Trump launches midterm push in Iowa – ‘We gotta win midterms’; Homan meets with Walz, Frey – ‘productive starting point,’ he says; Anti-ICE protestors storm Tim Walz’s office at the Minnesota Capitol; Dr. Oz exposes healthcare fraud in California; Trump signs executive order for feds to take over LA’s ‘nightmare’ wildfire rebuild; Newark cardinal ratchets up criticism of Trump’s immigration crackdown; Following USAID cuts, US bishops try new way to fund illegal migration; Catholics celebrate the Feast of the ‘Angelic Doctor’; and more —
Trump launches midterm push in Iowa, warns losses would derail agenda: ‘We gotta win’
President Donald Trump kicked off an aggressive midterm push Tuesday night in Iowa, warning supporters that losing control of Congress would jeopardize his tax cuts, border policies and broader second-term agenda as he urged Republicans to turn out and “win the midterms.”
“If we lose the midterms, you’ll lose so many of the things that we’re talking about, so many of the assets that we’re talking about, so many of the tax cuts that we’re talking about, and it would lead to very bad things,” Trump said during remarks that framed the 2026 midterm elections as a test of his presidency.
Speaking after Reps. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, and Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, Trump said holding both chambers of Congress was critical to advancing his agenda.
Read more at Fox News
POTUS touts administrations’ agricultural wins
Watch @RapidResponse47
The President’s full speech in Iowa
Watch @WhiteHouse
Trump works the room in Iowa
Watch @MargoMartin47
Border Czar Tom Homan Reveals He Met with Walz, Frey: ‘Productive Starting Point’
Border Czar Tom Homan revealed that he met with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), as well as other law enforcement officials, adding that the meetings were a “productive starting point.”
Homan explained in a post on X that they had discussed “the issues on the ground in Minnesota.” Homan also pointed out that President Donald Trump “has been clear” that “he wants American cities to be safe and secure for law-abiding residents.”
“Today I met with Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, and top law enforcement officials to discuss the issues on the ground in Minnesota,” Homan wrote. “We all agree that we need to support our law enforcement officers and get criminals off the streets.”
“While we don’t agree on everything, these meetings were a productive starting point and I look forward to more conversations with key stakeholders in the days ahead,” Homan added.
While Homan spoke well of the meetings with Walz and Frey, he did not mention anything about agreements or concessions being made.
Read more at Breitbart
Anti-ICE Protesters Storm Tim Walz’s Office at the Minnesota Capitol
Anti-ICE protesters stormed the Minnesota Capitol and held a demonstration outside of Governor Tim Walz’s office on Tuesday following Walz’s talks with President Trump on Monday.
Video from the scene shows protesters chanting “What do we want? ICE Out! When do we want it? Now!”, “Say her name! Renee Good!” and “Do your job!”
They were also holding signs with slogans like “Justice Not Gestures,” “ICE Out Now,” and “ICE Out of Minnesota.” …
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Trump announced on Monday that he had conversations with Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and that they had agreed to comply with his administration to deport the criminal illegal aliens in Minneapolis.
Trump had announced earlier that Tom Homan would travel to Minnesota and take over ICE operations. Homan met with Walz and Frey on Tuesday.
Read more at The Gateway Pundit
Video of protestors feet away from Walz’s office door
Watch @EricLDaugh
Trump’s latest ICE move [in Minneapolis] just BLINDSIDED Democrats
Watch at Glenn Beck
Subpoena issued to billionaire funding protest groups
Watch @JesseBWatters
Trump confirms support of Noem
Watch @nicksortor
You Won’t BELIEVE The Latest POLLS on Trump and Immigration!!!
Watch at Dr. Steve Turley
The Outsourcing of Catholic Immigration Policy to Progressive Catholic Institutions
For decades, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops played an unmistakably political role in national immigration debates, issuing forceful policy statements, lobbying Congress, running public relations trips to the U.S.-Mexican border for bishops, and positioning its Migration and Refugee Services office as a progressive, often strident voice on immigration in Washington. Those days are over. Last February the bishops’ conference cut 50 positions—about one‑third of the staff in its migration and refugee services office—after federal reimbursements for contracted refugee and migrant resettlement work were suspended.
