'I can do anything I want with it': Trump confirms he's eying another country for the 'taking'



The U.S. under President Donald Trump has decapitated both the Venezuelan and Iranian regimes. Trump confirmed on Monday that he now has his sights set on another country.

When asked whether the "next" country up was Cuba and whether the approach taken will "look like Iran or Venezuela," Trump said, "Can't tell you that. I can tell you that they're talking to us. It's a failed nation. They have no money. They have no oil. They have no nothing. They have nice land. They have nice landscape, you know. It's a beautiful island. I think they have great people."

'They're a very weakened nation.'

After extolling the entrepreneurial spirit of the Cuban people and noting that many expatriates would love to visit the communist-controlled island, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, "All my life I've been hearing about the United States and Cuba. 'When will the United States do it?'"

Trump said he believes he will have "the honor of taking Cuba. ... That's a big honor."

When asked to clarify what such a takeover might look like, the president said, "Free it, take it — I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth. They're a very weakened nation."

Cuba's electrical grid completely collapsed on Monday. The Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines noted in social media posts on Tuesday that efforts were still under way to restore electric systems around the country.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that the impact of the American-imposed oil blockade, which has been in effect for months, "is tremendous."

RELATED: Cubans torch communist headquarters in protest of blackouts and food shortages

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel at an "anti-imperialist" protest in front of the U.S. embassy in Havana.

Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 29, accusing the Cuban government of "extraordinary actions that harm and threaten the United States" and signaling that any nation that directly or indirectly sells oil to Cuba will have its exports to the U.S. slapped with additional tariffs.

In addition to prompting Mexico to suspend energy shipments to Cuba and cutting off the flow of Venezuelan oil to Havana, the U.S. has reportedly seized shipments bound for the island and intercepted vessels searching for fuel in the Caribbean Sea.

Cuba's energy crisis and worsening food shortage have exacerbated internal tensions and prompted protests. On Friday, for instance, protesters reportedly burned and ransacked a local communist party building — an incident Díaz-Canel suggested was the result of "distress" caused by the U.S. blockade.

U.S. and Cuban officials have been negotiating over the the fate of the island, four sources said to be familiar with the talks told the New York Times. The U.S. has reportedly signaled to the Cubans that the Trump administration might be satisfied with Díaz-Canel and some regime elders faithful to the murderous ideals of Fidel Castro getting the boot and the Cuban people figuring out the next steps.

"Direct conversations with the United States are about finding, through dialogue, solutions to the differences that exist between the two countries," Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuba's chief of mission to the U.S., told Politico. "The conversations are not about Cuba’s internal affairs — our constitutional system, our political model, our social and socialist economy which we Cubans have built."

On Sunday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, "We're talking to Cuba, but we're going to do Iran before Cuba," adding that "people have been waiting 50 years" for possible action on the Cuban front.

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Senate bill would give nearly $6 billion to refugee programs despite record-low intake numbers



An appropriations bill could allocate billions in funding to refugee programs after temporary government funding expires.

Congress passed a clean funding extension in November 2025 that expires on January 30, 2026, when new funding allocation could take place.

'These programs provide a variety of benefits and services to refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants.'

This possibility has conservatives pointing out issues with legislation like a Senate appropriations bill, first proposed in July, for fiscal year 2026.

The bill, which allocates funding for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and "related agencies," has garnered significant attention from online researchers regarding its allocation of funds to refugee programs.

"Hey guys, all those insane 'refugee assistance' grants I'm always tweeting? The [GOP] is about to supercharge the funds," wrote Oilfield Rando, an X account with more than 235,000 followers.

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Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Particularly, conservatives online have taken issue with the bill's recommendations for "Refugee and Entrant Assistance," for which the committee recommends $5.691 billion.

"These programs provide a variety of benefits and services to refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, immigrants arriving on Special Immigrant Visas [SIV], trafficking victims, and torture victims," the bill reads.

