Headline Updates

320k Missing Migrant Kids, DOGE Trillion Target, Signal Unforced Fumble, Ghost Gun Ruling, NPR CEO Toasted, Noem in El Salvador

• Ranting Politics • Season 1 • Episode 140

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 • Trump administration implementing dramatic changes to child migrant program to prevent trafficking
• New policies include DNA checks, facial recognition, and deportation threats for fraudulent sponsors
• Elon Musk claims cutting $1 trillion from government is "quite achievable" without hurting core services
• Defense Secretary Hegseth shared classified Yemen strike details in unsecured Signal chat
• Supreme Court upholds ghost gun regulations in surprising 7-2 decision
• NPR chief finally admits they "dropped the ball" on Hunter Biden laptop story
• Homeland Security Secretary Noem tours El Salvador's notorious Secoti prison housing deported gang members 

 Ranting Politics presents a news roundup covering major policy shifts and controversies, including Trump's overhaul of migrant child programs after 320,000 kids went missing under Biden and Musk's bold trillion-dollar government cutting mission that's already transforming federal agencies. 


Source Credits:

 

 https://nypost.com/2025/03/26/us-news/trump-admin-makes-changes-to-child-migrant-sponsorship-program-that-lost-track-of-320k-kids-under-biden/ https://nypost.com/2025/03/27/us-news/elon-musk-says-doges-trillion-dollar-target-quite-achievable-without-services-cut/ https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/politics/the-atlantic-publishes-signal-messages-yemen-strike/index.html https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-upholds-biden-admin-ghost-gun-regulation https://nypost.com/2025/03/26/media/nprs-katherine-maher-admits-outlet-failed-to-cover-hunter-biden-laptop/ https://nypost.com/2025/03/26/us-news/kristi-noem-tours-el-salvadors-hell-hole-cecot-prison-ahead-of-negotiations-for-more-gangbanger-deportation-flights/ 

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Speaker 1:

Hello America, joc, here with your Ranting Politics headline updates where we are diving into today's most explosive political stories that you need to know about Coming up. We're diving into the Trump administration's major overhaul of the child migrant program after 320,000 kids were lost track of under Biden. We'll cover Elon Musk's bold claim that cutting a trillion dollars in government spending is quite achievable, plus the bombshell signal chat leak revealing classified Yemen strike details. We've also got the Supreme Court's decision on ghost guns, npr's surprising admission about the Hunter Biden laptop story and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's tour of El Salvador's notorious Secoti prison. This is America's fastest-growing daily news rundown no spin, no filter and common-sense commentary. This is Ranting Politics Headline Updates.

Speaker 1:

The Trump administration is implementing major changes to how the US handles unaccompanied migrant children, with officials saying the move is designed to protect kids from trafficking and exploitation. According to reporting from the New York Post, the Office for Refugee Resettlement will now be permitted to share immigration status information of children's sponsors with law enforcement reversing a Biden-era prohibition. The agency will also have the authority to deny a sponsor base solely on their immigration status. This comes after a shocking report released last August revealed that the Biden-Harris administration lost track of more than 320,000 migrant children who crossed the border without parents. A Health and Human Services official didn't mince words about the previous policy's failures, telling the Post that HHS will no longer be complicit in endangering the lives of children by allowing adults to exploit our immigration system. The agency found numerous cases where migrant children were placed in dangerous situations, including working in exploitative conditions in slaughterhouses and factories, due to lax vetting policies. In several egregious instances, sponsors provided fake or doctored images in their applications, but faced no scrutiny over the phony photos. By May of last year, 291,000 migrant children had arrived as unaccompanied minors and were released into the country with notices to appear in immigration court, but with no way to track their whereabouts. The Trump administration has already begun implementing additional safeguards, including proposing fingerprinting and mandatory DNA checks to confirm sponsors' identities. The administration is also increasing background checks and implementing facial recognition and post-release monitoring of children. Sponsors found to have fraudulently applied to take custody of migrant children could face deportation as part of Trump's broader deportation campaign if they're referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An HHS official emphasized Our priority is to protect children and uphold the rule of law. We are committed to closing the loophole that encourages placing children in harm's way.

Speaker 1:

Elon Musk is making bold claims about his Department of Government efficiency, declaring that slashing a trillion dollars in federal spending is quite achievable without impacting core government services. In his first joint interview with Doge team members on Fox News' Special Report, musk told host Brett Beyer their efforts are already producing dramatic results. This is a revolution, and I think it might be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution, musk said, revealing that his team is targeting waste at an impressive rate of $4 billion a day. Every day, seven days a week. The world's richest man expressed confidence they'll get close to their trillion-dollar goal in just 130 days. The window in which he's legally allowed to serve as an unpaid special government employee. The window in which he's legally allowed to serve as an unpaid special government employee. At their current claim pace, that would amount to $520 billion in cuts. Unless this exercise is successful, the ship of America will sink, musk warned. That's why we're doing it. Doge has already initiated dramatic changes across federal agencies, including mass firings and dramatically reducing spending at the 10,000-person USAID and the 1,700-person Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. However, major targets like the Pentagon remain largely untouched so far.

