After years of showy tributes and accusations of ‘rainbow-washing’, US companies are shrinking back for fear of Donald Trump, Io Dodds reports

Critics see deployment of the national guard as an authoritarian flex by a strongman who has relentlessly trampled norms

San Francisco police commission accepts tech billionaire's gift, to provide cops with drones, cameras and a massive new office

The president was concerned about Musk’s drug use, White House officials say, leading to the explosive end of their relationship

Senator says the future of the US ‘rests with a small number of Republicans in the House and Senate who know better’

California governor made threat amid reports Trump is weighing huge federal funding cuts targeting state

What the Memo Reveals

The 136-page reorganization memo outlines a vision of the State Department stripped of its traditional diplomatic, human rights, and cultural programs—and recast as a command-driven, security-first bureaucracy.

By July 1, the department plans to eliminate or consolidate:

Over 3,400 U.S.-based staff positions

Entire bureaus dedicated to conflict resolution, women’s rights, public diplomacy, and humanitarian coordination

Critical civilian outreach arms, like the Speakers Program and Global Health Diplomacy

From Civilian to Combatant Mindset

When Drop Site asked Rep. Mast whether this shift represents a militarization of the State Department, his answer was revealing.

“There’s still a Department of State and a Department of Defense,” he said. But then he added: “The State Department was doing a lot of things they shouldn’t have been doing… most of the items [in the rescissions package] were, trans this, trans that, lifestyle things, not life-saving things… political things, unwelcome in these areas.”

Budget Shifts Reveal the Priorities

The memo includes budget transfers that require no new legislation. Key increases include:

+ $744 million for Diplomatic Technology

+ $358 million for Personnel & Training

+ $54 million for management operations

Meanwhile, sharp cuts hit:

- $759 million from Consular Affairs

- $153 million from the Foreign Service Institute

- $34 million+ from public diplomacy offices

- $20 million from conflict stabilization

- $3.4 million from global justice programs

And yet, no congressional hearings are scheduled. No comment period has been opened. And none of the lawmakers interviewed by Drop Site have been briefed on the memo.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5182771

A federal judge issued an injunction Friday that further delays the transfer of Oak Flat, an Indigenous religious site in Arizona, to a multi-national company that would make it one of the largest copper mines in the world.

More than a week ago, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the case, allowing a lower court order to stand that approved the transfer. The district court judge in Phoenix called for a 60-day delay to allow advocates for Oak Flat to review an upcoming U.S. Forest Service environmental impact statement.

The motions for the delay came from the San Carlos Apache Tribe and a coalition of organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity, a local Sierra Club Chapter, and Arizona’s Inter-Tribal Association.

The struggle over Oak Flat’s future has been going on for a decade. The final environmental review was released during the first Trump administration, but then halted during the Biden administration. Back in April, the current Trump administration said it would reissue its environmental review, expected June 16.

The review is necessary for the transfer of the land to Resolution Copper, a project from Rio Tinto and BHP, multinational mining companies.

Full Article

A low unemployment rate typically signals that an economy is generally healthy. The unemployment rate in the U.S. remained near a 50-year-low in April 2025 at 4.2% — plus, American employers added 177,000 jobs in April despite the uncertainty of Trump’s tariffs and trade wars.

This all sounds good, right? Not so fast.

The “true” rate of unemployment in April, according to the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), was 24.3%, up 0.03% from the previous month. LISEP’s True Rate of Unemployment (TRU) includes the unemployed, as well as workers who are employed but still struggling.

Federalizing the National Guard in response to ICE protests risks bloodshed—which is exactly what this administration wants.

https://bsky.app/profile/yasharali.bsky.social/post/3lr2uau3ma22f

Donald Trump’s attacks on environmental regulation and the administrative state are part of a right-wing class war — one that pits patriotic citizens against perceived liberal experts defending what’s left of the New Deal order.

https://archive.ph/I20qX