Esquire: How U.S. Customs and Border Protection Accidentally Sent a JD Vance Meme into the Viral Stratosphere

The altered photo of the vice president might’ve revealed his weird, sweaty soul better than Hillbilly Elegy ever could.

This week, a 21-year-old Norwegian tourist named Mads Mikkelsen was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Newark Airport, and the most important part of the story is NOT that there’s another guy named Mads Mikkelsen. The most important part of the story is that Mikkelsen claims he was detained and eventually returned to Norway at least in part because of an image CBP agents found on his phone, which is this doctored photo of JD Vance.

Upon his return to Norway, Mikkelsen gave an interview to local newspaper Nordlys, saying that CBP agents threatened him with a $5,000 fine if he did not unlock his phone and allow them to scroll through his photos, and when they saw this hilarious and unsettling image, that was the last straw. The story spread far and wide, and CBP felt the need to address the situation on social media.

Because the CBP chose to address the story publicly rather than let it blow over, the JD Vance meme has been on the front page of European newspapers and websites all week long, which is the dumbest and funniest and most obvious possible outcome. It is proof that people in power do not understand the Streisand Effect.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a65223992/us-customs-and-border-protection-jd-vance-meme

Guardian: Trump and Hegseth admit doubts about level of damage to Iranian nuclear sites

President calls intelligence ‘inconclusive’, while defence secretary describes harm to facilities as ‘moderate to severe’

Donald Trump and the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, have admitted to some doubt over the scale of the damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear sites by the US bombing at the weekend, after a leaked Pentagon assessment said the Iranian programme had been set back by only a few months.

“The intelligence was very inconclusive,” Trump told journalists at a Nato summit in The Hague, introducing an element of uncertainty for the first time after several days of emphatic declarations that the destruction had been total.

“The intelligence says we don’t know. It could’ve been very severe. That’s what the intelligence suggests.”

The president then appeared to revert to his claim that “it was very severe. There was obliteration”. Later in the day, he claimed that was the conclusion from “collected intelligence”, and that the Iranian programme had been set back “decades”.

Trump also likened the US use of massive bunker-buster bombs on the Fordow and Natanz uranium enrichment sites to the impact of the US nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the second world war, using the comparison specifically in reference to their impact in ending a conflict.

Over the course of the day, Trump’s claims became more far-reaching, even rejecting reports from the nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that Iran’s 400kg stock of 60% enriched uranium could no longer be accounted for, and appeared to have been moved.

Despite all the huffing and puffing, the bombings were pretty much a flop.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/25/trump-and-hegseth-admit-doubts-over-irans-nuclear-sites-damage-by-us-strikes

Daily Mail: Tourist who claimed he was banned entry to US because of a JD Vance meme on his phone was actually denied for a different reason, Homeland reveal

A Norwegian tourist who claimed he was denied entry to the United States after immigration officers found a meme of JD Vance on his phone was actually turned away for a different reason, U.S. officials have revealed.

Mads Mikkelsen, 21, was sent away after arriving at New Jersey‘s Newark Airport on June 11 for a holiday. 

He told Norwegian outlet Nordlys that he had been pulled aside by border control and put in a cell.

‘They asked questions about drug trafficking, terrorist plots and right-wing extremism totally without reason,’ he alleged in an interview with the outlet.

Mr Mikkelsen claimed that the officers then threatened him with a $5,000 fine or five years in prison if he refused to give the password to his mobile phone.

The guards were said to have found a meme on the device’s camera roll showing an edit of US vice president JD Vance with a bald, egg-shaped head. Mikkelsen said after discovering the image the authorities sent him home to Norway the same day.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, operating under the Department of Homeland Security, has since clarified that ‘Mads Mikkelsen was not denied entry for any memes or political reasons’.

Bullshit! Just another lie from Homeland Security!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14842359/Norwegian-tourist-21-barred-entering-US-ICE-guards-meme.html

India Today: JD Vance’s Bluesky account suspended minutes after first post on trans youth care

US Vice President JD Vance’s Bluesky account was suspended minutes after his first post, which included criticism of transgender medical treatments and Big Pharma. Bluesky has yet to comment on the suspension.

US Vice President JD Vance’s foray into Bluesky was remarkably brief, with his account suspended just minutes after his inaugural post.

Yet, by 6:30 p.m., attempts to access his page were met with a message: “Account has been suspended.” The Vice President’s posts had reportedly included criticisms of medical treatments for transgender youths and claims regarding pharmaceutical influence on healthcare decisions.

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/jd-vances-bluesky-account-suspended-minutes-after-first-post-on-trans-youth-care-glbs-2742845-2025-06-19

Robert Reich: The Dogs of War

What’s really going on.

As a result, he’s probably getting decent advice about what’s good for Trump but not about what’s good for America or the world. It’s an inevitable consequence of purging from the government anyone more loyal to the United States than to him. Besides, Trump only listens to information he wants to hear.

