From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Wallace White

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, on Tuesday suggested it’s time to “get rid” of Trump.

The Pentagon has authorized the deployment of a carrier strike group to combat transnational cartel activity, marking a significant escalation in a pressure campaign against Venezuela, the Pentagon announced Friday.

The Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group will be deployed to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR) with an air wing, the Pentagon told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. The move is the latest effort to increase military presence around South America in order to combat cartel operations and pressure regimes like Colombia and Venezuela.

It is unclear whether the forces will be deployed in the Caribbean Sea or the Pacific Ocean, both of which are in the SOUTHCOM AOR.

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” the Pentagon said in its statement. “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs.”

Drug smugglers have increasingly resorted to underhanded tactics to avoid detection by U.S. forces, including smuggling their product aboard commercial vessels, dropping drug bales at sea via illegal flights and shipping product in smaller quantities.

The Trump administration initially deployed naval assets to the southern Caribbean in August after designating Latin American cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Additionally, multiple bombers have flown patrols around Venezuelan airspace as a “show of force.”

Many observers have speculated that Trump’s pressure on Venezuela may open up the U.S. to a regime-change conflict in the nation. Colombia has also come under Trump’s ire, with the Treasury Department issuing sanctions Friday against Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who on Tuesday suggested it’s time to “get rid” of Trump.

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Hopkins

The Trump administration is creating a first-of-its-kind task force aimed at ushering in a new “Golden Age” of beautiful infrastructure across the U.S.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) will announce the establishment of the Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council (BTIC) on Thursday, the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively learned. The BTIC seeks to advise Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on design and policy ideas for key infrastructure projects, including highways, bridges and transit hubs.

“What happened to our country’s proud tradition of building great, big, beautiful things?” Duffy said in a statement shared with the DCNF. “It’s time the design for America’s latest infrastructure projects reflects our nation’s strength, pride, and promise.”

“We’re engaging the best and brightest minds in architectural design and engineering to make beautiful structures that move you and bring about a new Golden Age of Transportation,” Duffy continued.

Mini scoop – here is the DOT’s rollout of its Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council, which will be tasked with making our buildings beautiful again. pic.twitter.com/9iV2xSxdJM

— Jason Hopkins (@jasonhopkinsdc) October 23, 2025

The DOT is encouraging nominations of the country’s best architects, urban planners, artists and others to serve on the council, according to the department. While ensuring that efficiency and safety remain a top priority, the BTIC will provide guidance on projects that “enhance” public areas and develop aesthetic performance metrics.

The new council aligns with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in August 2025 regarding infrastructure. The “Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again” order calls for federal public buildings in the country to “respect regional architectural heritage” and aims to prevent federal construction projects from using modernist and brutalist architecture styles, instead returning to a classical style.

“The Founders, in line with great societies before them, attached great importance to Federal civic architecture,” Trump’s order stated. “They wanted America’s public buildings to inspire the American people and encourage civic virtue.”

“President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson consciously modeled the most important buildings in Washington, D.C., on the classical architecture of ancient Athens and Rome,” the order continued. “Because of their proven ability to meet these requirements, classical and traditional architecture are preferred modes of architectural design.”

The DOT invested millions in major infrastructure projects since Trump’s return to the White House. Duffy announced in August a $43 million transformation initiative of the New York Penn Station in New York City and in September unveiledmajor progress in the rehabilitation and modernization of Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C.

The BTIC will comprise up to 11 members who will serve two-year terms, with the chance to be reappointed, according to the DOT. The task force will meet biannually. The deadline for nominations will end Nov. 21.