Speaker 1:

During the interview, doge software engineer Aram Moghadassi addressed concerns about the Social Security Administration, emphasizing their work to protect legitimate recipients from fraud. According to Mogadashi, 40% of phone calls to Social Security come from fraudsters attempting to steal payments. Musk jumped in to reassure Americans that their benefits are safe. In fact, what we're doing will help their benefits. Legitimate people, as a result of the work of Dodge, will receive more Social Security, not less. I want to emphasize that, as a result of the work of Doge, legitimate recipients of Social Security will receive more money, not less money.

Speaker 1:

Fellow billionaire and Airbnb co-founder, joe Gebbia, who's also working with Doge, highlighted their efforts to digitize the retirement process for government employees, which is currently paper-based and limits retirements to about 8,000 per month. It's an injustice to civil servants who are subjected to these processes that are older than the age of half the people watching the show tonight. Gebbia said we really believe that the government can have an Apple Store-like experience. The Doge team also pushed back on criticism about widespread firings, claiming that, despite high-profile terminations, less than 0.15% of the federal workforce has actually received reduction in force notices, with approximately 75,000 federal workers accepting buyout offers. According to the New York Post, musk summed it up bluntly Basically, almost no one's gotten fired.

Speaker 1:

A bombshell report from the Atlantic has revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared highly detailed, sensitive operational information about US military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in an unencrypted signal group chat with Trump administration officials. The magazine published additional text messages Wednesday that offer a minute-by-minute timeline of the planned attack before it was carried out. Despite the administration's repeated insistence that no classified information was disclosed, military and intelligence experts say the messages contained exactly the kind of operational details that would typically be highly classified, especially since Hegseth shared them before the strikes began. It is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court-martialed for this. A defense official told CNN we don't provide that level of information on unclassified systems in order to protect the lives and safety of the service members carrying out these strikes. The messages exchanged with top national security officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, provide extraordinarily specific details about the operation, including exact launch times for F-18 fighter jets and strike drones. Hegseth's messages included a complete timeline noting 1215 at F-18's launch, first strike package, followed by the precise timing of subsequent strike windows, drone launches and when the first bombs will definitely drop. A former senior US military commander warned that such information would allow adversaries to evacuate targeted areas and potentially mass anti-aircraft weapons to threaten US pilots. Until the strike goes, it's absolutely classified, as the lives of our pilots depend on secrecy. The former commander said. While the White House continues to dismiss the controversy as a witch hunt, senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker and top Democrat Jack Reed are formally requesting an inspector general report and classified briefing on the matter. The revelations appear to contradict Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's congressional testimony Tuesday that weapons packages, targets and timing weren't discussed in the Signal chat. When questioned Wednesday about whether he still believes the information wasn't classified, president Trump distanced himself from the controversy, saying Well, that's what I've heard. I don't know, I'm not sure. You have to ask the various people involved.

Speaker 1:

The Supreme Court has delivered a major ruling on gun regulations, upholding the Biden administration's restrictions on so-called ghost guns. In a decisive seven to two vote, the high court found that the Bureau of Alcohol, tobacco, firearms and Explosives was well within its authority to regulate these do-it-yourself weapons that have become increasingly popular in recent years. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion, joined by an unusual coalition that included Chief Justice Roberts and the court's three liberal justices, along with Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett. Only Justices Thomas and Alito dissented from the ruling. At the heart of the case was whether ghost gun kits, which are marketed as easy-to-assemble functional weapons that don't require serial numbers or background checks, meet the federal definition of a firearm under the Gun Control Act. The seven-justice majority concluded that the law permits ATF to regulate some weapon parts, kits and unfinished frames or receivers. Justice Thomas, in his dissent, argued that Congress could have authorized ATF to regulate any part of a firearm or any object readily convertible into one, but it did not. He criticized the majority's approach as having no limiting principle and inviting unforeseeable consequences. The Justice Department has maintained it's not seeking to ban these kits outright, but rather requiring them to comply with the same regulations as other commercial firearms, including serial numbers on parts and background checks on purchasers. Law enforcement has reported a dramatic surge in ghost guns being used in crimes, with the ATF seizing more than 19,000 such weapons in 2021 alone a tenfold increase in just five years. Under the upheld rule, unfinished parts like handgun frames or long gun receivers must now be treated like completed firearms, requiring licensing, serial numbers and background checks before sale. This decision comes as the conservative majority court continues to re-examine Second Amendment issues, having recently struck down a federal ban on bump stocks, but upheld restrictions on gun possession for those subject to certain domestic violence restraining orders.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

