Trump’s ‘next-generation’ missile defense plan gains momentum as US faces foreign threats
House Republicans have formed their own Golden Dome Caucus as President Donald Trump continues to push for a nationwide missile defense system. Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., and Rep. Dale Strong, R-Ala., launched the caucus to be an “educational clearinghouse” as the policy effort for the dome kicks off. “Golden Dome will only be successful if we meet President Trump’s timeline,” Crank said in a statement Tuesday. “This means that is imperative that we, members and stakeholders, are well informed and working together to revolutionize missile defense of our great nation.” TRUMP’S GOLDEN DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM REVIVES REAGAN’S NUCLEAR SHIELD DREAM According to a news release, it will work with the Senate Golden Dome Caucus founded last month by Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont. “President Trump has artfully highlighted the critical need for a next-generation missile defense shield to protect the U.S. against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other aerial attacks. With nuclear-capable adversaries across the globe, we can’t afford for this vision to not become a reality,” Strong said. “North Alabama has played a role in every former and current U.S. missile defense program and stands ready once again to meet this urgent need.” Trump signed an executive order in January ordering the project but formally announced the effort in May, which was partly inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome. TRUMP UNVEILS ‘GOLDEN DOME’ MISSILE SHIELD, BLINDSIDES KEY SENATORS “Within the last four decades, our adversaries have developed more advanced and lethal long-range weapons than ever before, including ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles capable of striking the homeland with either conventional or nuclear warheads,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement May 20. “Golden Dome is designed to leverage some past investments but will also use next-generation technology to defend against the evolving and complex threat landscape,” President Ronald Reagan proposed a similar program, known as the Strategic Defense Imitative, in 1983. The dome has a starting projected cost of $175 billion, and $25 billion is allocated through the proposed reconciliation bill in Congress, but some estimates show a higher figure. “This is very important for the success and even survival of our country. It’s an evil world out there,” Trump said during an Oval Office event about the Golden Dome in May. TRUMP, HEGSETH ANNOUNCE ‘GOLDEN DOME,’ A ‘GAME CHANGER’ TO PROTECT AMERICAN HOMELAND Fox News Digital previously reported that Russia, China and North Korea mocked the Golden Dome pitch from Trump. “The project will heighten the risk of turning space into a war zone and creating a space arms race and shake the international security and arms control system,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said last month.
Republicans target vulnerable Senate Democrat over Los Angeles rioting
FIRST ON FOX: The rioting in Los Angeles has quickly made its way onto the campaign trail. Republican Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia, who a month ago launched a Senate campaign in the 2026 race against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, on Wednesday went up with a new ad targeting the senator over the unrest in the nation’s second-most populous city. Aiming to extinguish escalating protests in Los Angeles sparked by immigration raids carried out by ICE at his administration’s direction, President Donald Trump sent in National Guard troops and even mobilized Marines. The unrest and the moves by Trump have dominated national headlines for days. “Rule of law is on the line,” are the words seen over visuals of the rioting in the streets of Los Angeles in the campaign spot. “Are we a nation of anarchy or law and order?” THE POLITICS OF TRUMP’S MOVE TO QUELL ANTI-ICE UNREST IN LOS ANGELES The ad then argues, “A nation on the brink and Jon Ossoff is MIA” before charging that “Jon Ossoff is for they/them.” The spot’s claim that Ossoff “is MIA” is a reference to what Carter’s team says is a lack of a response or a statement, to date, by Ossoff over the unrest in Los Angeles. Ossoff’s Senate office says he is currently on leave – for a very good reason. The office told Fox News that the senator and his wife “welcomed a baby daughter 12 days ago and he is out on paternity leave.” CLICK HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES ON THE ANTI-ICE PROTESTS IN LOS ANGELES The charge in the ad that “Ossoff is for they/them” is a reference to the senator’s continued use of pronouns on his social media page on X, formerly Twitter. Republicans have regularly criticized the use of pronouns as part of their battle against what they see as “wokeness” in the U.S. The spot is the third by Carter – who has represented coastal Georgia in the House for over a decade – to target Ossoff, who is considered the most vulnerable Democratic senator running for re-election in next year’s midterms. Carter’s campaign told Fox News that it’s spending six figures to run the digital spot statewide in Georgia. MARINES BEING DEPLOYED TO LOS ANGELES AMID RIOTS AS CALIFORNIA MOVES TO SUE TRUMP OVER RESPONSE Ossoff, who was first elected to the Senate in a January 2021 runoff election, is also being targeted in a new ad by the America One PAC, which is aligned with GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. “Who’s side is Jon Ossoff on?” asks the narrator in the commercial. “Ossoff voted with Biden and Kamala to open our borders. Now he’s fighting to keep illegal aliens on Medicaid.” The narrator ends the ad by claiming that “Ossoff’s on their side, not yours.” Cotton, a rising star in the GOP and in the Republican Senate leadership, is increasing his efforts to help his party increase its current 53-47 majority in the chamber in next year’s elections. “This is just the beginning of what we’re planning to do to help Senate Republicans not only hold, but strengthen our majority in 2026,” a source in the senator’s political orbit told Fox News.
