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President Donald Trump is stalling on whether to join Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear program, with White House insiders telling the New York Post his hesitation stems from fears of creating “another Libya.”

According to sources close to the administration, Trump has specifically cited the U.S.-backed ouster of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 in private discussions about possible bombing plans.

MAGA isolationists who want to keep President Donald Trump's administration out of the conflict between Israel and Iran appear to be losing that battle, and that could cause the party's base to split, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board warned Thursday.

The op-ed was published as Trump continues to debate whether to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. The president said Thursday that he will make his decision within the next two weeks, a popular refrain that some critics suggest means Trump is skeptical of the advice his advisors are giving.

Former Tennessee state Sen. Frank Niceley, 78, dies of heart attack

by J. Holly McCall, Tennessee Lookout
June 19, 2025

Education board axes U.S. history test for Mississippi high schoolers

by Devna Bose, Mississippi Today
June 19, 2025

Cherry growers say they're seeing a severe labor shortage amid President Donald Trump's nationwide immigration crackdown, leading to a massive shortage of berries.

A grower in the Mattawa, Washington, area lost about 300 bins — each weighing at least 350 pounds, horticulturist Erik Zavala told area told The Spokesman-Review in a report published this week.

The national NAACP organization is taking a local branch to court over allegations that members overstepped their authority by trying to dissolve the branch and spreading misinformation.

In the lawsuit, the NAACP accused 13 former members of the Boulder, Colorado, chapter of filing articles of dissolution with the Colorado Secretary of State's Office twice after the national office told them not to do so. It also accuses the former members of breaching their fiduciary duty by attempting to liquidate assets like $77,000 from a bank account and $25,000 in Google stock.

Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is increasingly rubbing lawmakers on Capitol Hill the wrong way, Politico reported on Thursday evening.

"Yermak has made regular trips to Washington since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has acted as an intermediary to Ukraine’s president," reported Amy Mackinnon and Jamie Dettmer. "But many in Washington have found Yermak to be uninformed about U.S. politics, abrasive and overly demanding with U.S. officials — and generally unable to navigate the inner workings of the Washington establishment on Capitol Hill. Some also worry he has not accurately conveyed U.S. positions to the leadership back in Ukraine."

A former Mississippi Coast councilman was sentenced to 12 years in prison for violating his probation for felony child exploitation charges after he was indicted on felony charges of bribery and conspiracy.

Alan Moran and others are accused of offering one of Moran's stalking victims $20,000 to drop charges against him. The victim reported the offer to the Waveland police. Law enforcement then began a new investigation into Moran and his father, former state Sen. Philip Moran.

President Donald Trump all but ignored the nation's celebration of Juneteenth on Thursday until taking to social media to once again bemoan that the country has "too many non-working holidays" and demanding a change.

The New York Times noted Thursday afternoon that the White House had celebrated the holiday, which marked the end of slavery in the United States, for the past four years. But the Trump administration barely noticed, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters she wasn't aware of plans by Trump to mark the holiday.

President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security is struggling to keep its story straight about what happened in the parking lot outside Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Thursday morning.

The Los Angeles Times reported that officials at the baseball field blocked masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering the premises after Customs and Border Protection vehicles were spotted around the entrances.

President Donald Trump hasn't formed a plan of action for the conflict between Iran and Israel, but the uncertainty is only adding to the overall concerns about the stability of the American economy, commentators complained on MSNBC.

Several polls out this week show Trump is underwater on his top 2024 campaign issue, and Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell isn't shocked that he is taking his problems out on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) on Thursday offered a blunt assessment of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics.

Padilla was briefly detained by law enforcement last week while attending a news conference by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The senator was dragged out of the room, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed.

President Donald Trump is desperately looking for excuses to back down from his hostile position against Iran, former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum told MSNBC's Alicia Menendez on Thursday, because although he loves wielding power, he is terrified of having to use it in situations like this — and cannot be trusted to use it for the public good.

The comments from Frum, a frequent critic of the administration, come as Trump has reportedly already signed off on an attack against Iran, but is holding off on giving the final order.