Ancient mysteries from a very smelly cave.

When 60 Minutes lined up three American Catholic Cardinals who had been dropping angry “open letters” on President Trump, CBS reporter Norah O’Donnell mustered the audacity to claim “their candor surprised us.” No, they knew precisely what they were orchestrating – another carefully edited hit job on Trump. Modern liberals, by their nature, are alienated from traditional Christianity, as exemplified by the classic front-page Washington Post phrase about Jerry Falwell’s followers: “poor, uneducated, and easy to command.” Liberal TV networks find organized religion useful – when it helps sell the liberal view. They want to add the moral authority of organized religion to their causes. They will celebrate in this case that Pope Leo is not a “pundit” or a “politician,” which is true to a point. But it turns into a pundit-palooza. This American pope surely knows that all of his speeches, interviews, and tweets are going to be used to score points by political actors, and he knows that he doesn’t have to name Trump for everyone to guess he’s calling out Trump. When a pope speaks out about poverty or pollution or climate, our elitist media rush to publicize it. When the Catholic Church is vigorously opposing abortion or transgenderism, then they are either mocked or ignored -- but mostly ignored. So you might think Pope Leo is a liberal when it depends on which issue is being discussed. They only want to present his opinion when he agrees with their opinion. If he speaks out against radical Islam or Christian persecution in Africa, they ignore him, so Americans might think he's said nothing about it. The 60 Minutes gang could just as easily find a spokesman like Bishop Robert Barron, who is very popular among American Catholics. But he's on Trump's Religious Liberty Commission, so he's automatically an unpalatable choice. Leftist journalists call him a "MAGA Bishop." That's like categorizing the cardinals CBS interviewed as the "Biden Cardinals." In this case, they’re seeking to undermine the moral authority of a more conservative church leader. The journalists who sneer at a “MAGA Bishop” are the same hacks who describe Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi as “devout Catholics.” It’s all about political spin. In recent days, they have elevated the Pope and the Church’s anti-Trump leaders to some sort of holy ground where they should not be criticized by Trump or by J.D. Vance, that they’re only digging themselves a whole by daring to disagree. Stephen Colbert scolded Vance like he needed to go to the confessional for criticizing the Pope. When the Pope was seen as a staunch right-winger – like Pope Benedict XIV – the media and the comedians ripped him all the time. The media’s tendency to elevate the religious left was also demonstrated by a CNN interview with Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C. She lauded Pope Leo for his consistent message of peace and “calling for respect and dignity in human discourse.” Seconds later, CNN played a video of Baptist pastor/Senator Raphael Warnock on MS NOW ripping Vance for suggesting the Pope should be “careful” on political matters: “This is how despots and wannabe despots talk. This is how fascists talk.” Is that respect and dignity in discourse? Budde could only happily gush to CNN: “As Raphael Warnock said so well, this is what moral courage looks like.” CBS and CNN always find “moral courage” in anyone denouncing Trump – although this chatter is quite easy to uncork without challenge, and the rewards for forwarding that “anti-fascist” spin are blatantly obvious. Advancing the Left is “courageous.” Debating the Left makes you a “wannabe despot.”