Was hope of aid for Gaza seized with the Freedom Flotilla?
By blocking and seizing aid convoys, Israel uses humanitarian assistance as a weapon of war. The seizure of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters has not deterred other aid convoys from heading towards Gaza. Palestinian-American writer Ahmad Ibsais explains how humanitarian aid has become a politically charged weapon of war. Adblock test (Why?)
Beach Boys visionary leader Brian Wilson dies at age 82
Brian Wilson, the singer-songwriter who co-created the iconic Beach Boys rock band, has died, his family said in a statement. He was 82. “We are at a loss for words right now,” the statement said. “We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world.” The statement did not disclose a cause of death. Wilson had suffered from dementia and was unable to care for himself after his wife Melinda Wilson died in early 2024, prompting his family to put him under conservatorship. Wilson’s genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired the songs Good Vibrations, California Girls, and other summertime anthems, making him one of the world’s most influential recording artists. The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers – Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums – he and his fellow Beach Boys rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Wilson was one of rock’s great romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection, the one true sound. The Beach Boys (left to right): Al Jardine, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson [AP Photo] The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. Advertisement The 1966 album Pet Sounds was voted number two in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson had done before, to the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beach Boys, who also featured Wilson cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardine, were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Wilson feuded with Love over songwriting credits, but peers otherwise adored him beyond envy, from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen to Smokey Robinson and Carole King. The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, fantasised about joining the Beach Boys. Paul McCartney cited Pet Sounds as a direct inspiration on the Beatles and the Wilson ballad God Only Knows as among his favorite songs, often bringing him to tears. Wilson moved and fascinated fans and musicians long after he stopped having hits. In his later years, he and a devoted entourage of younger musicians performed Pet Sounds and his restored opus, Smile, before worshipful crowds in concert halls. Meanwhile, The Go-Go’s, Lindsey Buckingham, Animal Collective and Janelle Monae were among a wide range of artists who emulated him, whether as a master of crafting pop music or as a pioneer of pulling it apart. Former Beatles member Paul McCartney hoists the arm of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson after inducting him into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City, the US, June 15, 2000 [Reuters] An endless summer The Beach Boys’ music was like an ongoing party, with Wilson as host and wallflower. He was a tall, shy man, partially deaf (allegedly because of beatings by his father, Murry Wilson), with a sweet, crooked grin, and he rarely touched a surfboard unless a photographer was around. Advertisement But out of the lifestyle that he observed and such musical influences as Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen, he conjured a golden soundscape – sweet melodies, shining harmonies, vignettes of beaches, cars and girls – that resonated across time and climates. Decades after its first release, a Beach Boys song can still conjure instant summer – the wake-up guitar riff that opens Surfin’ USA; the melting vocals of Don’t Worry Baby; the chants of “fun, fun, fun” or “good, good, GOOD, good vibrations”; the behind-the-wheel chorus “’round, round, get around, I get around.” Beach Boys songs have endured from turntables and transistor radios to boom boxes and iPhones, or any device that could lay on a beach towel or be placed upright in the sand. The band’s innocent appeal survived the group’s increasingly troubled back story, including Brian’s many personal trials, the feuds and lawsuits among band members and the alcoholism of Dennis Wilson, who drowned in 1983. Brian Wilson’s ambition raised the Beach Boys beyond the pleasures of their early hits and into a world transcendent, eccentric and destructive. They seemed to live out every fantasy, and many nightmares, of the California myth they helped create. Brian Wilson was born June 20, 1942, two days after McCartney. His musical gifts were soon obvious, and as a boy, he was playing piano and teaching his brothers to sing harmony. The Beach Boys started as a neighbourhood act, rehearsing in Brian’s bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California. Advertisement Surf music, mostly instrumental in its early years, was