🔵 Panama Canal "Reclaiming"

Author

Citizen Frank
March 14, 2025

Good morning. It’s Friday, March 14.

 

The White House has directed the U.S. military to draw up options to increase the American troop presence in Panama to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of “reclaiming” the Panama Canal, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the planning.

In his joint address to Congress last week, Trump said that “to further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal.” Since then, administration officials have not said what “reclaiming” means.

U.S. Southern Command is developing potential plans from partnering more closely with Panamanian security forces to the less likely option of U.S. troops’ seizing the Panama Canal by force, the officials said. Whether military force is used, the officials added, depends on how much Panamanian security forces agree to partner with the United States.

President Trump on Thursday expressed confidence the United States would annex Greenland, even suggesting the head of the NATO alliance could be a key player in facilitating the acquisition.

“I think it will happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“And I’m just thinking, I didn’t give it much thought before but I’m sitting with a man that could be very instrumental. You know, Mark, we need that for international security,” Trump said, gesturing to Rutte.

Congressman RaĂşl M. Grijalva has passed away at the age of 77 after a long battle with cancer, his office said in a press release.

Grijalva served as the United States representative since 2003. He was a Democrat.

“The Office of the 7th District of Arizona is saddened to announce the passing of Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva. Rep. Grijalva fought a long and brave battle,” his office said in a statement.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered federal agencies to rehire tens of thousands of probationary employees who were fired amid President Donald Trump’s turbulent effort to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup described the mass firings as a “sham” strategy by the government’s central human resources office to sidestep legal requirements for reducing the federal workforce.

Alsup, a San Francisco-based appointee of President Bill Clinton, ordered the Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs departments to “immediately” offer all fired probationary employees their jobs back. The Office of Personnel Management, the judge said, had made an “unlawful” decision to terminate them.

Tiger Woods has sensationally started dating Donald Trump Jr.’s ex-wife, DailyMail.com has reported.

Woods, 49, and Vanessa Trump, 47, who both live in Florida, have been together since Thanksgiving and are quickly becoming golf’s new power couple.

They live 20 minutes apart in the wealthy southern Florida enclave of Palm Beach and were spotted together at a golf tournament last month.

The FBI’s newly launched interagency task force in Virginia made 214 arrests in a two-week blitz since its inception, The Post has reported, rounding up members of violent gangs like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.

The interagency task force — the first of its kind — syncs the work of law enforcement agencies across the state to lock up criminals and illegal migrants.

The coordinated effort led to four arrests of those affiliated with Tren de Aragua, 18 MS-13 members and 16 involved in other gangs or transnational organized crime.

President Donald Trump’s goal is to eliminate taxes for people earning less than $150,000 per year, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said.

“I know what his goal is — no tax for anybody making under $150,000 a year. That’s what I’m working for,” Lutnick told CBS News on Wednesday.

He said that major tax cuts could be implemented without causing spiraling national debt through tackling overseas tax fraud.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Department of Finance on Wednesday notified state lawmakers that California will need a $3.44 billion loan to cover costs associated with the state’s Medicaid program known as Medi-Cal.

The letter did not specify why exactly the program fell short on funds and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle told KCRA 3 they want more specifics from Gov. Newsom’s administration.

While experts note there are many factors that go into Medicaid costs, some are pointing to the money the state spends providing health insurance to undocumented people.

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