Last month, the Trump administration announced a brand-new White House app available for iPhone and Android. The move shocked the internet, causing some to warn that installing the app would give the government a window into every phone’s most private data. After reviewing the privacy policy, those early fears were somewhat overblown, though not completely invalid. Here’s everything we found.The new White House app replaced the previous version that was launched by former President Barack Obama in 2010. After 16 years, the app was long overdue for an overhaul. Updated to version 47 as a nod to our 47th president, the app now entails a brand-new design and features optimized for the MAGA age.There are some inherent flaws within its code.A quick tour of the White House (app)The new White House app offers a unique window into the presidency of Donald Trump. It’s comprised of five main sections:Home: The home page displays announcements, goals/mission achievements, and other important messages from the Trump administration. These can include information on the MAHA movement, border security, cost-of-living improvements, and more.News: The news page showcases press releases and major updates directly from the administration as well as trusted media outlets.Live: The live feed displays long-form videos, shorts, and livestreams featuring President Trump and his various on-camera appearances, from diplomatic meetings, to important announcements, and a meme or two for good measure.Social: The social tab provides a live feed of various social media accounts connected to the president, including Rapid Response 47, the White House, and Donald J. Trump. There’s also a tab that lets you write to the White House, text President Trump himself, sign up for the White House newsletter, and you can even submit a tip to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if you suspect illegal immigration is taking place in your neighborhood or workplace.Gallery: The gallery displays photos of various events featuring President Trump and his administration, including important addresses, bill signings, Cabinet meetings, and more. Zach Laidlaw/The White House app on iOSPrivacy concerns?From the moment the new White House app went live, sleuths on social media were quick to warn others not to download it, claiming it to be government spyware that can gather users’ private data.Based on its privacy labels on the App Store and Google Play, the White House app may collect your email address and phone number (both optional) for marketing purposes as well as app usage data for analytics. Notable components missing from the data collection notice include precise location data, microphone access, camera access, photos access, and browsing history.In other words, the White House app doesn’t have permission to listen to your conversations, spy on you through the camera, or see your exact location.RELATED: How the FBI can flout Apple's privacy tools ugurhan/Getty Images Going a step further, we took a look at the White House’s privacy page. Based on this information, the White House website (and by extension, the app) may collect the following that developers aren't required to disclose directly on the app page:The device’s originating IP addressThe internet domain nameInformation about your computer or mobile setup (e.g., type and version of web browser, operating system, screen resolution, and connection speed)The pages on WhiteHouse.gov that you visitThe internet address, or URL, of the website that connected you to the site if you accessed WhiteHouse.gov via a link on another page (i.e., “referral traffic”)The amount of data transmitted from WhiteHouse.gov to your computerAt first glance, none of these seem out of the ordinary. Practically all websites you visit log this information about your device and usage habits.So the White House app is safe to use, right? Not so fast ...Secrets under the hoodA self-professed web designer and former reverse engineer that goes by “Thereallo” decompiled the Android version of the White House app to see exactly what its code entails. Thereallo makes several censorious claims about the app that earned the White House’s announcement a community note on X. The highlights include: Security risks driven by arbitrary JavaScript injection and an absence of certificate pinning that could leave the app open to hacks in the future.Dubious GPS tracking that logs the device’s location in the foreground (while the app is in use) every 4.5 minutes and in the background (while the app is not being used) every 9.5 minutes.User behavior tracking through various avenues, including cross-device aliases, notification interaction logs, in-app clicks, and more.Note that these points were only confirmed in the Android version of the White House app. Due to the closed nature of Apple’s mobile platforms, decompiling iOS apps are far more complex.So is the White House app really safe to use?While the new White House app looks good on the surface, there are some inherent flaws within its code that could open users up to cyber security threats and data tracking. If you’d like to use the app, consider these options first:Enable a trusted VPN to mask your IP address from the app’s location-monitoring protocols.Revoke any permissions from that app that request location data or access to see nearby devices to ensure it can’t tap into your GPS data or connected Bluetooth devices.Install the app within a secure sandbox, either inside a Private Space on Android or within an iPhone that isn’t attached to your primary Apple account, to ensure any future cyber attacks on the app can’t attempt to access the rest of the data in your device.Don’t download the White House app. Simply visit whitehouse.gov for the latest information from the Trump administration.If you’re still interested in checking out the White House app for yourself, you can download it from the Apple App Store for iPhone and the Google Play Store for Android.

That war is terrible doesn’t mean that it’s ineffective.

Punishing economic success will only drive it out the door.

If things continue along the current path in the conflict between President Trump and Chairman Jerome Powell, consequential legal questions will come into play.

Historians and politics watchers continue to be confounded by the Founding Father.

A reboot so true it’s funny.

Plus: Eric Swalwell resigns in disgrace.

He has the constitutional authority to do so. That doesn’t mean he should.