US

New Chicago Mayor Responds After Violent Memorial Day Weekend

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the city’s most violent Memorial Day weekend on record, calling it “intolerable.”
The weekend ended with 53 shooting victims and 12 murders, FOX 32 Chicago reported.
Victims of the shootings range in age from 2 to 77 years, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) said. At least a dozen of them were fired at while standing on sidewalks late at night and into the early morning hours.
The violence came close to Johnson’s home when a man who lives across the street from the mayor was charged with stabbing a woman to death in South Austin, reported CBS….

‘Skipping’ Rate Hike Not a Signal That Tightening Is Over: Fed’s Jefferson

The Federal Reserve potentially leaving interest rates unchanged at next month’s policy meeting might not indicate that the central bank’s tightening efforts are over, Fed Governor Philip Jefferson said in a speech.
An announcement to keep the benchmark fed funds rate in the target range of 5.00 and 5.25 percent would allow officials to comb through even more data before employing additional tightening measures.
“A decision to hold our policy rate constant at a coming meeting should not be interpreted to mean that we have reached the peak rate for this cycle,” Jefferson said at the Annual International Conference on Policy Challenges for the Financial Sector on May 31. “Indeed, skipping a rate hike at a coming meeting would allow the committee to see more data before making decisions about the extent of additional policy firming. With that said, let me turn to the topics covered in our two sessions this afternoon.”…

ANALYSIS: Scope of FBI’s Use of 702 Section Data on Americans Revealed for 1st Time

News Analysis
The FBI’s use of warrantless “backdoor searches” of a vast amount of information known as the Section 702 database—which is intended for targeted surveillance of foreign persons located outside the United States—to spy on Americans is far more widespread than previously thought, according to a new report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Section 702 is a key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that permits the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign persons located outside the United States and is supposed to prevent any surveillance of U.S. citizens.
This massive database contains emails, texts, and phone calls that come from the tech giants, but also comes from the backbone of the internet. It’s one of the most powerful collection and surveillance tools that the Intelligence Community has….

NASA Says Between 2 and 5 Percent of UFO Sightings Can’t Be Explained

NASA says that somewhere between 2 and 5 percent of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings can’t be easily explained.
On May 31, NASA held a 16-member panel discussion about what it described as “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP), an alternative rendering of what most in the public refer to as UFOs. The discourse, led by astrophysicist David Spergel, comes as NASA prepares a report on UAPs that it hopes to release by the end of July.

While the UAP term can technically be applied to any unexplained sighting on land and sea, or in space, panelists said that all reports so far have come from within the earth’s atmosphere at altitudes flown by military and commercial aircraft….

Bud Light Sales Decline Shows Few Signs of Stopping Soon

As boycotts spread through different industries, Bud Light has continued to see declining sales after engaging with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney two months ago.
According to data by Bump Williams Consulting and Nielsen IQ, sales of Bud Light dropped 25.7 percent for the week ending May 20, reported the New York Post. Its nearest rival, Modelo Especial, saw its sales increase by 9.2 percent for the same week, Williams said.
Overall, Bud Light’s sales are down 24.3 percent for the four-week period that ended on May 20, the data show. Modelo, meanwhile, has grown by 8 percent in the same timeframe. Perhaps the biggest winner is Pennsylvania-based Yuengling, which bills itself as “America’s Oldest Brewery,” as the brand’s Yuengling Flight has increased by 47.6 percent in the four-week period….

[PREMIERING 7:00PM ET] AI Could Become the Biggest Problem for the 2024 Elections

Artificial intelligence is now being framed as a public threat, including to elections, to public safety, and even to race and equity. To mitigate this threat, the government has created new programs that can manage key systems that influence AI information. And these programs raise some serious questions about who controls information.
Meanwhile, the Chinese regime has large-scale military programs involving bioweapons. Unfortunately, these programs tie into technology the United States provided to the CCP. And now the United States and the world are facing a very real threat from China’s bioweapon programs. To learn more about this we speak with Brandon Weichert. He’s the author of “Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life.”…

Project Veritas Sues Founder James O’Keefe

Project Veritas on May 31 sued its founder James O’Keefe following his ouster from the journalism group.
O’Keefe breached his contract by starting a rival group while still employed by Project Veritas, the organization said in the 37-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. court in New York.
O’Keefe formed the O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) on Feb. 17 despite not having been terminated yet, the suit says. O’Keefe also falsely said on multiple occasions that he was fired despite still being employed, albeit suspended, by Project Veritas, according to the filing.
O’Keefe is also accused of violating his contract by contacting Project Veritas donors and soliciting Project Veritas workers to come work for him at his new organization….

Virginia, West Virginia Governors Sending National Guard Troops to Texas Border

The governors of Virginia and West Virginia are the latest Republican state leaders to announce deployments of National Guard troops to assist Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security efforts.
On Wednesday morning, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he would deploy 100 of his state’s National Guard troops to Texas.
“The ongoing border crisis facing our nation has turned every state into a border state,” Youngkin said. “As leadership solutions at the federal level fall short, states are answering the call to secure our southern border, reduce the flow of fentanyl, combat human trafficking and address the humanitarian crisis. Following a briefing from Governor Abbott last week, Virginia is joining other states to deliver on his request for additional assistance.”…

LIVE 8 PM ET: DeSantis Campaigns in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 8:00 p.m. ET on May 31.
It is DeSantis’s fourth stop in his Iowa campaign trip and the second arrival in the city in the past few weeks.
He’s going to speak on his vision to lead America.
…

Biden Sexual Assault Accuser Says She Fled to Russia Fearing for Her Life

Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault, said Tuesday that she is taking refuge in Russia.
In an hour-long interview she did alongside convicted Russian agent Maria Butina for Russian state media Stupnik, the 59-year-old woman said she feels safe in the country.
“I’m still kind of in a daze a bit but I feel very good,” she said, according to Sputnik. “I feel very surrounded by protection and safety. And I just really so appreciate Maria and everyone who’s been giving me that at a time when it’s been very difficult to know if I’m safe or not.”…