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During his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit in Singapore May 31, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth touted Poland, the Baltic States, Israel, and the Gulf States as “model allies” of the United States.  The lack of any Indo-Pacific allies on the secretary’s list was notable, although not necessarily a slight against them, as some have speculated. In the same address, Hegseth also celebrated deepening defense ties with Japan, Australia, India, the Philippines and others.   Nevertheless, it was notable that the secretary name-checked European and Middle Eastern allies at an international conference focused on Indo-Pacific security affairs.  There are several key lessons regional partners can take away from Hegseth’s “model allies” speech.  First, Indo-Pacific allies and partners must spend more on defense.   Second, they must work toward a more equal alliance with the U.S., assuming greater responsibility. As the secretary noted in his speech, “An alliance cannot be ironclad if in reality or perception it is seen as one-sided.”   Third, Indo-Pacific allies and partners must bring new proposals to the table to deepen cooperation, not just in defense but in sectors that increasingly overlap with national security, including energy, technology, and economics.   Responsible defense spending is an essential element of being a model ally. In 2024, Poland spent more than 4% of its Gross Domestic Product on defense, the highest in NATO. America’s Baltic allies—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—are not far behind, ranking among the top six defense spenders in NATO.   President Donald Trump appreciates allies who take their defense obligations seriously. “I’m very committed to Poland,” the president said in February. “I think Poland has really stepped up and done a great job for NATO. As you know, they paid more than they had to.” At the Shangri La Dialogue, Hegseth underscored the need for Indo-Pacific allies to “look to countries in Europe as a newfound example,” noting some NATO partners have committed to spending 5% of GDP on defense in the future.    While the U.S. does not have a formal alliance with Israel, the Trump administration views the Jewish State as a model ally that takes responsibility for its own security. Jerusalem has consistently handled regional security threats on its own and did not request direct U.S. intervention following the heinous terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. Meanwhile, U.S.-Israeli intelligence sharing and joint development of advanced military capabilities has over time brought clear benefits to the U.S.  Vice President JD Vance, then still an Ohio senator, articulated Israel’s importance to the U.S. in a 2024 address. He noted that Israel is “fundamentally self-sufficient,” unlike some European allies that are “completely dependent on us.” He also noted that collaborating with “one of the most dynamic and technologically advanced countries in the world” delivers concrete benefits to U.S. national security. The Israeli-developed Iron Beam system, he noted, will help the U.S. develop evermore effective missile defense capabilities.  In his Singapore remarks, Hegseth made clear that Indo-Pacific allies and partners must also become self-sufficient. “We want to empower you—as partners, not dependents—to work more capably with the United States.”   The Trump administration does not want U.S. alliances to resemble that of a hegemon and its dependents, instead pursuing something closer to an alliance among equals. Thus, Indo-Pacific allies and partners must strive to achieve greater self-sufficiency and more equitable burden-sharing arrangements with the U.S.   To that end, it is notable Trump chose the Middle East as the destination for his first overseas trip. During his visit, the president announced investment agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates worth more than $2 trillion for projects in defense, aviation, and artificial intelligence. These deals should bolster the U.S. defense industrial base with substantial new orders of U.S. military hardware while injecting new funding into the U.S. tech sector developing AI, quantum, and other dual-use capabilities.  These deals demonstrate that the Trump administration is receptive to allies and partners who bring ambitious proposals that deliver concrete economic and technological benefits to this country. Japan’s recent effort to renegotiate Nippon Steel’s acquisition of U.S. Steel into a better deal for American workers was a great start.   In Singapore, Hegseth emphasized that “America First certainly does not mean America Alone.” He iterated that the United States will increasingly shift focus to the Indo-Pacific and find new ways to deepen defense ties with Indo-Pacific allies and partners, explaining:  Ultimately, a strong, resolute, and capable network of allies and partners is our key strategic advantage. China envies what we have together. And it sees what we can collectively bring to bear on defense. But it’s up to all of us to ensure that we live up to that potential by investing. … I urge all our allies and partners to seize this moment with us. Our defense spending must reflect the dangers and threats that we face today. Because deterrence doesn’t come on the cheap, just ask the American taxpayer.America’s back in the Indo-Pacific, and now is the time for our Indo-Pacific allies to step up. We need more model allies.  We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post How Indo-Pacific Allies Can Be ‘Model Allies’: Secretary Hegseth at Shangri-La appeared first on The Daily Signal.

