Hegseth authorizes voluntary departure of military dependents from across Middle East amid rising tensions
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has authorized the voluntary departure of U.S. military dependents from locations across the Middle East, a major move as tensions spike across the region. A U.S. defense official told Fox News on Wednesday: “The safety and security of our service members and their families remains our highest priority and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations across the CENTCOM AOR.” The authorization affects U.S. bases throughout the CENTCOM area of responsibility, which includes key flashpoints like Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. While the Department of Defense (DOD) has not cited a specific threat, the move comes as Iran-backed militias increase activity and regional instability grows. HERE’S HOW MANY US SERVICE MEMBERS ARE SPENDING THE HOLIDAYS AWAY FROM HOME DEPLOYED OVERSEAS “CENTCOM is working in close coordination with our Department of State counterparts, as well as our Allies and partners in the region to maintain a constant state of readiness to support any number of missions around the world at any time,” the official added. US FORCES TARGET HOUTHI WEAPONS STORAGE FACILITIES IN YEMEN OVER THE WEEKEND: CENTCOM While voluntary departures aren’t rare, they typically kick in when a security environment worsens. U.S. doctrine, such as JP 3‑68, explicitly provides for the voluntary departure of command-sponsored dependents at government expense whenever threats rise. “Voluntary departure of command‑sponsored military dependents, nonessential DOD civilian employees and their families, families of essential DOD civilian employees, and DOD dependents schools’ staff and faculty to an announced safe haven is encouraged and authorized at government expense, with return also at government expense,” reads JP 3-68. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to an additional request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Leavitt balks at reporters’ LA riot coverage, ‘disingenuous attack’ in briefing: ‘What a stupid question’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt balked at a handful of questions posed by the media during Wednesday’s press briefing regarding the anti-ICE riots that have spiraled in Los Angeles, including remarking that one prompt was “stupid” before quickly moving on. “Quick question, so if there were peaceful protests on Saturday for the military parade, President Trump would allow that,” one reporter asked Leavitt on Wednesday afternoon. “Of course, the president supports peaceful protest. What a stupid question,” Leavitt shot back before taking another question from another reporter. The press briefing comes after riots broke out in Los Angeles on Friday in response to federal law enforcement officials converging on the city to conduct immigration raids. ANTI-ICE RIOTS FORCE HUD OFFICES TO CLOSE WEEKS AFTER ‘SQUAD’ DEM, MAXINE WATERS SAID TRUMP WOULD CLOSE THEM Reporters peppered Leavitt with a handful of questions regarding planned upcoming deportation efforts nationwide, and how the administration plans to handle any potential future riots in response to ICE raids, as well as another question on the riots that Leavitt quickly dismissed as a “disingenuous attack.” “Everything that we’ve seen so far with the president’s response to the LA protests, there is criticism that seems to suggest that the president responded the way he did because it was a deliberate, calculated attempt to sort of shift focus away from his feud with Musk. How would you respond to that idea?” another reporter asked. “That the president responded to the LA riots, condemning the violence … That’s an incredibly disingenuous attack,” Leavitt responded. ‘DELUSIONAL’ HILLARY CLINTON SAVAGELY MOCKED FOR LA RIOTS RESPONSE: ‘ONLY LEFTISTS DISABLE COMMENTS’ Leavitt continued in her response that Trump saw footage first-hand of rioters targeting federal law enforcement officials such as ICE, before making the decision to activate the National Guard over the weekend. “The president saw images of Border Patrol and ICE agents being hit with rocks and Molotov cocktails. He saw vehicles being burned to the ground with illegal aliens flying foreign flags. And that’s what prompted the president to have this response that has clearly worked,” she continued. Riots broke out in the city after local leaders such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced the raids in public statements while offering words of support for illegal aliens in the state. Trump announced Saturday that he was deploying 2,000 National Guard members to help quell the violence, bypassing the governor, who typically activates the National Guard. The move sparked Newsom to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for efforts to allegedly “federalize the California National Guard,” while Democrats across the nation have attempted to pin blame for the violence on Trump’s activation of the National Guard while characterizing the anti-ICE riots as “peaceful” demonstrations. SEN KENNEDY TELLS DEMOCRATS TO ‘POP A ZOLOFT’ OVER TRUMP’S HANDLING OF LOS ANGELES ANTI-ICE RIOTS “And I would add, the governor and the mayor need to actually do more. I know Gavin Newsom had a big address to the nation last night. … We haven’t seen action. California has been a mess