U.S. And Russia Take ‘First Step’ With ‘Very Useful’ Ukraine War Talks, Agree Trump-Putin Meeting to Come

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Russia praised the first round of Ukraine war talks with the United States as “very useful”, while the American delegation said both sides had committed to “make sure the process moves forward in a timely and productive manner” and will work towards a Presidential meeting soon.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first in-person talks of high-level delegations since Russia invaded Ukraine almost three years ago in 2022. After four and a half hours of talks the meeting broke, with both sides relating they felt it had been productive.

In terms of normalising diplomatic relations between Russia and the U.S., both sides are said to have agreed to return to staffing their embassies in the respective nations.

One of the intended outcomes of the talks was apparently laying the groundwork for an in-person meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the actual war-ending negotiation process. No date has been set for that meeting, but it was said work was happening to enable it.

Advisor to President Putin and former Russian ambassador to the U.S., Yury Ushakov, who sat around the table with Rubio and Lavrov, said after leaving the meeting that it was not likely Trump and Putin would meet within the next week but that both wanted to meet eventually. He said: “The delegations of the two countries have a lot of work to do. We are ready for this but it is still difficult to speak about the specific date of the meeting between the two leaders… The issue was discussed. We are working out the terms of this meeting”. (Read more from “U.S. And Russia Take ‘First Step’ With ‘Very Useful’ Ukraine War Talks, Agree Trump-Putin Meeting to Come” HERE)

3 Kids Found Living in ‘Absolute Squalor’ After Mom Abandoned Them 4 Years Ago

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Three children were found living in “absolute squalor” in a Michigan home riddled with mold and human waste after their mother abandoned them and left them to live on their own without soap or toilet paper for at least four years, authorities said.

The 34-year-old mother, who has not been identified as she shares the same name with one of her children, was arrested Friday, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.

Human waste, mold, and garbage piles towering up to four feet tall were found throughout the Pontiac rental home where the children survived on food their mother or a stranger dropped off each week.

The children, a 15-year-old boy, and two girls, ages 12 and 13, had been alone in the home without supervision since either 2020 or 2021, the boy told deputies, according to the sheriff’s office.

Photo credit: Oakland County Sheriff

Deputies found the home in “deplorable shape” when responding to a welfare check requested by their landlord, who was concerned something happened because he had not heard from the mother since December and had not received a rent payment since October.

Photo credit: Oakland County Sheriff

(Read more from “3 Kids Found Living in ‘Absolute Squalor’ After Mom Abandoned Them 4 Years Ago” HERE)

DOGE Discovers $4.7 Trillion of Treasury Payments ‘Almost Impossible’ to Trace

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The Treasury Department sent $4.7 trillion dollars of payments without an identification code that links a Treasury payment to a budget line item, DOGE announced Monday, making the payments “almost impossible” to trace.

DOGE said the identification payment code, called TAS for Treasury Access Symbol, is now required — as of Saturday — to increase the “insight into where money is actually going.”

“Thanks to @USTreasury for the great work,” DOGE posted on X:

. . .

“Major improvement in Treasury payment integrity going live!” Elon Musk posted on X. “This was a combined effort of @DOGE, @USTreasury and @FederalReserve. Nice work by all.” (Read more from “DOGE Discovers $4.7 Trillion of Treasury Payments ‘Almost Impossible’ to Trace” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Former Migrant Shelter Director Says He Was Attacked After Blowing Whistle on Abuse

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After being attacked by an immigrant rapist, Jon Fetherston, a former Massachusetts migrant shelter director, is blowing the whistle about the “rampant” abuse in the Massachusetts migrant shelter system, which he said is “just a big, colossal mess.”

Fetherston, who served as the director of the Marlborough migrant shelter from 2023 to 2024, said that the amount of crime, domestic abuse and child neglect that takes place in the Massachusetts migrant shelter system is “mind-boggling.” In an interview with Fox News Digital, Fetherston revealed that he was grabbed and attacked by a Haitian immigrant after he was confronted about raping and impregnating his own teenage daughter.

The Maine Wire first broke the story about the Haitian migrant, Ronald Joseph, 42, impregnating his then 13-year-old daughter. Joseph repeatedly raped and impregnated his daughter while staying at a government-funded migrant shelter at a Holiday Inn in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

A report by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities obtained by Fox News Digital says that after being informed he would lose access to his daughter, Joseph “got very agitated and started yelling” at Fetherston that “this was all his fault, and he was to blame.”

Fetherston told Fox News Digital that as soon as Joseph heard he was losing custody of his daughter, he “reached across the table and grabbed me and got angry with me and started cursing and yelling and screaming and swinging at me because he realized what was happening.” (Read more from “Former Migrant Shelter Director Says He Was Attacked After Blowing Whistle on Abuse” HERE)

Associated Press Ban Will Continue Until News Organization Uses ‘Gulf of America,’ Trump Says

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President Trump said Tuesday the Associated Press will continue to be barred from White House events, the Oval Office and Air Force One until the news organization starts using “Gulf of America” to refer to the body of water between Florida and Mexico.

“We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that’s the Gulf of America,” Mr. Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago. “We’re very proud of this country and we want it to be the Gulf of America.”

“They’re not doing us no favors and I guess I’m not doing them any favors. That’s the way life works,” Mr. Trump said.

The Associated Press has explained that the wire service intends to continue to use the “Gulf of Mexico” because the organization’s news is disseminated around the world, and AP wants to ensure that names and geography are recognizable to global audiences.