A whopping $564 million of those funds is recommended for "Transitional and Medical Services," while providing grants to states and "nonprofit organizations to provide cash and medical assistance to arriving refugees, as well as foster care services to unaccompanied minors."

More than $300 million is recommended for "Refugee Support Services."

The Senate committee argued in the document that HHS needs to ensure funding for resettlement agencies so that they can maintain their infrastructure and capacity at a level to continue to serve "new refugees, previously arrived refugees," and others who are eligible for "integration services."

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Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images

According to the Baker Institute, the Trump administration set the refugee cap at 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, the lowest in U.S. history. This is reportedly a 94% reduction from the 125,000 cap that the Biden administration set for FY 2025.

President Trump famously admitted 59 South African refugees into the United States in May; however, there have been no other major intakes by the administration over the course of 2025.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations is majority Republican, with 15 Republicans and 14 Democrats.

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Obama judge prevents Trump admin from eliminating 'flawed' Biden migrant parole program



A Massachusetts-based Obama judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from ending the Biden administration's CHNV parole programs, which allowed multitudes of otherwise inadmissible migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to flood into the country.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also certified a class of all those foreign nationals who received a grant of parole affected by the DHS' termination of the program.

Talwani, a daughter of immigrants from India and Germany, claimed that the Trump administration "offered no substantial reason or public interest that justifies forcing individuals who were granted parole in the United States for a specific duration to leave (or move into undocumented status) in advance of the original date their parole was set to expire."

"Nor is it in the public interest to summarily declare that hundreds of thousands of individuals are no longer considered lawfully present in the country," continued Talwani. "The early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens who have complied with DHS programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law."

Ironically, the Biden administration appears to have played fast and loose with the law when admitting migrants into the country under the CHNV parole program.

Background

The House Judiciary Committee noted in a November report, "Through CHNV, each month up to 30,000 aliens, who otherwise have no basis to enter the country and who have 'a supporter' in the United States, can bypass the U.S. border and fly directly into the country 'on commercial flights' to be 'granted parole' for a period of two years by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security."

While federal law requires that the DHS secretary use his parole authority on a "case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit," former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas apparently figured it better to permit inadmissible aliens en masse — the consequences of which were felt across the country but especially in Springfield, Ohio, which was overwhelmed by Haitian nationals.

'This fundamentally flawed program must be permanently dismantled.'

According to the report, over 531,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans had entered the country via the program as of September 2024.

Congressional investigators noted that in addition to the issue of the Biden administration flouting federal law, the program was "plagued by so much fraud that DHS itself was forced to pause the program in July 2024."

Blaze News previously reported that an internal probe found that over 100,000 applicants were backed by approximately 3,000 serial sponsors.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), among the many Republican lawmakers who criticized the program, said in a Sept. 10 letter to Mayorkas, "This fundamentally flawed program must be permanently dismantled. The program has not only facilitated widespread fraud, but has also exposed serious vulnerabilities in our immigration system, leading to dire consequences for public safety."

Despite its awareness that foreign nationals were recycling Social Security numbers, addresses, and phone numbers in their applications, the Biden administration resumed the program the following month.

Eliminating the program

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to "terminate all categorical parole programs that are contrary to the policies of the United States established in my Executive Orders, including the program known as the 'Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.'"

The Department of Homeland Security followed through, announcing last month in the Federal Register that it was terminating the CHNV parole programs on March 25.

'The [DHS] Secretary's discretion in this area is broad.'

Foreign nationals whose temporary parole period in the U.S. under the program had not already expired were notified that their paroles would terminate on April 24 "unless the Secretary makes an individual determination to the contrary."

The DHS noted further that parolees without a lawful basis to remain in the country had to leave the U.S. before their parole termination date. Those who remained unlawfully would be deported.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted, "These are the 530,000 illegal immigrants that Joe Biden flew to the United States on the taxpayers [sic] dime. They're welcome to self-deport using the newly repurposed CBP Home App!"

Lawsuit

Justice Action Center, Human Rights First, and Haitian Bridge Alliance sued on behalf of foreign nationals to prevent the Trump administration from ending the previous administration's parole processes. They found a fellow activist in Talwani.

