LOOP: Trump: I’ll leave North Korean talks if they’re “not fruitful”
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| THURSDAY, APRIL 19 |
| NORTH KOREAN TALKS President Trump said he hopes to have a very successful meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. “If the meeting, when I’m there, is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting,” said President Trump, during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. READ |
| SCHOOL CHOICE FOR MILITARY FAMILIES Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will meet today with Defense Secretary James Mattis to urge him to back a plan to provide education savings accounts for military families to cover education expenses, including private school tuition. READ |
| OBSTRUCTION IN THE SENATE Democrats in the Senate are have forced 30 hours of debate on almost every judicial and executive branch nominee. “The delay and obstruction are historic,” said Sen. Cory Gardner, R-CO. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is considering responding with longer work weeks in the Senate to keep vulnerable Democrats off the campaign trail. READ |
| NBC’S GUTHRIE GRILLS COMEY This was a surprise. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie really asked some tough questions of former FBI director James Comey over details in his book, noting that many have called Comey’s attacks on President Trump as “catty.” READ |
| CHARTER FLIGHTS Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has received negative media attention for the cost of his chartered flights, which totaled $72,849 in his first six months in the Cabinet post. Despite all the negative coverage he’s received, that cost is actually slightly lower than the average annual cost over the last six years of Zinke’s two predecessors in the Obama administration. READ |
| PREGNANCY CENTERS OFFER HELP 8 truths that destroy John Oliver’s ignorant rant against pro-life pregnancy centers. READ |
| HERO PILOT’S FAITH Tammie Jo Shults is the pilot who landed Southwest Flight 1380 to safety after part of its engine ripped off. Shults is also a devout Christian who said that piloting planes gave her the opportunity “to witness for Christ on almost every flight.” READ |
| NEW NASA HEAD The Senate approved Jim Bridenstine to lead NASA. The final tally was 50-48, but only after Sen. Jeff Flake, R-AZ, switched his vote in favor of Bridenstine. It has been a 49-49 vote, but Vice President Pence was in Florida and unable to break a tie. READ |
| VATICAN TO GERMAN BISHOPS: NO With the Holy Father’s approval, the Vatican’s head of doctrine rejected a proposal by German bishops to allow Protestant spouses to receive Holy Communion. But two senior sources in the Vatican said that the Pope does not want the text of the letter to become public. READ |
| SAVE THE EIGHTH Ireland has a pro-life amendment to their Constitution, which pro-abortion activists are trying to remove through a referendum. READ |
| SAINT OF THE DAY Saint Conrad of Parzham served as friary porter for 41 years. Anyone who came to the friary in Altoetting would have met Saint Conrad as he greeted them at the door. Such a role may not sound like much, but Saint Conrad turned it into a true ministry of love and service. READ |
| DAILY MASS READINGS “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.” (Mk 16:15) READ |
| SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY Fr. Jim Sichko of Kentucky gave Pope Francis a bottle of very-prized 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon. How fitting. Some Pappy for Papa. READ |