for years because of the incompetence of Gavin Newsom. So, the president was responding to that only,” Leavitt continued. MUSK SAYS HE REGRETS SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS TARGETING TRUMP: ‘THEY WENT TOO FAR’ The riots unfolded in Los Angeles the day after Trump and former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk traded public barbs over the “big beautiful bill,” which is sweeping legislation that aims to fund Trump’s agenda. Musk attempted to rally lawmakers to “kill the bill” on Tuesday, arguing it was an “outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.” The pair’s relationship appeared to be shattered as they traded repeated public barbs. Musk, however, posted to X on Wednesday that he regretted “some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”
American Bar Association blasts Bondi’s decision to block it from judicial nominations: ‘Deeply disturbing’
The American Bar Association asked the Department of Justice on Tuesday to reconsider its historic decision to shut the organization out of the judicial nomination process and insisted it rates potential judges fairly. ABA President William Bay wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi that he was “surprised and disappointed” by her decision, which Bondi revealed in a letter two weeks ago. “It is deeply disturbing that the Justice Department has decided to restrict access to judicial nominees without justification or basis,” Bay wrote. Bondi accused the ABA, which comprises hundreds of thousands of lawyers and other legal professionals, of favoring Democratic administrations’ nominees and refusing to “fix the bias in its ratings.” JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TELLS ABA IT WILL NOT LONGER COMPLY WITH RATINGS FOR JUDICIAL NOMINEES The ABA has for seven decades been involved in rating presidents’ nominees to serve as judges in the district and appellate courts and the Supreme Court. An ABA committee rates potential judges as “well qualified,” “qualified” or “not qualified” based on their experience level, legal writings, and dozens of interviews with the candidates’ colleagues and peers. Bay noted the ABA rated all three of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominees as “well qualified” and that it has given “well qualified” or “qualified” ratings to at least 97% of rated nominees for the last two decades. The ABA has also received nonpublic information about nominees, including their bar records, through DOJ waivers. Bondi said the department will no longer provide those. TRUMP NOMINATES FORMER DEFENSE ATTORNEY EMIL BOVE FOR FEDERAL APPEALS COURT VACANCY Bay’s remarks were the latest development in a protracted legal fight that Trump and Republicans have waged against the ABA and big law over allegations they are plagued by bias. The ABA has on occasion promoted liberal initiatives, including abortion access, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the LGBTQ agenda. Bay said the rating committee is walled off from the rest of the organization. “The Standing Committee’s work is insulated from all other activities of the ABA to ensure its independence and impartiality,” Bay wrote. Presidents nominate federal judges, and the Senate votes on them. The judges, once confirmed, serve lifetime appointments. Presidents and the Senate have for decades included the ABA in the nomination process, but Trump and President George W. Bush declined to give the ABA a first look at potential nominees before announcing them. Former President Joe Biden continued Trump’s practice but clarified that he valued the ABA’s ratings and only gave it post-nomination access to nominee information to save time. SEVEN TIMES FEDERAL JUDGES RULED AGAINST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION THIS WEEK A DOJ spokesman said in response to Bay’s letter: “It’s clear that the American Bar Association has lost its way and no longer treats all nominees in a fair and impartial manner.” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who leads the Senate panel tasked with vetting potential judges, said in response to Bondi’s decision that it was “hardly surprising” and that the legal organization has “consistently taken partisan stances on political issues.” Grassley noted the ABA could still weigh in on nominees independently of the administration. “The Judiciary Committee will still accept letters from the ABA, the same as we do for all outside organizations, but it doesn’t make sense for this administration to be giving favored access to an organization that’s consistently shown political bias,” Grassley said. Grassley’s Democratic counterpart, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in a statement online that the ABA’s ratings process was objective. “The Trump Administration is clearly just trying to cover for unqualified and extreme nominees,” Durbin said. Among those once rated as “not qualified” by the ABA was DOJ chief of staff Chad Mizelle’s wife, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who serves as a federal judge in Florida. The rating was due to her lack of experience, as the ABA’s criteria for federal judges includes 12 years of experience practicing law. The ABA had mixed reviews for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, ultimately giving him its mid-level “qualified” rating.
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.”