Today, the USCCB appears to be attempting to rebrand itself as a less‑political actor, emphasizing humanitarian service and pastoral care rather than policy confrontation. Whether the USCCB will be successful in its effort to recast itself remains to be seen.
Read more at Crisis Magazine
Cardinal Tobin: Pray, mourn and say ‘no’ to ICE funding
A high-ranking Catholic leader is ratcheting up criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and urging people of faith to be more vocal in calling out injustice.
Responding to a sense of helplessness many people are feeling in the wake of violence at the hands of federal immigration officials, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, urged people of faith not to shy away from the news and to use their voices to say, “No.”
In a reflection delivered Jan. 26 during an online interfaith prayer service hosted by Faith in Action, Tobin employed some of the strongest language yet by a U.S. cardinal to condemn the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, describing Immigration and Customs Enforcement “lawless” and urging Catholics to tell their lawmakers to vote against additional funding.
Read more at the National Catholic Reporter
Catholic journalist comments on Tobin’s ‘partisan stand on very controversial issue’
Read @PhilLawler
Dr. Oz: Russian, Armenian ‘Mafia’ Hijacked California’s Healthcare Systems
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Trump administration’s top Medicare and Medicaid official, says the federal government will “aggressively” pursue what he described as organized crime networks exploiting California’s healthcare system through hospice and other billing schemes.
Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in a video posted to social media that the agency is focusing on alleged fraud tied to Russian and Armenian criminal groups operating in California.
“This mafia seems to have taken over the system. They corrupted doctors, they’ve normalized fraud so that everyone sort of expects it, but the magnitude of it is so great that we have to take it out aggressively,” Oz said.
Read more at NEWSMAX
Dr. Oz on the ground in LA exposing fraud
Watch @WallStreetApes
Trump signs executive order for feds to take over LA’s ‘nightmare’ wildfire rebuild in huge boost for victims
President Trump is sidestepping thumb-twiddling California Democrats with an executive order aimed at fast-tracking the rebuilding of Los Angeles a year after devastating wildfires torched entire city blocks and left thousands homeless. …
Trump pointed the finger at California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for the painfully slow rebuilding of homes ravaged by the January 2025 Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires, two of the most destructive blazes in LA history.
Wildfires destroyed an estimated 16,000 structures, but Los Angeles city and county officials have only issued 2,600 permits to rebuild so far. …
Trump’s order is designed to “preempt” the building permit process — and empower the federal government to maneuver around the needless obstacles imposed by Democratic leaders.
Read more at the New York Post
Bad news for Catholics in Nicaragua
See @CatholicArena
Archdiocese Of Chicago Closing 6 Catholic Schools
Citing low enrollment and overall financial concerns, the Archdiocese of Chicago has announced six Catholic schools in Chicagoland are closing. The schools are slated to shutter at the conclusion of the current school year.
The schools closing, according to the Archdiocese, are: Our Lady of Humility in Beach Park, Sts. Bruno and Richard in Chicago, St. Hubert in Hoffman Estates, St. Jerome in Chicago, St. Francis Borgia in Chicago, St. Stanislaus Kostka in Chicago.
Read more at Patch
How liturgical changes in the Charlotte diocese have affected my family – personal essay by LT Terrell
… [W]e discovered the Latin Mass as it was first introduced to our parish in 2012, and with it came an introduction to older holy days. I found a new sense of the sacred in all aspects of life. I began abstaining and fasting on Fridays, not because I believed myself better for it, but because I found a particular tradition attractive and beneficial and, quite honestly, because it was easier than forgetting we are still called to offer up something on Fridays and then trying to figure out what that something will be. But discovering these older traditions and incorporating them into our lives gives us the sense that God isn’t simply relegated to Sundays. In the old calendar, they are still celebrating Christmas; in the new, we are in ordinary time.
There is an implied assumption behind the assertion that recent liturgical changes are intended to promote unity. This assumption suggests that, prior to Bishop Michael Martin’s leadership, our diocese was fragmented and that the TLM contributed to this division. However, the Charlotte diocese and seminary is a thriving community. …
Read more at zeale
Today is the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
See @FriarMario; read about Thomas Aquinas’ writings at Thomas Aquinas 101
Adoro te devote | Thomas Aquinas’ most beautiful Gregorian Chant!
Listen/watch at Gregorian Chant Academy
