also operates a separate, crypto-based platform offshore that remains outside U.S. jurisdiction. That platform accounts for most of its activity.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., sent a letter to Polymarket on Thursday demanding the company explain why it continues to allow trades on war and violence as well as whether the company is making efforts to keep insiders from trading on the platform.

“Polymarket has become an illicit market to sell and exploit national security secrets unlike any in history, and by extension a potential honeypot for foreign intelligence services watching for those same suspicious bets and wagers,” Blumenthal wrote.

Republicans also have criticized these platforms and called for bans on these sorts of bets. There are at least two bills pending in Congress co-signed by both parties, one in the House and one in the Senate.

“We don’t want to imagine a world where America’s adversaries use prediction markets to anticipate our next move,” Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, said after the release of AP’s findings on the ceasefire wagers.

Polymarket did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The stakes are high for both Polymarket and Kalshi as they seek approval to operate nationwide, particularly in the lucrative sports betting market.

Kalshi, which already is regulated in the U.S., and its executives have a goal of making the company the nation’s dominant prediction market. Kalshi has leaned heavily into sports, which critics have said effectively makes it a sports betting platform that dabbles in event-based contracts on the side. Both companies also announced partnerships with sports teams and even news organizations to broaden their reach as well. AP has an agreement to sell U.S. elections data to Kalshi.

The competition also carries political overtones. Donald Trump Jr. is an investor in Polymarket through his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, and separately serves as a paid strategic adviser to Kalshi.

Sweet writes for the Associated Press.

April 10 (UPI) — The Artemis II crew on Friday reached the last part of their mission to travel past the moon, farther than any human has traveled from Earth before circling back home — splashdown day.

The Orion capsule carrying the four-person crew is expected to make a water landing just after 8:07 p.m. EDT on Friday evening, capping their 10-day mission to test NASA’s new spacecraft while taking the next steps to returning humans to the surface of the moon.

Thus far, the mission has been successful in most ways, but NASA engineers have noted that the most important part is the return to Earth.

“Every system we’ve demonstrated over the past nine days — life support, navigation, propulsion, communications — all of it depends on the final minutes of flight,” Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator, told reporters on Thursday.

“We have confidence in the system, in the heat shield, and the parachutes and the recovery system that we’ve put together,” he said.

One of the main concerns after the Artemis I uncrewed launch was unexpected charring on the heat shield of the Orion capsule, which protects astronauts from the heat created as the spacecraft reenters Earth’s atmosphere at 40 times the speed of sound.

A combination of adjustments to the heat shield and late mission burns to adjust the angle that the capsule reenters the atmosphere is expected to resolve NASA’s concerns after the first flight of the Artemis Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule.

Biblical stories like Jonah and the whale would be required reading for Texas public schools students under proposals that are putting the state at the center of another contentious wrangling over the role of religion in classrooms.

Religious leaders, teachers, parents and students spent hours Tuesday before the state education board arguing about the reading list for the state’s 5.4 million kindergartners to 12th-graders. The debate is part of widening efforts in the U.S. to incorporate religion in schools, mostly in Republican-led states, driving legislation and legal action.

Nationally, President Trump has pledged to protect and expand religious expression in public schools. And Texas, a red state that is home to about 1 in 10 of the nation’s public school students, often helps set the agenda.

Texas became the first state to allow chaplains, in 2023. And just last year, a Republican-led mandate that the Ten Commandments be displayed in public schools took effect in the state, although around two dozen districts took them down because of a lawsuit.

But while the debate over Texas’ reading list could have national implications, to the speakers the issue boiled down to whether the passages are essential to understanding the nation’s history and morals — or unconstitutional.

“Our children need truth,” said Nathan Irving, a pastor and father of eight from Myrtle Springs, Texas. “Truth is the only currency that never devalues. Investing truth into our children is the most loving thing that we can do for them. This is the truth. This country and this state were founded upon a Christian worldview. Like it or not, it is true.”

Final vote on the changes still ahead

A final vote on the list is expected in June, and if approved by the Texas State Board of Education, the changes would take effect in 2030.

Several speakers cited the “establishment clause” of the 1st Amendment, which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

“This list is a tool of proselytization that has no place in our public schools,” Rabbi Josh Fixler, of Congregation Emanu El, a reform synagogue in Houston, told the board. “There is a difference between teaching about religion and teaching religion, and this list will force teachers to cross that line.”

Megan Boyden, a mother of three from Denton, Texas, described is as a direct attack on her private faith.

