News from around the world, viewed from a Christian perspective.  It’s Crosstalk’s News Round-Up and Comment broadcast.  Here’s a sample of what Jim shared with listeners:

–In a post on social media early Thursday, President Trump criticized the control tower workers and the crew of the Black Hawk military helicopter involved in the deadly mid-air collision of the helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 over the Potomac River Wednesday evening. 

–President Trump ties Biden’s DEI initiative to lower standards at the Federal Aviation Administration.

–Jim provided audio from Pete Hegseth, Trump’s secretary of defense, as he commented on why positions such as being an air traffic controller should be merit-based.     

–A preliminary FAA report indicated that staffing at the air traffic control tower was not normal at the time of the jet/helicopter collision.

–The internal FAA report says the controller who was handling helicopters in the vicinity on Wednesday evening was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from its runways.  A supervisor combined those duties sometime before 9:30pm and allowed one controller to leave according to a person briefed on the staffing who was not authorized to speak publicly. 

–President Trump named a new acting administrator of the FAA and signed a memorandum that called for an “immediate assessment of aviation safety,” in the wake of the tragic plane crash near Washington, D.C.

–Another plane heading to Reagan National Airport almost crashed into a helicopter the night before (Tuesday evening).  

–A Massachusetts man who was arrested and charged Monday with trying to kill Trump administration officials said he was inspired by Luigi Mangione.

–U.S. Capitol police arrested a man found on Tuesday with a concealed firearm,  but who had been mistakenly let into the Capitol with the weapon.

–President Donald Trump has signed the Laken Riley Act bill that requires the Department of Homeland Security to arrest, detain and deport illegal alien criminals.

–Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. will humanely move criminal migrants out of the country and work with other agencies to secure the southern border.

–Agents raided a nightclub in Denver detaining around 50 people associated with the violent Venezuelan gang, Tren De Aragua.  

–Cartel terrorists fired gunshots at Border Patrol agents this past Monday in Texas, five days after they shot and robbed an American hiker in San Diego County, California. 

–On Saturday, Kristi Noem successfully passed 50 votes in the GOP-controlled Senate to become the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

–The Trump administration has revoked an extension of deportation protections that President Biden had granted to more than 600,000 Venezuelans already in the U.S.