Politics

"Saturday Night Live" went straight for the jugular, opening with a brutal send-up of President Donald Trump's decision to boot Kristi Noem from her post as Homeland Security secretary.

Colin Jost played Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a mock press briefing, casually informing reporters that Noem had been "reassigned under the bus." Moments later, Ashley Padilla strutted in as Noem to set the record straight.

"I just want to make it clear that I didn't get fired," she insisted. "I self-deported."

After months of speculation, rumors, and fighters campaigning to be a part of the event … the UFC finally made it official Saturday night, announcing the promotion's "Freedom 250" card during UFC 326!

Ilia Topuria, lightweight champ, and Justin Gaethje, interim lightweight champ, got the top spot, main eventing the historic card ... which will go down Sunday, June 14 at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.!

Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane will serve as the co-main ... with the interim heavyweight belt on the line. Pereira will look to become the first fighter to be champion in three different divisions.

The rest of the main card rounds out like this ... "Suga" Sean O'Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi, Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler, Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus, and Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia.

Each fight, except for Pereira and Gane, features an American fighter.

The announcement puts an end to months of speculation surrounding the event

As for the setup, the event is expected to take place on the South Lawn, with a limited crowd in attendance.

Just 98 days until Freedom 250!

Two people have been taken into custody after "suspicious devices" were found outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's residence.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department acknowledged the incident in a statement Saturday ... revealing the devices were found near Gracie Mansion during an anti-Islam protest put on by conservative influencer Jake Lang.

Photographers took pictures of one of the devices ... which is ovular and covered in silver duct tape.

Donald Trump says he's too busy to learn Spanish ... even while he works on a new initiative drawing Latin America deeper into the U.S.A.'s sphere of influence.

POTUS spoke at the first Shield of the Americas summit in Miami Saturday ... launching the new intiative which he told the crowd aims to "eradicate the criminal cartels plaguing our region."

Leaders from a dozen Latin American nations -- including Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama and more -- attended the event ... but, if they were hoping to hear President Trump speak their native tongue, it's time to put that pipe dream aside.

Killer Mike says he's tired of watching poor kids fight wars ... arguing countries that want to go to war should send entitled rich kids instead.

We caught up with the four-time Grammy winner at LAX Thursday ... and we had to ask the politically active star for his take on the devastating conflict in the Middle East.

KM says he thinks poor people need to refuse to fight for the empire that is the United States ... because it's often working-class kids who are risking their lives to further the aims of the state.

Ben Stiller is ripping the White House for using a clip from "Tropic Thunder" in a social media post promoting America's war capabilities.

The "Tropic Thunder" director and star quote-tweeted a video mashup from the White House's official X account and told them to remove a brief clip from his satirical comedy.

The brief "Tropic Thunder" reference is a clip of Tom Cruise's character dancing. A bunch of other blockbusters and video games are featured in the mashup.

GOP Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales ended his reelection bid this week after admitting to an affair with a former staffer who later died by suicide ... and that staffer's husband is stunned by the developments.

Here's the deal ... Gonzales terminated his campaign Thursday, the day after he admitted to an affair with Regina Santos-Aviles -- a woman who worked for him while he was in Congress. Initially, he said he would not end his reelection bid.

Adrian Aviles tells TMZ … he's surprised Gonzales finally "took some accountability" and told the truth about the affair … and he's "satisfied" that it appears Gonzales' political career is over.

Eric Adams says he's not ready to go full Hollywood just yet ... but, if he did, he's eyeing a two-time Oscar winner to play him on the big screen.

We caught up with the former mayor of New York City at LAX Thursday ... and, we asked him who he wants to portray him in a biopic about his life.

Adams was pretty quick with his reply ... telling us he thinks Denzel Washington would crush it as him -- unsurprising given DW crushes pretty much every role he takes. That said, Adams says he's not looking to get into H'wood ... telling us he's not interested in jumping back into the public eye.

Misty Roberts -- the disgraced former Louisiana mayor -- is extending her 15 minutes of infamy by posing for a new mug shot Thursday after she registered as a sex offender.

As you can see, Roberts was in no mood to smile as her picture was snapped during the process of registering as a sex offender in Beauregard Parish, LA, which includes DeRidder -- a small city of about 10,000 people -- where Misty was mayor until the scandal broke.