“As a Christian mother, it is my right and responsibility to teach our family’s religion,” she said. “It is not the state’s job to shed through the lens of a teacher who may not share the same beliefs I do. Will Bible passages be taught in conflict with my beliefs?

“What,” she asked, “of non-Christian students?”

The list stems from a state law passed in 2023, which called for the creation of a state-approved list of high-quality materials.

Third-graders would learn about the Road to Damascus, which tells the story of Paul’s transformation from an early persecutor of Christians into a follower. Seniors, meanwhile, would learn about the Book of Job, a story about a man whose faith is tested when he loses everything.

The list also includes classics like Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat,” stories about the national folk hero Daniel Boone. And there are also works by famous African Americans like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr. and a book about Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad fame.

Texas has already approved optional curriculum that incorporates the Bible

The GOP-leaning board previously approved a new Bible-infused curriculum that is optional for schools to incorporate in kindergarten through fifth grades.

The board also is considering social studies standards that have been criticized as too state-centric, not focused enough on world events and rife with an undercurrent of American exceptionalism. They call for students to “identify the Texas flag as a symbol of Texas pride,” and recognize the state song “Texas, Our Texas.”

Students also are supposed to be able to understand stories about Texas Independence.

Curriculum debates crop up occasionally. Over the years, state boards in places such as Kansas have debated whether the teaching of evolution should reflect doubt about the well-established scientific theory — and leave room for arguments that the universe’s complexity points to an intelligent design.

Allison Cardwell, a mother of a fourth-grader and a fifth-grade social studies teacher, urged the board to rethink the standards. She said fifth grade would be the only time most Texas students would receive instruction in U.S. history until high school.

“We have to ask ourselves, how can we expect to create citizens who value liberty, responsibility, and the principles this country was founded on, if we don’t ensure that they truly understand those foundations?” she said.

Hollingsworth writes for the Associated Press.

April 10 (UPI) — President Donald Trump‘s tariffs are back in court Friday to decide on their legality.

The U.S. Court of International Trade will consider the president’s 10% global tariff that he created on Feb. 20 after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his previous tariffs over his use of emergency powers. The new tariffs are based on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.

That law allows the president to unilaterally surcharge imports up to 15% for up to 150 days “to deal with large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits.”

Challenging the new levies are Democratic-led states and small businesses.

“This is another case where the president invokes a statute to impose whatever tariffs he wants, its limits be damned,” the states wrote in court filings.

Timothy C. Brightbill, a trade lawyer for the Washington law firm Wiley Rein, told The New York Times that he expects the court to be “skeptical of President Trump’s ability to impose broad tariffs,” including the global 10% rate.

Brightbill said it could be months before the legal system can give a full verdict.

“By then, there will most likely be a new tariff regime in place,” Brightbill said.

The White House said in a statement that Trump was “lawfully using the executive powers granted to him” and the administration was “committed to robustly defending the legality of the president’s actions in court.”

“For over a century, Congress has supplemented the president’s constitutional power over foreign affairs and national security by delegating to him the authority to manage foreign trade in response to international conditions, including by imposing tariffs,” the administration said.

But critics say Trump’s position only includes the U.S trade deficit. They argue that the president is ignoring inflows of foreign capital and financial investment. Those help “balance” the deficit.

They argue that a balance-of-payments crisis is impossible because the United States stopped using the gold standard and a fixed exchange rate system in the 1970s.

“A balance-of-payments crisis is a currency crisis that was of great concern when Congress enacted Section 122, but which can no longer exist,” the states wrote in court filings.

There are 24 states in the suit, along with two small businesses: spice and e-commerce business Burlap & Barrel and Basic Fun!, a toy company that designs and markets Tonka, Lincoln Logs, K’nex and others. They filed separate suits against the tariffs, but the cases will be heard together.

“When these tariffs were first announced last April, we made two promises: we would not raise our prices, and we would not ask our partner farmers to absorb the costs,” Burlap & Barrel wrote on its website. “A year later, we’re proud to say we’ve kept those promises. This lawsuit is about protecting our ability to continue doing that.”

The plaintiffs are represented by the Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian firm that worked on the tariff case that the administration lost at the Supreme Court. The three-judge panel is made up of different judges from the previous panel at the Court of International Trade.

A war for the soul of the world is happening right now that’s straight out of the Bible — and I’m not just talking about the Middle East.

