June 19, 2026
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Leading the News
Israel threatens Khamenei after missiles damage hospital and wound more than 200 . . . Israel's defense minister overtly threatened Iran's supreme leader on Thursday after the latest missile barrage from Iran damaged the main hospital in southern Israel and hit several other residential buildings near Tel Aviv. Israel meanwhile struck a heavy water reactor that is part of Iran's nuclear program. At least 240 people were wounded by the Iranian missiles, four of them seriously, according to Israel's Health Ministry. The vast majority were lightly wounded. Associated Press
US moves newest super carrier — USS Gerald Ford — to Mediterranean amid massive military buildup near Iran
US E-4B 'doomsday plane' makes unexpected flight to DC as Trump weighs Iran strike . . . One of America's "doomsday planes" made a flight to Joint Base Andrews in Washington, DC, Tuesday night as President Trump weighs whether to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. The E-4B Nightwatch — which was designed to protect the secretary of defense and other national security officials and keep the government operating in a time of nuclear war — was spotted by flight trackers, and took a long, winding route to the capital. New York Post
Is there more to the fallout from an attack on Iran than we understand?
More Republicans Than Democrats Support Israel in Conflict With Iran, Poll Finds . . . A majority of registered Republican voters and those who lean Republican—58%—said the United States should be supporting Israel in its current conflict with Iran, according to a new Napolitan News National Survey. Twenty-four percent of Republicans and Republican leaners said the U.S. should not support Israel or Iran in the conflict. Of registered Democrat voters and those who lean Democrat, just 32% said the U.S. should support Israel, while 36% said America should support neither country. The Daily Signal
MAGA allies deride attacking Iran — but won't criticize Trump directly
Bannon predicts most supporters will rally behind Trump if US gets involved in Israel-Iran war . . . MAGA firebrand Steve Bannon predicted Wednesday that most of President Trump's loyal supporters will just "get on board" if the commander in chief decides to launch the US into the spiraling Israel-Iran conflict. Despite warning that another war in the Middle East would only "tear this country apart," the right-wing pundit said he expected the majority of the MAGA movement to rally behind Trump — regardless of what he decides. New York Post
Politics
Supreme Court Rules States Can Protect Kids From Transgender Procedures . . . The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that states have the constitutional right to pass laws protecting children from irreversible transgender medical interventions. In a 6-3 ruling the court upheld a Tennessee law prohibiting minors from attempting to medically change their sex. The court held that Tennessee's law "satisfies rational basis review," rejecting plaintiffs' claims that the law discriminates against people on the basis of gender identity. Daily Signal
How Trump's DOJ Plans to Use Law Weaponized Against Pro-Lifers to Protect Them Instead . . . Congressional Republicans are fighting to repeal the law used under the Biden administration to prosecute pro-lifers for praying outside abortion clinics. In the meantime, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon plans to use the law to prosecute attacks against pregnancy resource centers. "While the statute is in place, it provides protection for both people who are going to abortion clinics as well as crisis pregnancy centers," Dhillon told The Daily Signal. Daily Signal
Trump Says Tucker Carlson Called Him To Apologize After Criticizing President's Iran Stance . . . My supporters are for me. My supporters are for America First and Make America Great Again," Trump said. "My supporters don't want to see Iran have a nuclear weapon. Tucker's a nice guy. He called and apologized the other day because he thought he said things that were a little bit too strong." Daily Wire
CAIR Quietly Puts $100K Behind Zohran Mamdani's Bid for NYC Mayor . . . The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the anti-Israel group whose leader said he was "happy" about Oct. 7, is quietly funding socialist Zohran Mamdani's bid for New York City mayor. The Unity & Justice Fund, which CAIR formed last year to expand its political influence, has contributed $100,000 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, the largest PAC supporting Mamdani, according to campaign records. Washington Free Beacon
Trump remakes the White House with new flagpoles . . . The American flag has long flown from a pole on the White House roof, but that's always been too small for President Donald Trump, who wants everything to be bigger and more beautiful. On Wednesday, massive new flagpoles were erected on the North and South Lawns of the White House. "It's such a beautiful pole," Trump said as workers used a crane to install the latest addition to the South Lawn. He returned to the same spot later in the day, saluting as the stars and stripes were hoisted for the first time. Associated Press
Leftist Echo Chamber Bluesky Suspends JD Vance's New Account Within 30 Mins, then Reinstates . . . "Hello Bluesky, I've been told this app has become the place to go for common sense political discussion and analysis," Vance wrote in a post on Bluesky. "So I'm thrilled to be here to engage with all of you." In another post Vance wrote: "To that end, I found Justice Thomas's concurrence on medical care for transgender youth quite illuminating. He argues that many of our so-called 'experts' have used bad arguments and substandard science to push experimental therapies on our youth." Breitbart
He's messing with them and probably enjoying it a lot.
