June 27 2025
15-year Iran plan; Immigration bolsters population; Democrats divided on education; Medicaid work requirements; Iran's uranium MIA
Pentagon Details 15-Year Clandestine Effort to Destroy Iranian Nuclear Site
Immigration Bolsters U.S. Population as Boomers Age, Births Fall, Census Data Shows
Democrats Divided on Education as Insurgent Wing Pushes for Testing, Accountability
OPINION CBO: 4.8 Million Would Lose Medicaid for Not Meeting Proposed Work Requirements
After Strikes, Fate of Iran’s 900-Pound Uranium Stockpile a ‘Mystery,’ Officials Say
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1. Pentagon Details 15-Year Clandestine Effort to Destroy Iranian Nuclear Site
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine held a press conference Thursday at the Pentagon detailing the extensive planning behind recent U.S. airstrikes on Iran's underground nuclear facility at Fordo. Gen. Caine revealed that two Defense Threat Reduction Agency officers had dedicated 15 years of their careers to studying this single target, beginning in 2009 when they were first shown classified intelligence of construction in Iran's mountains. The officers, whose names remain classified, studied every aspect of the facility—from geology and construction materials to ventilation systems and electrical infrastructure—while working with industry partners to develop the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator specifically designed to destroy the deeply buried complex.
The development of the weapon system required such extensive modeling and simulation that the program quietly became the largest user of supercomputer hours in the United States, employing numerous PhDs to perfect the technology. "They literally dreamed about this target at night when they slept," Gen. Caine said of the two officers, who were unable to discuss their work with family or friends throughout the decade-and-a-half project. Operation Midnight Hammer, executed by B-2 bomber crews from both active duty Air Force and Missouri Air National Guard units, delivered six of the massive bombs through each ventilation shaft at Fordo after first removing concrete caps Iran had placed to protect the entrances. The Chairman characterized the mission as "the culmination of 15 years of incredible work" that has set back Iran's nuclear program by years.
citizen journal
2. Immigration Bolsters U.S. Population as Boomers Age, Births Fall, Census Data Shows
Immigration is driving U.S. population growth and helping offset a broader demographic shift as the baby boom generation ages, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. children outnumber older adults, but older adults’ share of the population is growing, the census data released Thursday shows. From 2023 to 2024, the number of Americans 65 and older climbed by 3.1 percent while the population under 18 declined by 0.2 percent. There are more older adults than children in nearly half of U.S. counties, and the pattern is particularly strong in sparsely populated areas, the bureau said. The gap between the two groups “is narrowing,” in part because of a decline in births this decade, said Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s population estimates branch, in a statement Thursday. At the same time, a historic rise in immigration, particularly among Hispanics and Asians, has counteracted some of that population decline. The Hispanic population in the U.S. rose by about 9.7 percent from April 2020 to July 2024, including both immigration and births, while the Asian population grew by about 13 percent. “This past year, the population gain was bigger than it’s ever been before,” said Bill Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. “Overall, it’s because of immigration.” A sharp drop in the number of White children is a major factor in the declining number of American children overall, and that decline has been partially offset by the rising number of non-White youth, Frey said, based on his analysis of the census data. White Americans accounted for 57.5 percent of the total population last year but for 47.5 percent of the population under age 18. By comparison, Hispanic people accounted for 20 percent of the total population and 26.9 percent of children.
Washington Post
3. Democrats Divided on Education as Insurgent Wing Pushes for Testing, Accountability
Oregon’s governor is championing an unexpected education strategy for a progressive Democrat: more mandatory testing—and a threat to wrest control of funding from consistently underperforming schools. Gov. Tina Kotek is among a growing number of Democrats offering tough rhetoric about the quality of public schools, a sign of an emerging divide within the party about K-12 education. “Democrats should not shy away from talking about accountability and outcomes,” Kotek said in an interview. “That’s a winning message.” An insurgent faction of Democrats—including some elected officials and parents, nonprofit executives and wealthy donors—says the party has lost its way on education, as test scores have declined and Republicans have made the issue their own. These Democrats are pushing ideas more often advanced by conservatives, including accountability for test scores or alternatives to public schools. Advocates on the other side—including teachers, their unions and some parents—say progressives need to focus on defending and supporting public schooling. “Democrats should be championing public education and further investment in public education,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in an interview. The divide mirrors the broader rift within the party over its direction under President Trump.