On Tuesday, Roberts she was convicted at trial of two felonies -- carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior of a juvenile. She was also required to register as a sex offender with the state.

Congressman Tony Gonzales has finally bowed out on his re-election campaign ... just one day after admitting he had an affair with a staffer who died by suicide.

Gonzales, a Texas Republican, announced Thursday night he was dropping out of the GOP primary race against Brandon Herrera ahead of their May 26 runoff election. Hours later, Herrera declared victory and will now move on to the general election for Gonzales' seat in Texas' 23rd District.

In a statement, Gonzales said after deep reflection -- and with the support of his family -- he decided to end his campaign, though he vowed to serve out the remainder of his term.

Gavin Newsom is pouring one out for Kristi Noem ... trolling the outgoing Homeland Security Secretary over her firing.

The California Governor gave a nod to Noem's ouster Thursday with a social media post ... an "In Memoriam" of sorts for Noem's short stint as President Trump's DHS Secretary.

Newsom's post features a slideshow of Noem photos playing to a version of Sarah McLachlan's famous song, "I Will Remember You." It says "IN MEMORIAM KRISTI NOEM 2025 - 2026" and later "IT WAS THE BEST WORST OF TIMES."

Kristi Noem was a terrible Homeland Security chief who cared more about her looks than doing her damn job ... so say Meghan McCain and Tomi Lahren.

The conservative commentators bashed Noem shortly after President Donald Trump announced she would no longer run DHS ... instead moving her to the position of "Special Envoy for The Shield of Americas."

First up, McCain questioned the massive $220 million advertising campaign DHS paid for ... pointing out an episode of "Game of Thrones" cost HBO far less to produce -- and federal investigators should look into where that money went.

President Trump sounds like he got to say his two favorite words ... "You're fired!" ... and the person on the receiving end this time is Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Trump is firing Noem and replacing her with Oklahoma GOP Senator Markwayne Mullin ... according to a Trump post on his social media platform Truth Social.

BTW ... if you wanna know what kinda swagger Mullin's bringing to DHS, he's the same guy who challenged Teamsters Prez Sean O'Brien to a fist fight.

Yeah, this really happened a couple of years ago right in the middle of O'Brien's testimony on Capitol Hill.

Before moving on from Noem, POTUS had been asking aides and Republicans in Congress for a list of potential replacements for Noem, according to the WSJ ... and it sounds like the deciding factor here was Noem's fiery hearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

America, Israel and Iran aren't the only ones at war ... Sunny Hostin and Elisabeth Hasselbeck also waged a war of words over President Trump's latest conflict in the Middle East.

Check out this heated debate between Sunny and Elisabeth on Thursday's episode of "The View" ... they're going back and forth over Trump's authority to start a war with Iran.

Sunny says Trump is acting like a "king" by taking military action in Iran without Congressional approval ... but Elisabeth said Trump's just following a precedent set by Barack Obama and others.

Whoopi Goldberg had to rein in the warring women before things went completely off the rails.

Sam Asghari is speaking out about the impact the U.S. and Israel missile strikes on Iran are having on his immediate family in the country … saying it’s heartbreaking to watch such devastation unfold, even if it ultimately leads to regime change.

Speaking to CNN Thursday, the Iranian-American actor noted the situation is brutal ... especially for people still in Iran, like some of his friends and family members ... and it's tough for others who fled the country decades ago after the now-deposed regime took power and forced its ideology onto the nation.

As you know, the U.S. joined Israel last weekend in a massive military operation targeting Iran ... a mission that ultimately killed the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The White House is flexing its muscles in the escalating conflict with Iran ... sharing a highlight video of U.S. strikes that bizarrely opens with footage from the video game "Call of Duty."

The new video, posted on the White House's official X account Wednesday, kicks off with animation that appears to be from “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III” -- showing a player activating a “killstreak” -- before cutting to real footage of U.S. missiles hitting targets in Iran.

For those unfamiliar ... a “killstreak” in the popular video game is triggered when a player racks up a string of eliminations -- or kills -- without dying. The “COD” animation used by the White House specifically depicts the moment a player reaches 30 straight kills without dying ... unlocking a massive missile strike designed to wipe out the opposing team.