The Obama judge acknowledged that her "role in reviewing agency action in this area is limited" and that "the [DHS] Secretary's discretion in this area is broad" but nevertheless made clear she would meddle anyway.

Talwani said that the migrants have standing to challenge the shortening of their grant of parole, noting that if their "parole status is allowed to lapse, Plaintiffs will be faced with two unfavorable options: continue following the law and leave the country on their own, or await removal proceedings."

The judge suggested that both options were undesirable.

Talwani noted that if required to depart the U.S., then migrants might undergo family separation, forfeit opportunities to obtain a remedy for their Administrative Procedure Act claims, and face dangers back in their respective homelands. If they remain in the country illegally, then they will lose their legal work authorization and possibly face arrest, wrote the judge.

To spare foreign nationals from an election-backed reversal of Democratic policy, Talwani ruled to temporarily preserve the legal status of CHNV migrants and block the DHS' enforcement on April 24.

"Hundreds of thousands of our neighbors will go to sleep tonight knowing that the Trump administration's attempts to delegitimize and criminalize our communities have been thwarted, for now," Guerline Jozef, founder of Haitian Bridge Alliance, said in a statement.

"The court rightly recognized the harm the government's arbitrary decision-making was threatening in the lives of innocent people," said Anwen Hughes, a legal strategist at Human Rights First.

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Biden DHS' flight scheme landed over 160,000 'inadmissible aliens' in Florida inside an 8-month window



The Biden administration is quietly loading Florida up with foreign nationals who have no business being in the country by way of the Department of Homeland Security's controversial Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) mass-parole program.

This apparent illegal-immigration workaround, which Republicans have called "unlawful," could prove impactful for the Sunshine State as well as for the rest of the country. After all, the DHS' imports are likely to put additional stress on citizen resources in Florida, such as hospitals, which a recent report indicates were put out $566 million last year on account of illegal aliens.

Background

The Biden DHS launched the CHNV parole program in late 2022 in an apparent effort to both spare prospective illegal aliens from having to jump the border and to lower the Biden administration's egregious border-jumper statistics.

The DHS announced in January 2023 that prospective CHNV migrants "who have a supporter in the United States, undergo and clear robust security vetting, and meet other eligibility criteria" can apply for advance authorization to fly to an interior port of entry in the United States.The program grants up to a two-year parole for up to 30,000 CHNV nationals per month.

A U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas noted in March that by June 2023, the DHS had approved 97.5% of the applications for CHNV nationals.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated that as of March, "404,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans arrived lawfully on commercial flights and were granted parole under these processes. Specifically, 86,000 Cubans, 168,000 Haitians, 77,000 Nicaraguans, 102,000 Venezuelans were vetted and authorized for travel; and 84,000 Cubans, 154,000 Haitians, 69,000 Nicaraguans, and 95,000 Venezuelans arrived lawfully and were granted parole."

Upon the implementation of the program, 21 states filed suit, claiming that the program exceeds the authority of the DHS and its secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas; failed to include a notice and comment period; and is arbitrary and capricious.

The states' complaint suggested the DHS has "effectively created a new visa program — without the formalities of legislation from Congress."

"The parole program established by the Department fails each of the law's three limiting factors. It is not case-by-case, is not for urgent humanitarian reasons, and advances no significant public benefit," continued the complaint. "The Department does not have the authority to invite more than a third of a million more illegal aliens into the United States annually as it has announced with this program."

Texas also argued that the CHNV program was also harmful because migrants approved under the scheme qualify for state services such as health care and public education, reported the Texas Tribune.

U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton ruled in favor of the Biden administration on March 8, enabling the scheme to keep going.

Damning figures

On Tuesday, House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee revealed some troubling details about the Biden Department of Homeland Security's CHNV scheme.

