News From Around the Web
#10 SpaceX Rocket Explodes in New Setback to Elon Musk’s Mars Project - The Guardian, $TSLA-naires, Wolf Brief, Ross Gerber, BBC News (World), and IndiaToday on X
One of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starships has exploded during a routine test in Texas, authorities said, in the latest setback to the billionaire’s dream of turning humanity into an interplanetary species. The Starship 36 underwent “catastrophic failure and exploded” at the Starbase launch facility shortly after 11 pm on Wednesday (0400 GMT Thursday), a Facebook post by the Cameron County authorities said. A video shared in the post showed the megarocket attached to the launch arm, and then a flash and a towering, fiery explosion. SpaceX said the rocket was preparing for the 10th flight test when it “experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase”, without elaborating on the nature of the complication...
#8 U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Tennessee Law Banning Youth Transgender Care - Andrew Chung for Reuters, The 74, Dailyfly News, Halston, Jerry Hankins, and Ann on X
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Republican-backed ban in Tennessee on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors on Wednesday in a setback for transgender rights that could bolster efforts by states to defend other measures targeting transgender people. The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative justices, decided that the ban does not violate the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment promise of equal protection, as challengers to the law had argued. The ruling affirmed a lower court's decision that backed Tennessee's law, which bars medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormones for people under age 18 experiencing gender dysphoria. The Supreme Court's three liberal justices dissented...#7 Trump Says No Decision Yet on U.S. Joining Israel’s Attacks on Iran, After Iran Warns It Would Risk “All-Out War” - Debora Patta and Tucker Reals for CBS News, AmericasBestNewsonX, Paul Dickerson/Cheryl E, Ashok Malik, Citizen Speedman, and Grok on X
President Trump said Wednesday that he had not yet decided whether the U.S. military will join Israel's ongoing attacks on Iran, and he didn't believe it was too late to reach a deal with the Islamic Republic on its nuclear program, though he warned it was "very late to be talking." "I may do it, I may not do it. Nobody knows what I'm going to do," Mr. Trump told reporters when he was asked about the U.S. taking part in the strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities. The president told reporters later Wednesday in the Oval Office that, while some don't want the U.S. to become involved, "it's possible that you're going to have to fight for them not to have nuclear."
#6 Florida's GOP Attorney General Urges Deportation of Democratic Lawmaker - Nick Mordowanec for Newsweek, Golden State Times, 2dolas, Kyle Becker, Dinesh D'Souza, Wall Street Apes, and Jak on X
Uthmeier made his post on Tuesday on X in response to remarks Omar made on the news program Democracy Now about the broader U.S. military presence nationwide and how she never "witnessed anything like that" while growing up in a dictatorship in Somalia. "To have democracy, a beacon of hope for the world, to now be turned into one of the worst countries where the military are in our streets without any regard for people's constitutional rights; while our president is spending millions of dollars propping himself up like a failed dictator with a military parade—it is really shocking and should be a wake-up call for all Americans to say this is not the country we were born in, the country we believe in, the country our Founding Fathers imagined, and this is not the country supported by our Constitution, our ideals, our values," Omar said...
#5 Powell Holds News Briefing as Fed Keeps Its Key Rate Unchanged - Christopher Rugaber, for PBS/AP, James Fishback/Rapid Response 47, Tebb, Trading with Sidhant, DomesticTranquility1776, and BigRadoWeb3 on X
Federal Reserve officials expect inflation to worsen in the coming months, but they still foresee two interest rate cuts by the end of this year, the same as they projected in March. The Fed kept its key rate unchanged for the fourth straight meeting Wednesday, and said the economy is expanding at “a solid pace.” Changes to the Fed’s rate typically — though not always — influence borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, and business loans.The central bank also released its latest quarterly projections for the economy and interest rates. It expects noticeably weaker growth, higher inflation, and slightly higher unemployment by the end of this year than it had forecast in March, before President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on April 2. Most of those duties were then postponed until April 9. The Fed also signaled it would cut rates just once in 2026, down from two cuts projected in March...
#4 Whoopi Goldberg Rebuked by Iranian Dissidents for Comparing Life in the US to Iran - David Spector for Fox News, The Z Mark/Jillian Michaels, MagaAxim2, Patriot/Retard Finder, biil 76866, Jannine #MagaMemeQueen
Iranian dissidents are speaking out over Whoopi Goldberg’s "offensive" claim that life for Black Americans is equivalent to living under Iran’s brutal autocracy. "Whoopi Goldberg’s comparison between being Black in America and living under Iran’s authoritarian regime is deeply misguided and dismisses the brutal realities faced by millions of Iranians," Dr. Sheila Nazarian told Fox News Digital. Goldberg sparked backlash during a heated argument with her fellow "The View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin on Wednesday. Griffin elaborated on the many human rights violations perpetrated by the Ayatollah’s regime in Iran was guilty of, including executions of gay people and imprisonment of women who go outside with their hair uncovered...
#3 Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Reports $2 Million Payment for Her Memoir ‘Lovely One’ in 2024 - Alexander Hall for Fox News, Bart Marcois, Liberty Nation, rakusa, and Washington Examiner on X
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reported receiving over $2 million from Penguin Random House, which published her book, "Lovely One: A Memoir," in 2024. Jackson’s financial disclosure report indicated that Penguin Random House paid her a $2,068,750 book advance in 2024. The company also provided reimbursements for transportation, food, and lodging to promote her book at events across the country. "Lovely One," whose title references her West African birth name's meaning, was published in early September and is described by Amazon as "tracing her family’s ascent from segregation to her confirmation on America’s highest court within the span of one generation."
#2 Social Security Fund May Run Dry Sooner Than Previously Expected, Trustees Say - Max Zahn for ABC News, The Washington Post, Fox Business, Domelights Unbound, and Pastor Insights on X
The trust funds for Social Security and Medicaid will run out of money in as little as 8 years, a shorter time frame than previously estimated, according to a report issued Wednesday by the programs' trustees. The Social Security fund will run dry in 2033, unless Congress combines the program's old-age and disability funds, in which case insolvency would arrive in 2034, the report found. A finding last year predicted Social Security would become insolvent in 2035 or 2036. Medicare's hospital insurance fund is expected to run out of money in 2033, the report said...
#1 See Photos of Juneteenth Celebrations Across the U.S. - Emily Mae Czachor for CBS News, Dr. Jebra Faushay, TheRabbitHole, Damani Felder, Wake Up NJ New Jersey, Wojciech Pawelczyk, and Steve Ferguson on X
People across the country are coming together today in honor of Juneteenth, a federal holiday that marks the end of slavery in the United States after the Civil War. Also called Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, Juneteenth falls annually on June 19, the date in 1865 when the last enslaved groups in Texas were officially freed. Communities have paid homage to that date for well over a century, with the earliest documented Juneteenth celebrations dating back to the first anniversary of emancipation in Galveston, Texas, where the news of independence first reached the state a year prior. Juneteenth became a U.S. holiday under the Biden administration in 2021. Advocates note that for some, learning about the origins, evolution and significance of the holiday can be an important form of observance on its own, but public festivities have also grown tremendously since Juneteenth gained national recognition.