catching on locally: Dennis Wilson, the group’s only real surfer, suggested they cash in. Brian and Love hastily wrote up their first single, Surfin’, a minor hit released in 1961. Their breakthrough came in early 1963 with Surfin’ USA, so closely modelled on Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen that Berry successfully sued to get a songwriting credit. It was the Beach Boys’ first Top 10 hit and a boast to the nation: “If everybody had an ocean / across the USA / then everybody’d be surfin,’ / like Cali-for-nye-ay.” From 1963-66, they were rarely off the charts, hitting number one with the songs I Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda and narrowly missing with California Girls and Fun, Fun, Fun. For television appearances, they wore candy-striped shirts and grinned as they mimed their latest hit, with a hot rod or surfboard nearby. Wilson won just two competitive Grammys, for the solo instrumental “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow” and for “The Smile Sessions” box set. Otherwise, his honors ranged from a Grammy lifetime achievement prize to a tribute at the Kennedy Center to induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2018, he returned to his old high school in Hawthorne and witnessed the literal rewriting of his past: The principal erased an “F” he had
Shot Colombian presidential candidate shows small signs of improvement
NewsFeed Doctors for Colombian senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe say his brain shows increased activity and his blood pressure and heart rate are stabilising, though his life is still in danger from a bullet wound to the head. Published On 11 Jun 202511 Jun 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Undocumented students ask judge to let them challenge sudden loss of in-state tuition
Their filing says the lawsuit that struck down in-state tuition for undocumented students was “contrived” to keep their voices out.
HHS brings back hundreds of staff following force reduction in latest rehiring move
FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is rehiring more than 450 previously fired employees belonging to multiple divisions within the agency’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an HHS official familiar with the matter. The rehired workers come from four different operational divisions within the CDC. These divisions include the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention (NCHHSTP), the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), the Immediate Office of the Director (IOD) and the CDC’s Global Health Center (GHC). The move to bring these employees back follows the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to reorganize HHS and its sub-agencies during its first few months, which reports said included as many as 10,000 layoffs at various health agencies. It also follows multiple actions by the Trump administration following those layoffs to rehire some of the HHS staffers who were initially let go, such as those within the CDC’s World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Institutes of Health. HHS SAYS IT WILL CUT WORKFORCE BY 10K, SAVING $1.8B ANNUALLY “Personnel that should not have been cut, were cut,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News in April. “We’re reinstating them. And that was always the plan. Part of the — at DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we’re going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we’ll make mistakes.” NCHHSTP will see the greatest number of its workers rehired out of the four divisions, with 214 returning. This HHS division consists of several smaller groups, including CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention, which media reports said was cut in half by the Trump administration. NCEH will see the next greatest number of returned employees, with 158 coming back. Similar to NCHHSTP, NCEH consists of multiple groups, including one titled the “Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice,” which the Trump administration initially eliminated altogether as part of its reforms. HOW A DOGE REVIEW CAN ACTUALLY IMPROVE THE PROGRAMS THAT FIGHT HIV/AIDS IOD will see the third most returning with 71 and CDC’s Global Health Center will see the least employees return out of the four divisions with 24 rehired workers. HHS is just one of several agencies that have rehired employees following reductions in force spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the State Department, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have all taken actions to rehire employees that were initially fired as a result of the reduction in force, per the Washington Post. “Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the nation’s critical public health functions remain intact and effective. The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services—whether it’s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work. Enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans remains our top priority.”