Mr. Trump bashed the news service as a left-wing outlet that he claimed was biased against him and Republicans. (Read more from “Associated Press Ban Will Continue Until News Organization Uses ‘Gulf of America,’ Trump Says” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Trump Has Already Made a Massive Dent in Illegal Immigration

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Border crossings have plummeted considerably since President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, according to a report from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP).

The report notes a whopping 85 percent drop in apprehensions at the southern border compared to the same time period in 2024. This suggests that Trump’s election has discouraged many would-be illegal immigrants from attempting to gain entry into the country.

There were 61,465 apprehensions along the border in January, according to the CBP report. In December, the agency reported 96,048. Border Patrol apprehended 176,195 at the southwest border in January 2024, one year ago.

CBP’s report also noted that it has confiscated record numbers of deadly fentanyl as smugglers attempted to bring it into the country.

In the last two fiscal years, CBP seized record amounts of fentanyl – nearly 50,000 pounds – enough to produce more than 2 billion lethal doses. In January 2025, CBP seized 1,029 pounds of fentanyl, and methamphetamine seizures increased 15%.

(Read more from “Trump Has Already Made a Massive Dent in Illegal Immigration” HERE)

U.S. Dept. Of Veterans Affairs Still Insists on COVID Vax Mandate

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Despite the purported end-of-an-era for vaccine mandates, the COVID-19 shot requirement is still enforced at the Veterans Health Administration.

On May 9, 2023, former president Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14099 – “Moving Beyond COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Federal Workers.” His order revoked a previous executive order dated Sept. 9, 2021, which once required COVID-19 injections for federal employees.

However, months before Biden’s 2021 federal worker mandate, the Department of Veterans Affairs had already instituted its own COVID-19 vaccine requirement for frontline healthcare workers. On July 26, 2021, VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced that all Veterans Health Administration employees providing direct patient care – such as physicians, nurses and dentists – would be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This was formalized in VHA Directive 1193 on Aug. 13, 2021, and made the VA the first federal agency to mandate COVID-19 vaccination. This mandate for healthcare workers operated independently from Biden’s later federal employee order.

Following the federal mandate, on Oct. 4, 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued VA Notice 22-01 “to inform employees of the recent requirement to certify COVID-19 vaccination status and provide proof of vaccination or request an exception within the established timeframes or face disciplinary action, up to and including removal from the Department.”

Despite Biden’s 2023 rescission of the requirement, VA Notice 24-11 reveals the COVID-19 shot requirement “remains in effect” for the Veterans Health Administration, or VHA. (Read more from “U.S. Dept. Of Veterans Affairs Still Insists on COVID Vax Mandate” HERE)

CBS News: Free Speech Caused The Holocaust

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CBS News’ Margaret Brennan claimed Sunday that free speech was to blame for the Holocaust.

During an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Brennan spun a wild theory that free speech in Germany paved the way for the Holocaust, arguing that Vice President J.D. Vance’s criticisms of European attacks on free speech were problematic because, according to Brennan, free speech was “weaponized” in Nazi Germany.

“Well, [Vance] was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide, and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups,” Brennan said. “The context of that was changing the tone of it. And you know that, the censorship was specifically about the right.”

Brennan’s assertion was not only historically inaccurate, but outright offensive to the millions who were murdered at the hands of the Nazi party.

But suppose Brennan was correct in her claim that free speech caused the Holocaust. Then, as The Federalist CEO and co-founder Sean Davis said in a post on X: “That means Trump needs to shut down CBS to prevent another Holocaust.”

(Read more from “CBS News: Free Speech Caused The Holocaust” HERE)

Trump Signs Executive Order to ‘Aggressively Reduce’ IVF Costs — After Campaign Pledge to Make It Free

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President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday meant to start fulfilling a campaign pledge to make in-vitro fertilization (IVF) free for would-be parents.

“PROMISES MADE. PROMISES KEPT: President Trump just signed an Executive Order to Expand Access to IVF!” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted.

“The Order directs policy recommendations to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments.”

The document requires the Domestic Policy Council, led by Vince Haley, to submit a report within 90 days that contains “a list of policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment.”

“Americans need reliable access to IVF and more affordable treatment options, as the cost per cycle can range from $12,000 to $25,000,” the order says. (Read more from “Trump Signs Executive Order to ‘Aggressively Reduce’ IVF Costs — After Campaign Pledge to Make It Free” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

U.S. Election Observer Charged With Felony After Refusing to Wear Mask During 2024 Presidential Count

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A Washington election observer has been charged with a felony after refusing to wear a mask during the November presidential vote count.

Timothy Hazelo, a Republican from Oak Harbor, was charged last week with unauthorized access to a voting center over a dispute that started when he refused to don a mask while monitoring ballot-counters.

Police were called on the 57-year-old when he refused to follow the mask-mandate that Island County Auditor Shelia Crider had imposed on local ballot-counting rooms — a measure that Hazelo says the elected official had no legal right to establish. . .

“It was determined Hazelo would be offered one final opportunity to comply with the policy set by the Island County Auditor to wear a mask in the ballot processing rooms, and if he continued to refuse to comply with the policy, he would be asked to exit the room,” an arrest report read.

Body-cam footage from the incident obtained by KOMO showed Hazelo being non-combative but telling an election worker, “I know who you are” as he left — which the worker told police made them feel they were being threatened. (Read more from “U.S. Election Observer Charged With Felony After Refusing to Wear Mask During 2024 Presidential Count” HERE)