In 2021, then-gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin said he wanted to vastly revitalize Virginia’s nursing community to address a desperate shortage of nurses in the commonwealth. So, now that it’s 2025, is Virginia for Nursing Lovers? According to analysis from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing on the number of registered nurses in each state, Virginia has 70,000 registered nurses in 2025, or 1,677 nurses for each 100,000 residents. While that places the commonwealth with the ninth lowest number of nurses per capita in the nation, in 2020, Virginia only had 47,000 registered nurses. So, targeted efforts from Youngkin and others in recent years have made some great headway. First, regulatory reforms like having Virginia participate in the multistate Nurse Licensure Compact brought an immediate increase in nurses moving to the state. The compact allows for licensed nurses who move to Virginia to have their credentials from other states recognized here. Second, a greater budgetary emphasis on attracting people to the nursing profession, especially at the state’s community colleges, has started to generate more “homegrown” nurses. For example, $4.5 million was allocated last year to the Earn to Learn program, and Virginia Commonwealth University committed to double its current enrollment of nursing students to 1400 and to offer an accelerated bachelor’s program to Brightpoint Community College’s nursing students. The future for attracting nurses to health care has improved dramatically from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Virginia’s nursing population registered a 32% shortfall—or roughly 22,000 unfilled nursing positions. >>> Sign up for our Virginia email newsletter That being said, whoever the next governor is must keep the “pedal to the metal,” because, according to data from the Virginia Healthcare Workforce Data Center, Virginia will need 87,130 registered nurses by 2030 to adequately handle the state’s population. Neither Democrat nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger nor Republican nominee Winsome Earle-Sears has made specific campaign statements regarding efforts they would undertake to increase the nursing population as Youngkin did in 2021. But it’s still young in the campaign season. However, Sears frequently says that she wants to build on the “successes of the past four years” at campaign events. Spanberger has said that she wants to legislate lower prescription drug costs, but she has not specifically addressed the nursing shortage. This matters because Virginia’s population is getting older, and a patient spends 86% of her medical visit with a nurse versus just 13% with a doctor. So, there is work to be done, or—at the very least—not undone from the past four years. The post Virginia’s Nursing Shortage Persists, but Targeted Strategies Have Brought Growth appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Republican members of Congress on Wednesday assailed Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s suggesting that it might be time for his state to cut off taxpayer money going to the federal government. Addressing the matter in a June 6 post on X, Newsom said, “Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it’s time to cut that off, @realDonaldTrump.” “Gov. Newsom’s threat to withhold taxpayer dollars is not only reckless, it’s deeply unserious,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told The Daily Signal. “Gov. Newsom’s threats fall flat, as violent criminals run rampant in L.A., wreaking havoc on innocent citizens, business, and law enforcement officials,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, remarked. “Gov. Newsom wants to play the victim, but nobody is fooled. Threatening to hold tax dollars hostage is a new low, even for him,” Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., said to The Daily Signal. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told The Daily Signal that Newsom’s suggestion would not factor into negotiations over raising the amount of state and local tax (SALT) deductions on federal taxes in the budget bill now before Congress. “Of course not, and I would cede Governor Newsom my normal amount of attention and interest in what he says, which is zero,” the laconic Louisiana senator added.  Newsom’s social media post was made in response to a CNN story about President Donald Trump considering canceling some federal funding to the Golden State, specifically for the University of California and California State University systems. A White House spokesman said last week that no final decisions had been made over federal funding being withheld from California. Newsom doubled down in a second post also on June 6 embedding a video, in which he reiterated his data point about California’s net contribution to the federal government. “The idea that a sitting governor would try to financially blackmail the federal government because he’s mad that President Trump is stepping in to restore law and order in a crime-ridden city like Los Angeles is absurd,” Norman contended.  “Instead of thanking President Trump for defending his state, Newsom is throwing a tantrum of partisan theatrics. California deserves better leadership,” the South Carolina congressman added.  “Instead of wasting time blasting President Trump on TV hits and social media, Gov. Newsom should focus on the job he was elected for—to keep Californians safe,” Pfluger noted. “The federal government has the right to step in and restore law and order when states fail to do so, and I [am] very pleased that President Trump has done so here,” the Texas congressman said. “These violent riots are showing the natural consequences of California’s sanctuary-state policies—throngs of lawless individuals waving foreign flags while they attack law enforcement officials for simply doing their jobs. This chaos resembles an invasion, not integration. I am fully behind President Trump’s tough moves to crush the chaos and shield Americans from Newsom’s disastrous policies,” Harris told The Daily Signal. It’s not immediately clear how Newsom would even go about following through on his threat. A California nonprofit called CalMatters asked several tax experts, who pointed out that federal taxes are paid directly to the federal government. Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Newsom told the media group that the state was considering “whether there are potential options that would allow it to retain some of the funding it typically sends the federal government.” But Gallegos said Newsom was not telling people to stop paying their taxes. “What the governor, I think, was suggesting in the tweet is that [the president] may suggest and talk a tough game about taking away dollars, but if you really want to go down this road, let’s have a serious discussion about how much California contributes to the national economy and to the national Treasury in terms of the amount of tax dollars that Californians pay to the federal government,” H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Newsom’s Department of Finance, told KCRA-TV in Sacramento, Calif. Newsom’s post on X comes after the largest city in his state, Los Angeles, erupted into violent protests over the enforcement of federal immigration law by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agitators in LA committed a number of crimes, including looting, burning cars, and attacking police officers. The breakdown in law and order prompted Trump to deploy the military to the city. The president sent about 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to support local law enforcement and ICE, a move supported by a majority of Americans, according to a new poll this week. Senate Republican leadership also affirmed the president’s actions in a press conference Tuesday. “I think when it comes to the issue of safety and security, all you have to do is look at what’s happening and has been happening in Los Angeles to realize that our law enforcement needs all the support that we could possibly give to them,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters.  The post Newsom’s Threat That California Might Withhold Federal Taxes Called ‘Reckless,’ ‘a New Low’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

House Republicans on Thursday will face perhaps the greatest test yet of whether they mean business about decreasing the size of the federal government. The House Republican Conference will vote on a legislative package to cut funding from foreign aid, as well as from the publicly funded National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).  According to the White House and House leadership, this is meant to be the first of a number of such packages if it passes. Whether or not Congress can pass the rescissions package—a cost-cutting piece of legislation that requires a simple majority in both chambers—will be a major test of Republicans’ credibility as budget-cutters. “This rescissions package is a strong first step toward advancing [the Department of Government Efficiency’s] mission and reining in reckless spending,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told The Daily Signal in a statement.  “President Trump ran on rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government, and House Republicans are committed to getting it done,” he said. USAID, which falls under the purview of the State Department, was an early target of the Trump administration’s restructuring of the federal government.  NPR and PBS were similarly criticized by House Republicans in early hearings of the House Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee for perceived bias. NPR is taxpayer-funded, propagandistic garbage.We don’t need state-sponsored media in our country. pic.twitter.com/Y1o2aCVoZL— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) May 28, 2025 Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told The Daily Signal in a statement that he wholeheartedly backs the package. “Taxpayers should not be on the hook for having to pay for liberal-biased PBS and NPR to hire more leftist journalists. Nor should they be forced to pay millions of dollars to advance lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer programs across the globe,” he said. The package would cut spending such as “$6 million for Net Zero Cities” in Mexico and “$6 million for supporting media organizations and civic life of Palestinians,” according to a press release from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office. This is seen as a make-or-break opportunity for Republicans to formally cut the canceled grants that fired up Trump’s base so much in the early days of the administration. Asked if he thought Republicans would lose credibility if the bill failed, Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., told The Daily Signal, “I most definitely do.” Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images) He added, “I find that hard to believe and I don’t know of any Republicans right now [who are opposed]. I hear a rumor that there may be some opposed to this. I can’t imagine any Republican that would vote against this rescissions package because we all ran on these things.” Gosar similarly characterized it as a crucial vote. “Voters last November handed President Trump a broad mandate to reduce the size of the federal government, and they damn well expect Congress to pass this legislation that keeps President Trump’s promise, or they will pay dearly next November,” he said. Of course, Republicans should not expect any Democrats to help pass this package. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., when asked Wednesday if any Democrats would back it, replied, “I think there’s going to be strong Democratic opposition here in the House. We’re going to work hard to kill the legislation here.” He contended that the cuts to USAID would harm American interests abroad. Jeffries added that the bill was “assaulting Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Elmo and all of the people connected to ‘Sesame Street.’” “That’s extraordinary. I mean, who are these people?” he said. “Sesame Street,” a children’s show, has aired on PBS since 1970. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) Harris, however, said that Jeffries’ characterization of the cuts as a killing blow to USAID, PBS, and NPR is incorrect. He suggested that PBS and NPR should be able to continue operating without federal funding, and that USAID’s most essential work would be reformed and reorganized. “My understanding is that these are programs within USAID, but they’ve also sent some other programs of USAID to the Department of State and Marco Rubio, and their department is going to be looking after that,” he said. “We don’t want to cut services out to people. We want to cut the bureaucracy out,” Harris added. “This is really the first time in nearly 100 years that the agencies are having a good look inside and under the hood.” The post House Rescissions Seen as a Make-Or-Break Chance to Codify DOGE appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. Let’s look at an update of the Ukraine war. Remember, it’s now gone on for over three years. And we had pretty much discussed the contours of the fight. Russia has now controlled about 20% of Ukrainian territory. And it’s using its enormous advantage in manpower, gross domestic product—10 times the GDP, four times the manpower, 30 times the territory—to grind down the Ukrainians, which have been slowly withdrawing net withdrawals. This is in addition to Crimea and Donbas that the Russians already had annexed. The general consensus was that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was being unrealistic. He was counting on more than the $400 billion from the EU and the United States and NATO powers to continue the fight with the express purpose of gaining not just territory taken by Russia in 2022, but also what was taken during the Obama administration, the entire Donbas and the entire Crimea. And the Trump administration had said: This is unrealistic. This is $1.5 million dead and wounded. It’s Stalingrad. It’s the Somme. It’s Verdun. We have to have some kind of peace to stop this slaughter, this cauldron of death, on the doorstep of Europe. Ukraine has pretty much given up the idea that it can win a slugfest with Russia on the ground. Its army is pretty much static. The average age is up into the 30s of recruits. About 10 to 12 million people have left Ukraine. So, its problem is not technology. It’s not weaponry. It’s not money. It’s manpower. So that was pretty much what we saw. And the Trump administration was basically saying what the world did to Gen. Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the heroic Fin, in 1939 that withstood a Soviet invasion that wanted to absorb 10% to 15% of Finland. He fought for four months. And then finally, Mannerheim said, “I can’t resist this juggernaut. I’ll cut a deal with Stalin. Give him 11%. Promise not to use Finland to launch attacks in the future on Russia.” And he saved modern-day Finland for what it is now. So people had sort of said that paradigm might work, that Zelenskyy could get real and give up the idea of getting back the Donbas and the Crimea, not get into NATO, and you might have a deal. But the problem was President Donald Trump, who pursued that line of peace negotiations, found out that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot take that back, apparently, after he started this insane war and tell the oligarchs, “I reified the fact that we have Donbas and Crimea. I went in a few miles into Ukraine. I expanded on it. Maybe we now have 20% of Ukraine. And they won’t be in NATO. And we’re going to have a ceasefire.” They said, “You did—that’s all you got? And you lost a million Russians, dead, wounded? No. No.” So then we were in a stalemate. And Trump sort of pivoted and said now not Zelenskyy was unwilling to make a deal, but actually it was Putin. And then something happened this week. Two things happened. A brilliant Ukrainian strategy of bringing by truck, stealthily, drones into the remote parts of Russia. Some of them are 2,500 miles away. Arctic bases, strategic bases that Russia counts on for the delivery of nuclear weapons and cruise missiles. And they have been used against Ukraine. Tupolev bombers. And lo and behold, they launched this stealthy raid by drones. And we’ve never seen anything like it in military history. It destroyed 30% to 35% of the Russian strategic bomber fleet—$7 billion, 41 of these huge planes, some of them were sort of intelligence planes as well. And then following up, there was a drone attack on the Kerch Bridge, that only link, really, that’s accessible for easy transport from mainland Russia into the Crimea. It’s essential. Now, the bridge will probably be repaired, but