Culture
'I've Got Your Back': Read ChatGPT's Chilling Instructions To Young Girl Seeking Covert Abortion . . . ChatGPT will help kids access abortion pills behind their parents' backs and instruct them on how to obtain illegal abortion pills while maligning crisis pregnancy centers that offer alternatives to abortion. When prompted by The Daily Wire about what it would say to a 14-year-old girl in Tennessee looking to get an abortion without her parents' knowledge, version GPT-4o of ChatGPT provided a detailed list of abortion providers and gave a step-by-step guide on how to discreetly obtain abortion pills. Daily Wire
Harvard Law Review Axes 85 Percent of Submissions Using Race-Conscious Rubric . . . According to new documents obtained by the Free Beacon, the law review eliminates more than 85 percent of submissions using a rubric that asks about "author diversity." And 40 percent of journal editors have cited protected characteristics when lobbying for or against articles—at one point killing a piece by an Asian-American scholar, Alex Zhang, after an editor complained in a meeting that "we have too many Yale JDs and not enough Black and Latino/Latina authors." Washington Free Beacon
Movement to Stop Left-Leaning Smithsonian Latino Museum Gains Momentum . . . Conservatives are rallying behind President Donald Trump's effort to defund the development of the National Museum of the American Latino. A coalition letter lead by the American Principles Project sent to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., on Tuesday expressed support for Trump's budget request ending funding for the development of the museum. The museum, authorized in the omnibus spending bill of 2020, is "almost entirely" backed by "leftist activists," according to the letter. The Daily Signal
Another attack on America set to be launched from the National Mall.
National Security
Trump effect: Study finds 1 million illegal immigrants have left U.S. since January . . . President Trump has not only stopped but reversed the Biden border surge, according to early Census Bureau data that suggests hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have dropped out of the workforce and departed the country. Preliminary calculations by the Center for Immigration Studies, using the Census's monthly survey, show that the number of immigrants in the labor force dropped by about 600,000 from January to May, and the overall number of immigrants in the U.S. fell by 957,000 over that same period. Washington Times
Democrats hammer Hegseth over restoring Confederate names of military bases . . . Democratic senators on Wednesday repeatedly slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his decision to restore the names of nine military bases originally named after Confederate leaders, with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) criticizing the Pentagon chief for not calling the families whose relatives' names will now be stripped from the installations. The Hill
Money
Medicare and Social Security go-broke dates pushed up due to rising health care costs, new SSA law . . . The go-broke dates for Medicare and Social Security 's trust funds have moved up as rising health care costs and new legislation affecting Social Security benefits have contributed to earlier projected depletion dates, according to an annual report released Wednesday. The go-broke date — or the date at which the programs will no longer have enough funds to pay full benefits — was pushed up to 2033 for Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund. Last year's report put the go-broke date at 2036. Associated Press
Americans Are Side-Hustling Like We're in a Recession . . . The share of working Americans holding down multiple jobs rose to between 5.3% and 5.5% during the first five months of the year. People typically have less need for side hustles as they advance in their careers. But it isn't playing out that way for a group already scarred by two recessions. Those juggling more than one job say they are bracing for a potential downturn by padding their finances while they can. They are also ensuring they'll still have a source of income in the event of a layoff or diminished earnings. Wall Street Journal
Buss family to sell Lakers to Mark Walter for $10B valuation . . . The Buss family is entering into an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion, sources told ESPN on Wednesday, the highest ever for a U.S. professional sports franchise. The Buss family will keep a minority share of the team, just over 15%, for a period of time, a source said. In addition, Jeanie Buss will remain the Lakers' governor and continue to run the team for "at least a number of years." ESPN
You should also know
A heat dome is about to bring extreme heat and humidity to more than 200 million . . . The first heat wave of summer, starting Friday in central states, will bring days of extreme conditions to many cities across the United States, with humidity levels reaching far beyond what is normal for this time of year. A heat dome — a heat-trapping lid of strong high pressure in the atmosphere — will expand eastward after forming Friday and intensify through next week. For a week or longer, it's expected to lead to hundreds of record-breaking temperatures, tropical levels of humidity and abundant sunshine. Washington Post
I don't usually do weather reports, but I thought you might want to know about this. Strange that on the eight day, God didn't create indoor central air conditioning.
SpaceX Starship bursts into gigantic ball of flames after explosion at test site in Texas . . . A SpaceX rocket was seen bursting into a gigantic ball of fire during a routine test in Texas Wednesday night. The Starship 36 rocket was undergoing a static fire test at Elon Musk's Starbase test site at around 11pm when shocking footage shows its nose suddenly bursts open - causing the screen to momentarily flash white. When the light finally faded, a giant ball of fire could be seen spreading on the ground as black clouds of smoke reached up to the night sky. Daily Mail
Back to the drawing board.
Guilty Pleasures
World's largest crab cake was served up to Richmond Flying Squirrels fans . . .
Missing: The world's largest side of tartar sauce.
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Megyn Kelly -> Pete Hegseth responds to 2017 rape accusation. 🔥 vol. 3, issue 13 | December 6, 2024 Quick Hits All the news you need in...
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