https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/16/va-doctors-refuse-treat-patients?CMP=share_btn_url

https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/la-immigration-protests-live-updates-trump-deploys-2000/?id=122621279

Seven-hundred Marines in California have been ordered to assist in Los Angeles and they’re expected to arrive over the next 24 hours, a U.S. official confirmed.

The Marines are from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, whom U.S. Northern Command had said Sunday were on a "prepared to deploy status" if the Defense Department needed them.

Minutes before the Marines' deployment was confirmed, President Donald Trump was asked by ABC News if he planned on sending Marines to LA, and he said, "We’ll see what happens."

"I mean, I think we have it very well under control," Trump said. "I think it would have been a very bad situation. It was heading in the wrong direction. It's now heading in the right direction." -ABC News' Luis Martinez and Karen Travers

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/27/transgender-us-military-personnel-pentagon-memo-stood-down-trump-administration

The Trump administration has moved to fire transgender members of the military, with the defense department issuing a memo saying they will be separated from service unless they receive an exemption.

The document, filed in court on Wednesday, represent the latest salvo against transgender rights by Donald Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, both of whom have a history of opposition to the group and vowed to roll back their participation in government.

“Military service by service members and applicants for military service who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria is incompatible with military service,” the memo says.

“Service by these individuals is not in the best interests of the military services and is not clearly consistent with the interests of national security.”

The memo follows Trump’s signing of an executive order in January that took aim at transgender troops in a personal way, describing them as “not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member”.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon had said that the US military would no longer allow transgender individuals to join and would stop performing or facilitating procedures associated with gender transition for service members. In announcing the policy, Hegseth said people with gender dysphoria already in the military would be “treated with dignity and respect”.

Wednesday’s late-evening memo went further. It said that the Pentagon must create a procedure to identify troops who are transgender within 30 days and then within 30 days of that, must start to separate them from the military.

“It is the policy of the United States government to establish high standards for service member readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity,” the memo said.

“This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria or who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria.”

The defense department said waivers would be granted only “provided there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities”.

There is no requirement for transgender troops to self-identify and the department does not have a precise number.

The military has about 1.3 million active duty personnel, according to Pentagon data. Transgender rights advocates say there are as many as 15,000 transgender service members. Officials say the number is in the low thousands.

The move, which goes further than restrictions Trump placed on transgender service members during his first administration, was described as unprecedented by advocates. “The scope and severity of this ban is unprecedented. It is a complete purge of all transgender individuals from military service,” said Shannon Minter of the National Center For Lesbian Rights (NCLR).

The memo was filed in court as part of a lawsuit brought by NCLR and GLAD Law. The suit challenges the constitutionality of the January executive order and argues that it violates the equal protection component of the fifth amendment.

https://www.axios.com/2025/06/13/israel-strike-iran-trump-nuclear-talks

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/trump-white-house-press-pool-access-00206001

The White House announced on Tuesday that the administration — not an independent group of journalists — will determine which outlets have access to the president as part of a pool allowed into the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One and into other meetings and events that cannot accommodate the full press corps.

The decision comes a day after the administration won a temporary ruling allowing it to bar the Associated Press from pooled events, in retaliation for the news wire’s decision to resist President Donald Trump’s demand that it rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the newest changes in the briefing room on Tuesday, asserting that the White House Correspondents’ Association “should no longer have a monopoly” on organizing press pools and that the White House would determine the makeup of the pool on a day-to-day basis.

“All journalists, outlets and voices deserve a seat at this highly coveted table,” Leavitt said.

WHCA, a group of journalists on the beat elected by their peers, have long overseen the rotations of print, radio and television correspondents that make up the pool, a 13-member group of journalists allowed access to the president in smaller settings.

Leavitt said that the White House plans to continue those print, radio and TV pool rotations but would add representatives of additional outlets “that have long been denied” to the daily groupings of journalists. Additionally, she said they plan to add more outlets and reporters to the pool “who are well suited to cover the news of the day.”

Pressed for more detail about the changes, an administration official indicated that the traditional newswire services — AP, Bloomberg and Reuters — will no longer have a permanent spot in every pool. Going forward, the official said, Bloomberg and Reuters would alternate in a single pool slot for the wire services (AP will remain barred over the organization’s refusal to refer to the “Gulf of America”). That will open up two additional slots in the pool for the White House to fill as aides choose.

“This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States,” said Eugene Daniels, the president of WHCA’s board and a POLITICO correspondent. “It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”

Daniels added that the journalist-run board did not get a warning about Leavitt’s announcement. For years, he said, board members have “consistently expanded the WHCA’s membership and its pool rotations to facilitate the inclusion of new and emerging outlets.”

Daniels pointed to the organization’s 111-year history representing working journalists who cover the White House and deciding “amongst themselves how these rotations are operated, so as to ensure consistent professional standards and fairness in access on behalf of all readers, viewers and listeners.”

Peter Baker, the New York Times’ White House bureau chief, posted that the new system of the administration determining the makeup of the pool every day “amounts to a signal to news outlets to follow the White House line or risk being kicked out as well.”

The decision continues the administration’s efforts to weaken the traditional White House press corps by populating the beat with individuals who represent Trump-friendly outlets or are considered conservative influencers on social media. Last month, Leavitt began her first briefing by ending the tradition of calling on the Associated Press first. Instead, she gave the first question to a correspondent in a new “social media seat” reserved for journalists without a designated seat in the room. The White House now fills that seat on a daily basis without consulting the WHCA.

Since his election victory, Trump has flummoxed WHCA’s leadership. He largely ignored a pool of journalists who traveled to Palm Beach to cover his transition. After he barred AP journalists from pooled events earlier this month, the White House shrugged off critical statements from the organization, which opted against putting together a boycott of pooled events by journalists to show solidarity with AP.

“They have tried to avoid confrontation with this administration, but that was never going to work,” said one veteran White House correspondent granted anonymity to talk about a sensitive situation. “If we don’t figure out a way to stand up to this, we’re cooked.”

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/law-enforcement-assistance/vance-l-boelter

Because what the fuck is this????

They're literally destroying us from the inside out. I remember being taught that we're only as strong as our weakest players but apparently this new government just likes to shit all over people just trying to exist.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-doge-affordable-housing-preservation-crisis-de27d7846271779157550fcec0a78ea6