According to the internal data the committee obtained via subpoena, 1.6 million inadmissible aliens were awaiting travel authorizations through the CHNV program as of October 2023. If accepted by the DHS, as most are, then they would join more than 400,000 others, including the roughly 200,000 migrants flown into the U.S. then processed by the DHS under the program between January and August — the bulk of whom ended up in Florida.

The committee indicated during that 8-month window, 91,821 migrants flew into Miami, Florida; 60,461 flew into Ft. Lauderdale; 6,043 flew into Orlando; and 3,237 flew into Tampa under the program.

The top 15 airport locations used for the CHNV program also included New York City, which received 14,827 between January and August 2023; Houston, 7,923; Los Angeles, 3,237; Dallas, 2,256; San Francisco, 2,052; Atlanta, 1,796; and Washington, D.C., which received 1,472.

— (@)

The internal DHS documents apparently indicate that none of the migrants have a legal basis to enter the U.S., explicitly stating, "All individuals paroled into the United States are, by definition, inadmissible, including those paroled under the CHNV Processes."

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the committee, said in a statement, "These documents expose the egregious lengths Secretary Mayorkas will go to ensure inadmissible aliens reach every corner of the country, from Orlando and Atlanta to Las Vegas and San Francisco. Secretary Mayorkas' CHNV parole program is an unlawful sleight of hand used to hide the worsening border crisis from the American people."

"Implementing a program that allows otherwise inadmissible aliens to fly directly into the U.S. — not for significant public benefit or urgent humanitarian reasons as the Immigration and Nationality Act mandates — has been proven an impeachable offense," added Green.

Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), told Fox News in a statement, "Biden's parole program is unlawful, and constitutes an abuse of constitutional authority. Florida is currently suing Biden to shut it down, and we believe that we will prevail."

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EEOC commissioner humiliates Mark Cuban over his failure to comprehend the Civil Rights Act: 'Dead wrong'



Race-obsessive billionaire Mark Cuban continues to publicly defend the organizational discrimination scheme known as DEI — a numbers game in which human beings' immutable characteristics and sexual preferences are factored into hiring and advancement decisions.

In his continued attack Sunday on color-blind meritocracy and what he previously termed "DEI-Phobi[a]," Cuban outed himself for apparently engaging in discriminatory practices. Although he may not have seen it that way, a commissioner from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission intervened to inform him the matter was clean-cut — and he was on the wrong side of it.

Cuban was arguing on X with the Rabbit Hole, a user who has previously hammered the billionaire for his "DEI Denialism."

In a Substack piece earlier this month, the Rabbit Hole discussed the mental gymnastics Cuban and other corporate bigwigs perform in their efforts to defend DEI. The critic suggested their routine comes down to a lack of familiarity with the issue, an inability to digest arguments, and apathy in the face of facts.

Cuban afforded the Rabbit Hole an opportunity to test this theory, engaging the critic in a debate Sunday on the question: "Should candidate selection, at any level, consider non-merit based criteria like race and sex?"

The debate began when Cuban shared a link on X to an NBC News article entitled, "How right-wing influencers turned airplanes and airports into culture war battlegrounds."

The Rabbit Hole wrote in reply, "When shown proof of how DEI discriminates, you wrote it off by stating private entities can do whatever they want. Since then the goalposts have repeatedly been shifted. Given the weak nature of your defenses of DEI, I suspect there is no real rebuttal to the criticisms myself and others have raised."

Cuban jumped into the fray, pushing back against the notion that "seeking out members of a certain demographic to fill [a] role" was reprehensible.

"You are a CEO of a successful company that has 30 employees that are all black women, and you think a different perspective will help you grow the firm," wrote Cuban. "So you decide you want to hire a white man? You would be against that right?"

The Rabbit Hole held firm and answered in the affirmative, stressing, "I believe in a colorblind meritocracy; this means I am against forms of hiring which undercut merit including forms of hiring which cut out merited individuals over their group association(s)."

Turning the tables, the Rabbit Hole asked the billionaire whether he has "hired people on the basis of demographics on the belief that doing so better positioned your companies to succeed?"

