As of Tuesday, at least 222 recruits at Lackland Air Force Base, part of Joint Base San Antonio, had been diagnosed with the flu and four had been hospitalized, the two people familiar with the matter told ABC News.

This marks a sharp increase from the 159 cases and two hospitalizations reported last week. The death of one recruit remains under investigation, though it is not yet clear whether it is tied to the outbreak, the sources said.

The outbreak is unfolding just two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the annual flu shot optional for troops, scrapping the military's requirement for it, which dates to 1945, a move breaking with longstanding public health directives.

cross-posted from: https://leminal.space/post/36842432

Carlson supported Trump in 2024. After the war began, he apologized for supporting the then-presidential candidate and “misleading people," saying it wasn't intentional.

But of course...

“Not gonna support the Democratic Party,” Carlson was quick to add, speaking late last week on the show “Can't Be Censored.” “I don't know what I'm going to do.”

(When it comes to the "Tuckers" of the world, no matter how much they might hate the GOP, they still hate the Democrats just as much, if not more.)

https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/06/18/you-could-have-been-the-greatest-president-of-all-but-you-failed/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/48221648

Hussein said he was in disbelief that he was told to convert or leave — for the first time in his life — at a Republican convention with the tagline, “Unity drives victory.”

That slogan, touted by the governor on press releases, placards, lanyards and even the elephant he procured to march through the convention hall, became a rallying cry for the state’s leaders and party nominees heading into November. If fractured, they warned, the party could lose the state to Democrats and their U.S. Senate nominee, Austin state Rep. James Talarico.

But in spite of that warning, members were willing to lose the support of Muslim conservatives.

...

Hussein attended a panel from the Judeo-Christian Caucus moderated by Dr. Rick Scarborough, a former Southern Baptist pastor and the president of Recover America, an organization to engage ministers and pastors in politics.

Speakers told the audience that immigrants who don’t believe in Judeo-Christian values will erode those values and create problems for America. Scarborough accused Muslims of lying to win political power.

“You’re going to find Muslims that aren’t being antagonistic or mean, at least not publicly. But I’ll guarantee, if they get power, they’ll cut your head off as believers of Christ,” he said.

Asshole got pwnt.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/26899243

To some extent, Mohamed Hussein knew he was preparing to enter the lion’s den.

But he made the decision to attend the Republican Party of Texas Convention to confirm for himself that he had a place in the GOP, even as members of the party have railed for months about the urgency of ending Sharia Law and the so-called “Islamification” of Texas.

What he found was a party that didn’t want him. He arrived with hope, but left in tears after being told explicitly that he should leave the country.

Hussein was among four Muslims, who arrived at the convention in earnest — not as protesters, but as delegates or attendees — to participate in the annual meeting of the state’s most hardlined Republicans as they vote on the party’s priorities and hear from GOP leaders. Two prevailing themes from the Houston gathering were party unity and combatting Sharia Law, a movement that veered into outright Islamophobia by members of the convention.

“When they say Sharia-free, that means Muslim-free, no practices of Islam,” Hussein said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “No one is calling for the state to implement Sharia laws.”

Hussein said he was in disbelief that he was told to convert or leave — for the first time in his life — at a Republican convention with the tagline, “Unity drives victory.”

Bryan José Rojas Galofre wanted to give his wife a lovely honeymoon to see the beach for the first time and perhaps a glimpse of President Donald Trump, whom she supports.

Their January 2025 road trip from Wisconsin to Miami, however, turned into a nightmare, according to the couple: Rojas, a Venezuelan immigrant whose wife and young children are U.S. citizens, was detained following a stop at a Trump hotel security checkpoint.

He spent more than three months in ICE custody in Florida. Rojas also faced accusations of gang affiliation; he says he feared being deported to El Salvador and lost his stable job and work permit. The family says they’ve lost their house and car, had to deplete Rojas’ 401(k) and are in debt.

“In the end, it was a bad decision,” Rojas, 34, said

“I’m his fan. I believe Trump is a good president,” she said. However, Zaragosa noted this political loyalty co-exists with the disappointment she feels over the months her husband spent in detention.

“What he is doing to migrants isn’t fair,” Zaragosa said of the president. “What happened to my family wasn’t fair.”

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/55562

Many have accused Reform politicians of having regressive opinions about women’s rights and female body autonomy. They’ve accused them of this because Reform politicians have regressive opinions about women’s rights and female body autonomy. And as such, it’s unsurprising the party attracts far fewer female candidates than its rivals.

In the latest example of the party not being the safest place for women (allegedly), a councillor from the 2025 intake has defected to the Tories:

Another Reform councillor has quit, citing bullying, sexism and misogyny within the party. And in Staffordshire alone we’ve also seen repeated racism controversies involving Reform representatives.