what am I getting at? It shows you that Ukraine is now kind of having a turtle strategy. It’s not going to waste its limited manpower slugging it out. But it’s going to use drones and it’s going to make over a million of them. And they are the cutting edge of inexpensive, effective drone fabricators, producers in the world. They’re going to attack targets deep in Russia. Is that going to bring Putin to the table? I don’t know. Strategically, it’s justified to show Putin he could lose all of his bomber fleet because it’s not just that they destroyed 41 bombers, but there is no deterrent. So, Putin and the Russian military are thinking: If they destroyed a third, what’s stopping two-thirds or the whole thing? How do we stop this? And who got them that close to be launched? And do we have enemies in our military? What’s going on? So it was very effective. But the point I’m making is there’s going to be a retaliation. And there were certain rules in the Cold War that the two superpower rivals that were nuclear did not use a proxy to attack the homeland of another. So, imagine if during this Cuban Missile Crisis, Fidel Castro launched missiles that took out a third of our B-52 fleet. We wouldn’t just go after Castro. We would say to the Russians, “You broke the rules. You are attacking the American homeland using a proxy.” I don’t know if that rule still applies, but what I’m getting at is while we all applaud Ukraine for doing something that was strategically necessary, geostrategically, it opens a new phase of the war. And Russia’s going to retaliate. And it’s talking about a type of retaliation we haven’t seen before. I’ll leave it at that. But just when we thought the war might have some type of conciliation or armistice, Ukraine struck in a way that it had never done before and it was very effective. And we applaud that. But it’s going to earn a counterresponse that could lead to a cycle of escalation that could be very dangerous not just for Ukraine, but for NATO in general and the United States in particular. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Ukraine’s Blitz Launches War in Dangerous New Direction appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Report: US Ordering Partial Evac of Our Iraqi Embassy and Military Dependents in Middle East

Five Charged with Assault, Molotov Cocktails in LA Riots

Even though CBS’s lead newscasts were far and away the most out of control Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in siding with the illegal immigrant mobs in Los Angeles and attacking President Trump for a simple desire to restore law and order, their compatriots at ABC and NBC had plenty of their own hot takes. ABC ludicrously declared the “protesters” have been “self-policing, keeping others in check” while Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom launched “a broadside against President Trump” for sending in troops that now outnumber those “in Iraq and Syria.” NBC was a tick closer to reality. While they tried to minimize the violence due to its size being contained to a few city blocks, they labeled local officials as Democrats, interviewing a business owner whose had to stay closed due to their proximity to the riots, and admitted an Apple Store was ransacked. On Tuesday, ABC’s World News Tonight started with a bang of bias thanks to sensationalistic anchor David Muir:  His formal opening to the show afterward doubled down on what was clearly the newly-distributed talking point about Iraq and Syria plus the cost of $134 million. Senior national correspondent Matt Gutman was back on scene and, along with being upset President Trump suggested some of the hooligans have been paid to cause unrest, he suggested the mob has been, well, disciplined: He tossed back with unfortunate news for ABC viewers about an initial injunction plea to stop Trump: “And David, just moments ago, we learned there was a blow to Governor Newsom. A federal judge rejecting Governor Newsom’s bid to block the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines here to Los Angeles.” Gutman was back on Wednesday’s Good Morning America and boasted of Newsom’s supposed address to the nation as “a broadside against President Trump, calling the deployment of those federal troops behind me a brazen abuse of power” and touted of “protests...spreading across the country in response to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.” “While the majority of protests have been peaceful, Los Angeles for the fifth consecutive night mounted police officers swarming protesters as a curfew kicked in. Governor Gavin Newsom claiming Tuesday that democracy is under assault,” he added. Gutman left the comical “self-policing” narrative to chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce: Back to Tuesday, NBC Nightly News began with anchor Tom Llamas labeling local officials “Democratic leaders” and admitting they believe the riots “would all stop if the raids stop.” Llamas tossed to correspondent Liz Kreutz amid the crowds by saying the troops were a “growing controversy” aimed at restoring order and assisting in “anti-immigration enforcement raids.” Kreutz conceded “things are starting to pick up” (just after 3:30 p.m. local time) with policing having “issued a dispersal order right outside of the federal building.” Some blow-by-blow tic-toc later, Kreutz actually admitted there was violence and stores destroyed: She also interviewed a store owner who opposes the mobs and had to remain shuttered due to its location to the riots: Llamas also showed part of an interview he had taped with Trump border czar Tom Homan (click “expand”): LLAMAS: What happens if the courts do stop the President’s deployment? I just spoke to the border czar about it, and Governor Newsom’s comments that the Trump administration is adding to the chaos. [TO HOMAN] From what you’ve seen from what you’ve heard in Los Angeles, could you conduct ICE raids now without the help of the National Guard and the Marines? HOMAN: We can conduct ICE raids, but it’s — it’s about the — the threats and the violence right now. I mean, this job’s already dangerous, I’ve done this a long time. I mean, our ICE officers have been attacked. It’s like we’re a third world nation where people think it’s okay to threaten the life and safety of law enforcement officers and their families. LLAMAS: I want to put up a tweet for you. This is what Governor Newsom on X, right? He put the photos you see there of Marines sleeping on top of each other. This is what he wrote in that post: “You sent your troops here without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep. Here are they are — being forced to sleep on the floor, piled on top of one another.” What do you say to that, Mr. Homan? HOMAN: I’d say take a few moments, go to downtown LA, and see the damage done by these radical protesters. I mean, President Trump is saving his city. President Trump is doing what he should have done. Gavin Newsom could have responded right away and everyone — everybody wants to put the blame on President Trump and the National Guard. You know where the blame starts? It starts with the Biden administration letting over ten million immigrant aliens cross this border. We’re out there trying to respond to the chaos he created. Kreutz was back on Wednesday’s Today and gave something to both the left and right. First, she broke ranks from what those on ABC and CBS saw by acknowledging the business fallout, but also said this was just “in a small area”: To make sure the left wasn’t left out, she played this snippet of Newsom fear-mongering: “This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.” Before signing off in the first hour, co-host Savannah Guthrie asked her “what has it really been like out there”...with the implication being it’s not chaotic. Kreutz went along with it: Kreutz summarized both in the second hour: That curfew is now in effect here in downtown LA and parts of downtown — we’ll show you — they now look like this with businesses boarded up. Store owners telling us they’re concerned about looting after these protests now have gone on for several days and we should point out that these protests are very much concentrated to a small part of downtown L.A. If you're in another part of the city, you probably won't even notice the impact of the protests, but as they've escalated and as they’ve continued we are now seeing a shift in tactics from law enforcement, a major crackdown overnight. To see the relevant transcripts from June 10, click here (for ABC’s World News Tonight) and here (for NBC Nightly News). To see the relevant transcripts from June 11, click here (for ABC’s Good Morning America) and here (for NBC’s Today). 

Speculation has arisen of possible military action in the Middle East after the U.S. State Department issued orders for personnel to depart from embassies and diplomatic offices overseas. The Pentagon was preparing for the possibility of an evacuation from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and nonessential personnel and their family members were advised to leave Bahrain and Kuwait, according to defense officials. 'If war is imposed on Iran, the US would undoubtedly suffer more losses than we do.' A State Department official told Axios that the decision had been made "to reduce the footprint of our mission in Iraq" as a result of a recent security review of overseas personnel. Some speculated that the U.S. was preparing for the fallout from a potential war with Iran. "The safety and security of our service members and their families remains our highest priority, and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East," read a statement from a Pentagon official. Iran’s defense minister issued a threat over negotiations with the U.S. about Iran's nuclear program. “If war is imposed on Iran, the U.S. would undoubtedly suffer more losses than we do,” said Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh to reporters. He added that many U.S. bases were located within reach of Iranian missiles and added that they would be targeted in “their host countries without hesitation." That threat could have been a response to suggestions from the U.S. CENTCOM commander in testimony to Congress on Tuesday that the U.S. has a “range of options” to ensure that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. The U.S.-Iran negotiations are reportedly stalling over a disagreement about Iran's uranium enrichment program, which the U.S. wants to completely dismantle. Iranian officials say no deal will be reached if the country isn't allowed to continue some part of the enrichment program. RELATED: Iran willing to sign nuclear deal with Trump if sanctions are lifted Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images On June 4, President Donald Trump said that Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin offered to possibly intervene in the negotiations with Iran. "It is my opinion that Iran has been slowwalking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!" Trump wrote at the time. The S&P 500 market index fell partially on fears from investors that tensions in the Middle East could erupt at any moment, according to a Reuters report. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!