In one corner are President Trump and his minions, who insist that everything they do is divinely mandated. They have consistently invoked a violent version of God as they deport undocumented immigrants, try to make the United States whiter, rip up long-standing treaties with allies, rain down bombs like a biblical plague on supposed narco boats and choke nations they deem a threat or whose resources they covet.

They’re the ones who lecture religious leaders on what Jesus stood for, demanding blessings for Trump’s actions — or else.

Just check out the recent allegations in The Free Press that senior defense officials dressed down the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S. in January over Pope Leo XIV’s lack of enthusiasm for Trump’s imperialist ambitions. Or Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, he of the tattoos hailing the blood thirst of the Crusades (another Middle Eastern forever war that the “civilized” side lost), who compared the rescue of a downed American aviator in Iran over Easter weekend to the resurrection of Jesus.

It’s a playbook straight out of the Book of Revelations, which describes a Beast in the End Times with “a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” in its quest to hold dominion over the earth.

In the other corner of this existential fight is an actual man of God: Pope Leo XIV.

Rather than cower before a despot who makes the Pharaoh in the Old Testament seem as stable and kind as St. Francis, the first American pope has resisted Trump like a protester at a “No Kings” rally. He has yet to denounce by name anyone in the president’s sordid orbit — but Pope Leo has returned to their actions again and again in his first year as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

He began his papacy by greeting a cheering crowd with “Peace be with you all” — what Jesus told his disciples after his Resurrection and a brilliant, biblical way to telegraph where he stands in our bellicose times.

On Palm Sunday a few weeks ago, the pontiff proclaimed during Mass in St. Peter’s Square that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war” — a not-so-subtle rebuke to Hegseth, who prayed shortly after the U.S. launched the Iran war for “every round [to] find its mark” and for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

For his first Easter message, Pope Leo wrote, “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue!”

Meanwhile, President Trump told a reporter that God supports the destruction he’s inflicting on Iran because “God is good. God wants to see people taken care of.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks to reporters at the Pentagon, July 16, 2025, in Washington.

(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)

According to the Free Press article, the Vatican declined an invitation from Vice President JD Vance for Pope Leo to visit the U.S., for fear that Trump would use him as a political pawn. Instead, the man born in Chicago as Robert Prevost plans to spend July 4 — America’s 250th birthday — on a Mediterranean island that has long served as a gateway for migrants trying to make it to Europe.

Critics will accuse Pope Leo of Trump Derangement Syndrome and call him particularly short-sighted, since he stands athwart the desires of many American Catholics.

Though he isn’t Catholic, Trump has favored Catholicism far above any other mainline Christian denomination, from acknowledging feast days to packing his administration and the Supreme Court with adherents in a way that even Joe Biden — a lifelong Catholic — never did.

About 55% of Catholics voted for Trump in 2024, per the Pew Research Center. A survey last year by The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America found “a clear generational shift away from liberal self-identification” among younger priests. Dioceses across the country are reporting the highest amount of converts in decades, many of them drawn in by orthodox Catholic influencers.

But Trump’s embrace of Catholicism, like everything else in his life, has been conditional on fealty to him. His administration pulled tens of millions of federal funds from Catholic charities because they assisted migrants regardless of legal status — something the American Catholic church has done for over a century. Vance, himself a Catholic convert, accused bishops of being “worried about their bottom line” for daring to criticize the move and his boss’ deportation Leviathan.

The Free Press also reported that Trump’s lackeys invoked the Avignon Papacy — when 14th century French kings exiled a succession of popes from the Vatican and made them their puppets — during their browbeating of the Vatican ambassador.

Re-litigating history is an obsession of the Trump regime, so bringing up a medieval episode amounted to a threat to Leo to shape up — or else.

That’s what makes Pope Leo’s stance against a modern-day Babylon even braver. A pope’s main role is to bear witness to the words of Christ, who said far more about taking care of the meek and turning the other cheek than he did about waging war.

The best popes, from John XXIII to John Paul II, know that their words stand as a challenge for all people, believers and not, to create a better world that paves the way for the world to come. Trump wages war for himself; Pope Leo urges us to stand for something other than ourselves.

At this point in his reign, Trump is a dead ringer for the Antichrist, described in the Second Book of Thessalonians as a “man of sin … the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all.”

Pope Leo would never characterize his opposition to Trump in such apocalyptic terms, of course. But his stance against the president’s tyranny is a call to action in the same vein as John Paul II’s exhortation to the free world to oppose the Soviet empire.

“Let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power,” Pope Leo stated on Easter, “and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil.”

Amen, amen, amen.