AOC downplays LA riots as mere ‘teens’ throwing rocks, pins blame on Trump
“Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., downplayed the recent riots in Los Angeles, attributing the chaos to unruly teens – not violent anarchists – and blaming former President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown for the unrest. Ocasio-Cortez took to the social media platform Bluesky on Tuesday and said Democrats don’t need to “answer for every teen who throws a rock” and that her party was falling into a Republican trap by trying to explain why parts of the sanctuary city had gone up in flames. She instead blamed President Trump for the chaotic scenes that have resulted in property burned and rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at law enforcement as some agitators waved Mexican flags. CALIFORNIA SHERIFF SAYS NEWSOM ‘ENCOURAGED’ LA RIOTS AS ICE ARRESTS VIOLENT ILLEGAL ALIENS The ugly scenes that kicked off on Friday prompted Trump to deploy the National Guard and the U.S. Marines. “It is 100% carrying water for the opposition to participate in this collective delusion that Dems for some reason need to answer for every teen who throws a rock rather than hold the Trump admin accountable for intentionally creating chaos and breaking the law to stoke violence,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “They are in charge.” Rioters have been seen throwing rocks on police cars and at police while one violent individual was caught on video pelting several moving law enforcement vehicles in Paramount, California, as they drove past him. FEDERAL OFFICIALS SLAM DEMOCRATS FOR ‘DANGEROUS’ RHETORIC AS ICE AGENTS FACE VIOLENT MOBS IN LA, NYC He was identified as Elpidio Reyna, and an image of Reyna released by U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli clearly shows he is an adult. He is still at large and the FBI initially offered a $50,000 cash reward for information leading to his arrest. In a second post, Ocasio-Cortez blamed Trump for the unrest, writing that his decision to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out to apprehend illegal migrants triggered the response in Los Angeles. Trump swept to victory in November promising to carry out the largest deportation effort in U.S. history and arrested more than 66,000 people and deported approximately 65,000 in the first 100 days of his second presidency. “Everything was fine until Trump decided to unleash violent raids w/o grounds in elementary schools, shopping areas, & peaceful public spaces. ICE then illegally blocked Members of Congress entry into the facilities they are disappearing people into, escalating the situation,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote, referring to members of Congress recently turning up at a New Jersey ICE detention center unannounced. “Let’s start there,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Bluesky, a competitor to X. She did not post her comments to X and instead shared the bluesky posts to her Instagram stories. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday announced that ICE arrested a previously deported illegal immigrant from Mexico after he allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at law enforcement amid rioting in Los Angeles on June 7. He’s been charged with attempted murder. Rioters have also set off fireworks at police officers and vehicles, vandalized property with graffiti, looted businesses and smashed windows of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) headquarters. California Gov. Gavin Newson and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass have also tried to pin the blame on Trump. The president and his allies, meanwhile, maintain that he acted boldly and that the situation would have escalated further had he not done so. “If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday morning. “The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!”
White House rips ‘shameful’ LA riots as Trump steps in where Newsom, Bass failed, Leavitt says
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned the protest and riots in Los Angeles as “shameful” on Wednesday, blasting California officials for failing to reign in “left-wing radicals.” Leavitt made the comments as soon as she took the podium at a Wednesday press briefing. She emphasized President Donald Trump’s efforts to quash the “mob rule” seen in the city while accusing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of failing to serve their constituents. “They didn’t have the courage to do the right thing and protect law-abiding Californians from rioters,” Leavitt said of the officials. “That’s why President Trump deployed the National Guard and mobilized Marines to end the chaos and restore law and order.” “The mob violence is being stomped out. The criminals responsible will be swiftly brought to justice, and the Trump administration’s operations to arrest illegal aliens are continuing unabated,” she added. WATCH: DEM, MEDIA OUTLETS INSIST LA ANTI-ICE RIOTS ARE ‘PEACEFUL’ DESPITE VIOLENCE, INJURED COPS Leavitt went on to field questions from reporters about the “specific criteria” that Trump used to federalize California’s National Guard. CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins argued members of the military would not be able to conduct arrests unless Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. “As you know, the president federalized the national guard under U.S. Code 10,” Leavitt responded. THE POLITICS OF TRUMP’S MOVE TO QUELL ANTI-ICE UNREST IN LOS ANGELES APPEAR TO PUT DEMOCRATS ON DEFENSE Trump deployed 2,000 National Guardsman to Los Angeles this week, as well as 700 U.S. Marines. Trump suggested earlier this week that he would be willing to arrest Newsom if his administration obstructs ICE operations amid riots in Los Angeles. “He’s daring Tom Homan to come and arrest him. Should he do it?” Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked. NEWSOM SAY LOS ANGELES RIOTERS WILL BE PROSECUTED, SLAMS TRUMP FOR ‘TRAUMATIZING OUR COMMUNITIES’ “I would do it if I were Tom,” Trump responded. “I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity. But I do think it would be a great thing. He’s done a terrible job. I like Gavin Newsom. He’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent. Everybody knows.” Trump has also been vocal about his belief that many of the rioters and protesters in Los Angeles are professional agitators rather than real protesters. “The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators. They’re insurrectionists. They’re bad people. They should be in jail,” Trump said. Newsom swiftly responded to Trump’s comments in a post on social media.