In a remarkable admission that set Washington buzzing, npr's chief executive, catherine Meyer, has finally acknowledged what critics have been saying for years the publicly funded broadcaster dropped the ball on one of the biggest stories of the 2020 election cycle. I do want to say that NPR acknowledges we were mistaken in failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively or sooner, maher told lawmakers during an intense congressional hearing Wednesday. This rare mea culpa came as Maher faced blistering questioning from Republican legislators, particularly Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, about NPR's perceived liberal bias. The hearing, which also included PBS CEO Paula Kerger, comes as both broadcasters face potential funding cuts from the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. Republican lawmakers are targeting the $535 million allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, questioning whether taxpayers should fund media organizations they view as left-leaning. Maher's admission validates claims made by former NPR editor, uri Berliner, who quit the organization last year after criticizing his former employer for ignoring the Post's exclusive reporting on Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop before the 2020 election. When pressed by Representative Tim Burchett about her own past social media posts, including one where she labeled President Trump a racist and sociopath during the 2020 campaign, maher conceded I regret them. Today, she further acknowledged that NPR's news team has work to do regarding balanced journalism. The laptop controversy has only intensified since NPR's initial reluctance to investigate the story. Hunter Biden has since faced felony charges that resulted in convictions, though he was ultimately pardoned by his father before leaving office. While NPR receives less than 1% of its annual budget directly from federal grants. Its member stations depend heavily on public funding, with smaller rural stations receiving up to 30% of their budgets from federal sources. This funding structure has put NPR squarely in the crosshairs of lawmakers, questioning whether the broadcaster can truly deliver nonpartisan news, while its leadership has expressed openly partisan views, as reported by the New York Post. Greene didn't mince words during the hearing, highlighting Meyer's previous remarks suggesting America was addicted to white supremacy and criticizing binary gender terminology.

Speaker 1:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took a daring trip to El Salvador Wednesday, touring the infamous Seacott prison that's quickly becoming the final destination for gang members deported under President Trump's aggressive immigration policies. Dubbed Ice Barbie by critics, noem didn't shy away from the notorious facility's grim reality her flowing blonde hair, visible beneath her immigration and customs enforcement cap, as she inspected rows of tattooed inmates. The Terrorism Confinement Center, as it's formally known, recently received 250 suspected Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gang members shipped from the United States earlier this month. These deportees now join the 15,000 other inmates already held in what's widely considered one of the most deliberately dehumanizing prisons on Earth. No one expects that these people can go back to society and behave. El Salvador's Justice Minister Gustavo Villatoro, told NOEM as they walked through sweltering barracks where inmates stood silent in white uniforms, pressed against the bars of their overcrowded cells. The prison conditions are startling by American standards. Inmates spend 23 and a half hours daily in cells holding up to 70 people, where they eat, bathe and use the bathroom in full view of others. They sleep on bare metal bunks stacked four high, without sheets or mattresses, subsisting on meager meals of beans and pasta. Most will never see sunlight again. According to pool reports, noem was shown one prisoner serving 465 years for homicide and terrorism, highlighting the facility's role in housing what the prison director has described as psychopaths who will be difficult to rehabilitate.

Speaker 1:

Following her prison tour, noem was scheduled to meet with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to discuss increasing the number of deportees the country will accept. Her visit is the first stop in a three-day Latin American tour focused on combating transnational criminal organizations. This diplomatic mission comes amid significant legal challenges at home. Just as Noem arrived in El Salvador, a federal appeals court voted 2-1 to uphold a block on Trump's use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which the administration invoked to deport the suspected gang members without trial. The rarely used wartime measure allows the president to deport non-citizens without due process typically required Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act than has happened here, judge Patricia Millett remarked during a heated hearing that underscores the controversy surrounding these deportations. The deal to house deported gang members at Secot was negotiated in February between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Bukele, with the US paying what Rubio described asa relatively low, undisclosed fee for El Salvador's cooperation. Trump has vowed to fight the court's block on his deportation authority as his administration continues its hardline approach toward immigration enforcement.

Speaker 1:

And that wraps up today's packed episode of Ranting Politics Headline Updates. We've covered the Trump administration's overhaul of the child migrant program after 320,000 kids were lost track of under Biden. Elon Musk's ambitious trillion-dollar government cutting mission, the controversy surrounding classified Yemen strike details shared on Signal, the Supreme Court's decision on ghost gun regulations, npr finally admitting they dropped the ball on the Hunter Biden laptop story, and Kristi Noem's eye-opening tour of El Salvador's notorious Seacott prison. These are complex stories with significant implications for all Americans, regardless of political affiliation. At Ranting Politics, we're committed to delivering the facts without the partisan spin that dominates so much of today's media landscape. If you value our straightforward approach to the day's biggest headlines, make sure to follow us on X at Ranting RP. Subscribe on YouTube, spotify, iheartradio and Apple Podcasts. For more in-depth coverage, visit RantingPoliticscom. This is JOC signing off and thank you, our loyal listeners, for choosing Ranting Politics Headline Updates. We'll be back soon with the updates you need to navigate these interesting times. Until then, stay tuned, stay informed and, as always, stay free.