This isn’t a few bad apples. Reform is institutionally racist and misogynistic. https://t.co/3KwnKili5R

— Will Barnish (@WillBarnish365) June 8, 2026

“Natural home” in Reform…

The ex-Reform councillor in question is Charlotte Kelly of Leek Rural, Staffordshire. Rather than stepping down, she’s defected to the Conservative Party, of which she was previously a member. She’s now described herself as a “traditional Conservative”, and said that Kemi Badenoch’s Tory Party is her “natural home”.

Of course, if this is true, it suggests she originally switched to Reform because she’d have a better chance of winning under their banner. She certainly wasn’t wrong to suspect this. In the 2025 locals, the Tories lost as many seats as Reform gained:

Speaking on her reasons for leaving, Kelly said:

Unfortunately, as a member of the Reform group I have experienced bullying and sexism on a regular basis.

Reform’s leadership has not been willing to deal with the issue and this has made it impossible for me to continue as a member of that group.

In response, Reform politicians made accusations of their own:

It comes as no surprise that councillor Kelly has left Reform UK. She has been a source of ongoing disharmony within the group and is currently subject to a formal complaint.

It is regrettable that she has chosen to defect to a party with a dire track record of mismanagement in Staffordshire – one that has driven the council into hundreds of millions of pounds of debt through reckless and uncontrolled spending.

According to the Stoke Sentinel, Kelly also lodged formal complaints – two in fact. Reportedly, she made these complaints two months ago, and is still waiting for action to be taken.

The Sentinel also reported that Kelly blamed ‘toxicity’ for her departure, and that:

a local party official ‘yelled and swore’ on multiple occasions, and her name was added to a lobbying letter against her wishes. She believes she was treated this way because she is a young woman, with most of her fellow party members being older men.

Not the first

As reported by the Guardian, Reform UK struggles to attract female candidates:

Reform UK has the smallest proportion of women on ballot papers in the local elections in England, at 23%. Labour is the closest to achieving gender parity, with 42% of its candidates women, followed by the Green party (41%), the Liberal Democrats (33%) and the Conservatives.

Reform also has issues holding on to female councillors.

On 3 March, Kathryn Shaw and Joanne Blythe of West Northamptonshire Council left the party to sit as independents. Blythe blamed ‘misogynistic undertones’; Shaw said the move was necessary to ‘more effectively advocate for strong safeguarding systems’.

It’s easy to see why Reform would attract sexists when you listen to its bigwigs. For an example of this, take no-fault divorce, which senior Reform politicians have discussed ending. Should this happen, women would once again find themselves trapped in abusive marriages because they can’t tick the correct box on a government check sheet.

'We need more prosperous families which lead to a more prosperous country.'

Reform's Richard Tice dodges @AndrewMarr9's question over whether reversing no-fault divorces is his party's policy. pic.twitter.com/9RpwHoFxU5

— LBC (@LBC) February 24, 2026

Farage himself has repeatedly demeaned female journalists in interviews. He was also accused of using the grooming gangs scandal for political capital – and accused by the victims themselves, no less. These same women demanded an apology from Farage after he lied about their situation.

Oh, and there’s also this:

A man is judged by the company he keeps. pic.twitter.com/vOZLwzKTje

— Reform Party UK Exposed (@reformexposed) October 28, 2025

A sign of things to come

It’s obviously completely inappropriate for men to belittle, bully, or harass their female colleagues. Such attitudes could become far more normalised if Reform takes power, however, and we get a government which is three quarters male, pale, and racist.

Before even taking power, Reform is threatening to tear up the Equality Act. The party claims this won’t lead to women losing the hard-won rights they enjoy today. Personally, however, we would advise women to take a long, hard look at Reform UK’s record before trusting them on this.

Featured image via Finnbarr Webster (Getty Images)

By Willem Moore

---

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/47886949

Mormon leaders, military veterans and elected officials reacted with anger to a new Department of Defense policy that does not consider The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be a Christian religion as part of a wider effort to cut down the U.S. military’s list of recognized faiths.

“The Pentagon’s decision to list The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apart from other Christian faiths is wrong and needs to be corrected,” Republican Rep. Mike Kennedy, of heavily Mormon Utah, wrote on X on Sunday.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn went so far as to push legislation renaming a highway for President Donald Trump as he sought the president's endorsement in his hotly contested runoff with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Now he says that bill "may not make it into my priorities the next seven months."

A week after losing his reelection bid to Paxton, who Trump endorsed in the final days of the race, Cornyn's political career is seemingly at its end. And the four-term senator — who said he is "looking forward to working in the private sector" — seems to have a new attitude to the president.

This is actually sad

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/66513157