Immigrant shelter whistleblower asking DOJ to investigate ‘disturbing pattern’ at taxpayer-funded hotels
A former immigrant shelter director in Massachusetts is petitioning Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the “disturbing pattern” of criminal activity, sexual assaults and financial abuse that he says is widespread in the state-run migrant shelter system. Jon Fetherston, a former director of an immigrant shelter in Marlborough, Massachusetts, first blew the whistle about the widespread abuse in the shelter system after he discovered a Haitian migrant named Ronald Joseph, who was living in his shelter, had repeatedly raped and impregnated his 13-year-old daughter. Fetherston previously told Fox News Digital that as soon as Joseph heard he was losing custody of his daughter, he “reached across the table and grabbed me and got angry with me and started cursing and yelling and screaming and swinging at me because he realized what was happening.” However, instead of being arrested immediately, Fetherston was directed to order Joseph a Lyft ride to another shelter in Worcester County. Joseph was not arrested until eight months in February. US ATTORNEY ALINA HABBA ANNOUNCES REP. MCIVER HIT WITH FEDERAL CHARGES OVER NEWARK ICE CLASH Though this case was particularly egregious, Fetherston said that “there is a lot of undocumented violence that goes on” and that rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking, drug dealing and other crimes are so commonplace in the Massachusetts shelter system that many incidents simply fall through the cracks. Fetherston said, “The entire experience has shaken me to my core.” In a letter sent to Bondi this Monday, Fetherston said that this was “not an isolated incident” but despite his raising the alarm, “there has been a deliberate wall of silence. No reforms. No accountability. Just more spin, stonewalling, and bureaucratic excuses.” “This is a crisis—one that requires federal action now,” he said. Fetherston is now asking Bondi to launch a full investigation into criminal activity and sexual violence within Massachusetts-run migrant shelters, widespread fraud and misuse of federal and state funds, the deliberate refusal to coordinate with federal law enforcement agencies and the pattern of retaliation against those reporting abuse, danger or misconduct. REPUBLICAN STATE AGS SEEK ‘GAME PLAN’ FROM FBI, DOJ AMID ‘GROWING WAVE OF ANTISEMITIC DOMESTIC TERRORISM’ The former shelter director-turned-whistleblower said that “these crimes and failures cannot be brushed aside any longer,” because “innocent people—especially children—are being hurt, and the people responsible are being protected by silence and political calculation.” Fetherston placed much of the blame for rampant mismanagement and abuse in the shelter system on Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who has been extremely critical of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Fetherston said that “the impact of the Healey administration’s hotel shelter policy has been devastating for both residents inside the shelters and the local communities surrounding them.” “I personally witnessed traumatic incidents—including assaults, fraud, and serious mental health crises—with minimal intervention from the state,” he said. BLUE STATE GOVERNOR SOUNDS OFF ABOUT ‘DISTURBING’ ICE OPERATIONS ON AFFLUENT LIBERAL ISLANDS “Families were placed in overcrowded, poorly managed facilities with little to no oversight, where safety was constantly compromised,” he explained. “Local communities were never consulted, resulting in growing resentment and fear. Neighborhoods saw increased police calls, strain on emergency services, and the burden of absorbing hundreds of people without additional resources.” He said the Healey administration’s “lack of transparency and refusal to collaborate with municipalities left both residents and local officials in the dark, with serious consequences.” He also claimed he has faced retaliation for speaking out, including “having my safety threatened, being publicly discredited, and physically targeted.” “If you challenge the narrative, you’re silenced,” he said. “That culture of suppression has created a dangerous environment where truth is buried and accountability is nonexistent.” HANDFUL OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICANS IN SANCTUARY CITY CRACKDOWN Healey’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. Healey has previously expressed outrage and called for a full audit of the state’s shelters after it was discovered that a 28-year-old illegal immigrant, Leonardo Andujar Sanchez, was discovered using a shelter to store an AR-15 and nearly $1 million in illegal drugs.