June 19 2025
Trump's Iran plan; Entitlements face depletion; LA film industry; Court on trans care; Juneteenth;
Reports: Trump Approves Iran Strike Plans But Delays Action as MAGA Coalition Fractures Over Military Intervention
Medicare, Social Security Trust Funds Face Earlier Depletion Dates, New Report Warns
LA's Film Industry Ails as Productions Seek Cheaper Locales
Supreme Court Cedes Control of Youth Transgender Treatments to States
Juneteenth Celebrations Face Uncertainty Amid Shifting Corporate, Political Winds
Newsletter sponsor
FASH….The State Department Will Review the Social-Media Accounts of Foreign Student Visa Applicants, and Applicants Will Be Expected to Have All Social-Media Profiles Set to “Public.”
WSJ
1. Reports: Trump Approves Iran Strike Plans But Delays Action as MAGA Coalition Fractures Over Military Intervention
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has privately approved military strike plans against Iran's nuclear facilities but is delaying action to assess Tehran's willingness to abandon its nuclear program, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal and Politico citing sources familiar with White House deliberations. The president, who told reporters "I may do it, I may not do it," views potential military action as both a strategic imperative and a legacy-defining moment in his final term, with one senior official telling Politico that Trump sees "a window to do something that is something he's always believed is right and is important for the world" that "will likely never exist again."
The prospect of U.S. military involvement has exposed deep divisions within Trump's coalition, with prominent MAGA figures like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene denouncing potential strikes as a betrayal of "America First" principles, posting on X that "Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA," according to the New York Times. A Washington Post poll shows Americans oppose military action by nearly 2-to-1, with 45 percent against strikes compared to 25 percent in support. Meanwhile, ongoing hostilities between Israel and Iran—including an Iranian missile strike on an Israeli hospital and Israeli attacks on Iran's Arak heavy-water reactor and Natanz nuclear site, per the WSJ—have intensified pressure for American involvement, though analysts suggest time may favor Trump's position as Israel continues degrading Iranian capabilities without direct U.S. engagement.
2. Medicare, Social Security Trust Funds Face Earlier Depletion Dates, New Report Warns
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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, according to the new report from the programs’ trustees. Last year’s report put the go-broke date at 2036. Meanwhile, Social Security’s trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034, instead of last year’s estimate of 2035. After that point, Social Security would only be able to pay 81% of benefits.
AP
3. LA's Film Industry Ails as Productions Seek Cheaper Locales
LOS ANGELES—If budget were all that mattered, “Way of the Warrior Kid,” in which a former Navy SEAL helps his nephew deal with bullies, would likely have been filmed in Atlanta, Canada, Australia or Britain. But when producer Ben Everard showed the script to Chris Pratt, the star of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Parks and Recreation,” Everard said he agreed to do it on one condition: “You gotta shoot it in L.A. because my wife’s pregnant.” Everard counts that as a victory for his adopted hometown—and a warning. Increasingly, raw economics favor shooting projects somewhere else. For Los Angeles to get the nod often takes something idiosyncratic, like a star with an expectant wife. The 41-year-old Everard has made five of his seven films here, and in three, it was because of the star’s family. If Los Angeles County were a country, its economy would be among the world’s 20 largest. But that economy is ailing. Payroll employment is 1% lower than at the end of 2019, before the pandemic; it’s up 5% for the country as a whole. A big reason is the malaise in film and video production. Los Angeles County employment in motion picture and sound recording is down 10% since 2019, according to Labor Department data. The number of “shoot days” across all types of production, including feature films, television and commercials, fell for the third straight year in 2024, according to FilmLA, a nonprofit that coordinates film permitting in most of the county. California’s share of global projects fell to 18% in 2023 from 23% in 2021, FilmLA has found.
WSJ
4. Supreme Court Cedes Control of Youth Transgender Treatments to States
The Supreme Court on Wednesday handed to the states control over whether young people should have access to treatments for gender transition, preserving a patchwork of rules that has emerged across the country over the last five years. Since 2021, states have split nearly evenly over whether to prohibit or protect access to puberty blockers and hormone therapies for transgender adolescents. Like the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which made access to abortion dependent on which state a person lives in, the decision this week is likely to deepen the state-by-state divide over medical care for young trans people. Just as some states enacted more restrictive abortion limits after Dobbs, states that have enacted partial or total bans on transition treatment for minors may be emboldened to expand on them or enforce them more aggressively… And just as some states have enshrined reproductive rights in their constitutions, states that have enacted legal shields for health care workers who provide gender-transition treatments may push for more comprehensive protections.
NYT
5. Juneteenth Celebrations Face Uncertainty Amid Shifting Corporate, Political Winds
Plano, Ill., made national news in 2021 when it designated Juneteenth a holiday before the state or federal government. But this year, Plano’s fifth annual celebration is canceled. Organizer Jamal Williams said he called off the event after local business sponsors in the 13,000-person town declined to commit, saying they feared losing customers. A downsized version is being planned at a church in the town next door. “The sponsors were starting to get caught in the middle of ‘if you support this we won’t support your business,’” said Williams, 54, a respiratory therapist who recently finished an eight-year stint on the city council. “We just decided that we have to take a break.” A lot has changed in the short life of America’s newest federal holiday. Employers are increasingly giving workers the day off on June 19, the anniversary marking the end of slavery in the U.S. But for company executives, university officials and government leaders, decisions about how—or whether—to celebrate the holiday feel increasingly fraught. Shareholders have targeted corporate diversity efforts. Universities and companies have revamped programs offering opportunities to Black Americans in an effort to avoid legal entanglements or sanctions from President Trump. Goldman Sachs has scrubbed references to race from some of its diversity initiatives.
WSJ
June 19, 1865: Abolition of slavery announced in Texas on “Juneteenth”
In what is now known as Juneteenth, on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrive in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War is over and slavery in the United States is abolished. A mix of June and 19th, Juneteenth has become a day to commemorate the end of slavery in America. Despite the fact that President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued more than two years earlier on January 1, 1863, a lack of Union troops in the rebel state of Texas made the order difficult to enforce. Some historians blame the lapse in time on poor communication in that era, while others believe Texan slave-owners purposely withheld the information.
Sign up for local news delivered to your inbox in:
Many more cities coming soon!
See the citizen journal Podcast! Released on Apple and Spotify around 10a CST.
Sponsors (click me!)
SUBSCRIBE TO GET THE CITIZEN JOURNAL IN YOUR INBOX - FREE!
subscribe/unsubscribe to city emails, subscribe to app notifications, get the app
Sources
- https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/student-visa-applicants-must-set-social-media-accounts-to-public-state-department-says-ff71bdd5?mod=hp_lead_pos11
- Wall Street Journal, Politico, New York Times, Washington Post
- https://apnews.com/article/social-security-medicare-trust-fund-trump-74e13292f510739724a555d7ded7c1a3?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2025-06-18-Go-broke+dates
- https://www.wsj.com/economy/all-the-hollywood-action-is-happening-everywhere-but-hollywood-d277c314?mod=hp_lead_pos7
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/us/court-leaves-states-to-decide-on-trans-treatments-for-minors.html
- https://www.wsj.com/us-news/juneteenth-holiday-plano-illinois-canceled-5a987fb3?mod=hp_lead_pos10