1. Why is Trump taking us into war with Iran?

2. Is (or was) Iran building a nuclear weapon?

3. Is Trump getting good information and advice?

4. Will Iran now cave and agree to destroy its remaining stockpile of enriched uranium and allow inspectors to confirm that the stockpile is gone?

5. Have the bombings wiped out Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons?

6. What’s the worst Iran can now do to the United States in retaliation?

7. Will the American public “rally ‘round the flag” and support Trump in this war

8. Will he send in American ground troops?

9. What’s Congress likely to do now?

10. Bonus question: Where does the phrase “dogs of war” come from?

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-dogs-of-war

Mirror: JD Vance announces Trump ready to take ‘further action’ to stop Iran as VP breaks silence on rising tensions

Vice President JD Vance has broken his silence in a lengthy post on the social media site X over the mounting tensions between Iran and Israel

“That decision ultimately belongs to the president. And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy,” Vance concluded. “But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue. And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people’s goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus.”

The statement by Vance comes after Trump ordered 10 million residents of Tehran, Iran to “evacuate immediately.” It comes after the president left the G7 summit in Canada in order to work on a peace deal with Iran and Israel who have begun exchanging missiles.

Only the most arrogant of assholes would take 16% as a mandate!

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/breaking-jd-vance-announces-trump-1213652

Mirror: JD Vance announces Trump ready to take ‘further action’ to stop Iran as VP breaks silence on rising tensions

Praising Trump’s actions, Vance stated that he has seen Trump show “remarkable restraint in keeping our military’s focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens.” According to Vance, Trump “may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment.”

Just remember — 16% is not a mandate! This will be the end of reign of King Donald.

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/breaking-jd-vance-announces-trump-1213652

Benzinga: [Bimbo #3] Bondi Delivers Blow to Bar Association: ‘Lost Its Way’

The Trump administration has expressed concerns about the American Bar Association’s (ABA) impartiality in evaluating judicial nominees. The Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed that the ABA has favored nominees from Democratic administrations in its rating process. As a result, Attorney General Pam Bondi has noted that nominees will no longer provide the ABA with access to non-public information.

Never mind that Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi herself is in danger of being disbarred for ethical complaints in Florida.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bondi-delivers-blow-to-bar-association-lost-its-way/ss-AA1GkbPY

2 paragraphs: JD Vance Slammed for University “Crisis” Comment, “Your Intellectual Justifications…Are Insulting”

After a federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to stop Harvard University from enrolling foreign students, the Vice President of the United States JD Vance continued to attack the state of American higher education in broad strokes.

Taking aim at issues beyond the scope of the administration’s current accusations against Harvard, Vance wrote on Saturday on X: “There is an extraordinary ‘reproducibility crisis’ in the sciences, particularly in biology, where most published papers fail to replicate.”

Vance continued with a litany of wide-ranging complaints: “Most universities have massive bureaucracies that inhibit the translation of basic research into commercial adoption.”

Vance also slammed colleges for the way professors allegedly vote, saying that “the voting patterns of university professors are so one-sided that they look like the election results of North Korea.”

“And on top of all of this,” Vance claimed, “many universities explicitly engage in racial discrimination (mostly against whites and asians) that violates the civil rights laws of this country.

“Our universities could see the policies of the Trump administration as a necessary corrective to these problems, change their policies, and work with the administration to reform.

“Or, they could yell ‘fascism’ at basic democratic accountability and drift further into irrelevance.”

Executive summary: Greenland didn’t want me, the Pope bitch-slapped me for my childish, self-centered interpretation of ordo amoris, and now I’m doing my fascist best to become persona non grata at our nation’s flagship universities.

MSNBC: Leaked audio suggests Trump’s new Social Security chief had to Google his own job

The apparent fact that the new Social Security commissioner, up until recently, had no idea what his job entailed does not inspire confidence.


First Frank Bisignano  tries to pass himself off as:

“fundamentally a DOGE person,”

which sets off alarms for those who don’t want Social Security cut, so Bisignano 

took steps to distance himself from DOGE-imposed changes at the Social Security Administration

but

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon produced a statement from a purported whistleblower, who claimed that Bisignano had personally intervened to get key DOGE officials involved at the agency

Now that he is on the job, he admits that

he wasn’t familiar with the position and had to look it up online.

Bisignano said: “So, I get a phone call and it’s about Social Security. And I’m really, I’m really not, I swear I’m not looking for a job. And I’m like, ‘Well, what am I going to do?’ So, I’m Googling Social Security. You know, one of my great skills, I’m one of the great Googlers on the East Coast.”

Does he also know how to Google on the West Coast, or is he just a one-coast Googler?

This guy is running Social Security?

Does he remember his name?

Does he know where he is?

Does ….

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/leaked-audio-suggests-trumps-new-social-security-chief-google-job-rcna208797