WSJ
4. OPINION CBO: 4.8 Million Would Lose Medicaid for Not Meeting Proposed Work Requirements
A Congressional Budget Office letter this week adds important explanatory details to the claim that 7.8 million more Americans won’t have health insurance in 2034 because of GOP Medicaid changes. Democrats broadcast this CBO estimate to frighten voters that Republicans are locking vulnerable Americans out of hospitals. But here are the facts CBO offered to the GOP House Budget Committee. Of that 7.8 million, some 4.8 million are uninsured because they don’t comply with the bill’s part-time work requirement. This is a torpedo in the hull for the Democratic talking point that everyone on Medicaid already works. The bill asks able-bodied, prime-age adults without children to work or volunteer roughly 20 hours a week. The serious academic evidence suggests perhaps half of that able-bodied population isn’t clearing that basic work bar. A recent report from the American Enterprise Institute is sobering: “For Medicaid recipients who do not report working, the most common activity after sleeping is watching television and playing video games. They spend 4.2 hours per day watching television and playing video games, or 125 hours during a 30-day month.” In a healthier political culture, even Democrats would agree that men who decline to work shouldn’t get free health insurance to check out of life. The real “Call of Duty” is getting a job.
WSJ
5. After Strikes, Fate of Iran’s 900-Pound Uranium Stockpile a ‘Mystery,’ Officials Say
After days of debate over how severely U.S. strikes had damaged three nuclear facilities in Iran, the fate of the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium remains a bigger mystery. Over the years, as Iran built up its underground nuclear facilities and centrifuges, it amassed a large, 880-pound stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent, near bomb grade. While U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed that Iran had not decided whether to make a bomb, they noted that Iran was only a few steps away from being able to turn its uranium into a weapon given the size of that stockpile. There is little doubt that Iran’s entire nuclear program was substantially diminished by U.S. and Israeli strikes, and that it would struggle to quickly produce additional nuclear fuel. But U.S. intelligence agencies had long assessed that, faced with the possibility of an attack on its nuclear facilities, Iran would try to move its stockpile of enriched uranium, either to keep as leverage in diplomatic negotiations or to use in a race to build a bomb. In an interview on Sunday, Vice President JD Vance said U.S. officials wanted to talk to Iran about the stockpile. American officials say the intelligence collected so far on the stockpile is contradictory. U.S. intelligence collected on Iranian officials shows they have different understandings of the stockpile’s fate, American officials said. the intelligence community has not yet made a firm conclusion on how much the Iranians have retained, according to people briefed on the findings. After a classified Senate briefing on Thursday, Republican lawmakers emphasized that destroying or seizing the stockpile was not part of the U.S. military mission. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said the sites were severely damaged but that he “didn’t want people to think the problem is over, because it’s not.” “I don’t know where the 900 pounds of enriched uranium exists, but it wasn't part of the target set for several years,” Mr. Graham told reporters. “They are obliterated today but they can reconstitute.”
NYT
June 27, 1950: President Truman orders U.S. forces to Korea
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Sources
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/06/26/baby-boom-aging-population-immigration/
- https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/education-public-school-democrats-debate-e45fa9c8?mod=hp_lead_pos4
- https://www.wsj.com/opinion/gop-congress-medicaid-cbo-health-insurance-7dc67d2d?mod=itp_wsj,djemITP_h
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/us/politics/iran-nuclear-program-uranium.html
Contact: greg@loql.ai