Cuban claimed that while he has "never hired anyone based exclusively on race, gender, religion," "race and gender can be part of the equation" if that would put his business in the best position to succeed.

In response to Cuban's damning answer and apparent admission of a race-factored hiring approach, the Rabbit Hole responded, "Thank you for your transparency."

@mcuban \u201cAnd yes, race and gender can be part of the equation.\u201d\n\nThank you for your transparency.\n\nTitle VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
— (@)

EEOC Commissioner Andrea L. Lucas ultimately weighed in, lending her expert insight on discrimination law and humiliating Cuban in front of millions of users.

"EEOC Commissioner here. Unfortunately you're dead wrong on black-letter Title VII law," wrote Lucas. "As a general rule, race/sex can't even be a 'motivating factor' — nor a plus factor, tie-breaker, or tipping point. It's important employers understand the ground rules here."

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 notes that "an unlawful employment practice is established when the complaining party demonstrates that race, color, religion, sex, or national origin was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice."

— (@)

Lucas provided Cuban with a link to "further information about the relevant legal standards, and corresponding potential risks" pertaining to DEI practices should he "need a primer on the law."

Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt subsequently told Cuban, "Call your lawyer."

America First Legal noted, "This is the beauty of @X --here you have [Mark Cuban] openly admitting to violating black-letter employment law, and getting admonished/corrected in real-time by an EEOC Commissioner. ... For the entire world to see."

Cuban doubled down on his remarks Monday, stating, "Race is part of the equation never the deciding factor. As is diversity of background."

@FutureConfirmed Race is part of the equation never the deciding factor. As is diversity of background
— (@)

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An explosion at a popular Cuban hotel kills dozens and leaves even more injured



A desperate search for survivors is still ongoing after a gas leak caused an explosion obliterating large portions of the popular Hotel Saratoga in Havana. The blast killed 22 people, and over 70 people have been hospitalized.

Prior to the explosion, guests reported hearing something that sounded “like a bomb” only moments before the eruption tore through the hotel that was built in the nineteenth century, the U.S. Sun reported.

It is believed that a gas tanker that was parked outside of the hotel ignited, subsequently exploding and destroying several floors of the building.

At the time of writing, 22 people have died, either in the explosion or due to injuries from the explosion, and 74 people have been hospitalized. Among the deceased were one pregnant woman and at least one child.

Children attending the school next to the hotel were quickly evacuated, and there were no reported injuries among its pupils.

Local reports claim that foreigners on vacation in Cuba are still trapped on the hotel's top floor as it continues to crumble.

After visiting the site, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel dismissed the possibility of it being an attack or bombing.

Diaz-Canel instead suggested that the explosion was caused by a gas leak, in accordance with the findings of initial investigations.

Footage taken by the Cuban residents in the area shows the wounded desperately seeking safety, and medical attention as reports confirm that many witnesses to the tragedy worked to save victims from under the ruble.

Local police and fire service members have begun searching for bodies and survivors within the ruins.

Adjacent buildings on the same block as the Hotel Saratoga were also ravaged by the explosion, which reportedly caused buildings on the surrounding streets to shake. Buses, cars, and other vehicles parked outside the hotel were destroyed in the blast.

Michael Figueroa, a Cuban photographer, said that he was “thrown to the ground” by the force of the explosion as he was walking down the street.

The hotel was scheduled for its post-COVID-19 pandemic reopening in four days. Now, it lies in ruins with much of its outer wall and facades being obliterated.

Marcelo Ebrard, the Foreign Minister of Mexico, said, “Our solidarity to the victims and those affected as well as the people of that dear fraternal nation.”

Dallas Mavericks Say They Won't Play National Anthem — Press Sec.’s Response Says It All
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Dallas Mavericks Say They Won't Play National Anthem — Press Sec.’s Response Says It All

Mark Cuban accepts offer to view contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop

Shark Tank celebrity entrepreneur Mark Cuban accepted One America News Network's Jack Posobiec offer to view the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, requesting the evidence be uploaded online and calling an assembly of liberal journalists to analyze the findings.