“Multiple people were shot Saturday near a busy community street festival in Toledo, Ohio, and a search for the suspects was ongoing as victims were taken to nearby hospitals, police said. Toledo police officers responded to a report of a person shot near the Old West End Festival at about 5:30 p.m. When they arrived, they found multiple shooting victims, the police department said in a statement. Police said ‘many victims’ were transported to medical facilities but did not provide further details on the injuries and how many people were shot. Authorities also did not provide any details on what may have set off the shooting.” (06/06/26)
“If you’ve ever been to a concert or sporting event, you’ve probably dealt with Ticketmaster. And if you have, you’ve probably overpaid. Ticketmaster is the closest thing the live events industry has to a monopoly. It controls the ticketing market at most major American venues and has used that power to squeeze fans with higher prices and limit competition, ultimately making live entertainment more expensive for everyone. That is why recent legal action against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, was so encouraging. A jury ruled in April that it is an operating illegal monopoly. Remedies will follow; the question is when. Fans should not have to skip seeing their favorite band, team, or performer because a monopolistic corporation has found another way to extract money from them.” (06/06/26)
“Iran has accused the US of denying visas to ‘integral’ members of its national football team’s backroom staff, hours after Washington confirmed Iranian players had been given permission to travel to the upcoming World Cup. US officials said visas had been issued to all players and ‘necessary support staff’ on Friday, 10 days before Iran’s opening fixture in Los Angeles on 15 June. They also said Iran would not be allowed to ‘abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretences.’ Iran’s embassy in Turkey accused the US of ‘politically biased interference in sport’ by denying visas to ‘a large portion of the managerial and executive staff’ and ‘technical advisers.'” (06/06/26)
“In 2016, the conservative writer Michael Anton made a galvanizing case for Donald Trump in his famous essay ‘The Flight 93 Election,’ arguing that the stakes in the presidential contest between Trump and Hillary Clinton were existential. His contention that a Clinton win would cement Democratic electoral dominance forever — such that Republicans needed to charge the cockpit or die — was implausible at the time, and seems more so in retrospect. If Hillary had won in 2016, in all likelihood she would have been gone in 2020, washed away by the pandemic just like Trump was. This time, though, really might be different. Democrats are now seriously contemplating measures that wouldn’t have occurred to Hillary Clinton circa 2016. Endorsing some version of Supreme Court packing (or ‘court reform’ as Democrats insist on calling it) is becoming orthodoxy among mainstream Democrats.” (06/05/26)
Source: National Priorities Project
by Hanna Homestead
“Our country’s massive weapons budget has directly enabled the US-Israeli led war on Iran that has caused thousands of deaths and is exacerbating the nation’s affordability crisis. Even if the war on Iran ends soon, it will have cost somewhere in the range of $50 billion to $72 billion, or more. The US weapons and war budget already exceeds $1 trillion, and President Donald Trump and his cronies want even more. Trump’s Pentagon budget request for FY 2027 includes $95 billion to buy more bombs and missiles, and specifically to restock munitions used in the US-Israel war of aggression on Iran and those fueling ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and Lebanon. The administration plans to continue to arm Israel, which the Trump National Defense Strategy identifies as ‘a model ally’ that the United States has ‘an opportunity now to further empower’. ” (06/06/26)
“Raúl Castro, Cuba’s low-profile former president and revolutionary guerrilla, appeared in public for the first time since being indicted by the United States for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft, official video released Saturday showed. Castro’s celebration of his 95th birthday with top officials and military leaders at the Ministry of Interior in Havana on late Friday offered Cuba’s socialist government an opportunity to close ranks and project defiance as the Trump administration escalates its pressure campaign on the fuel-starved island. State TV broadcast footage of Castro, clad in his olive-green military uniform, entering a packed theater to a standing ovation, followed by his grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez, and Cuban President Miguel Diáz-Canel.” (06/06/26)
Source: The American Prospect
by Dylan Gyauch-Lewis
“After months of speculation and anger, the Democratic National Committee finally released its autopsy of the party’s loss in the 2024 presidential election just before Memorial Day weekend. Despite pledging to release the document publicly when first elected to lead the Democratic Party’s organizational arm in early 2025, DNC Chair Ken Martin reversed course in December of last year, announcing that the report would not be published. Why? Some speculated it was merely a way for party insiders to avoid accountability for their failures; many others that it showed Kamala Harris lost because of her refusal to disavow Joe Biden’s policy toward Israel. As it turns out, the coverup was due to a much more banal and embarrassing reason: Martin’s friend whom he hired to complete the report turned in a pile of garbage.” (06/05/26)
“‘Trump is a convicted felon!’ Who hasn’t heard this attack line made constantly by critics of President Donald Trump? For them, Trump’s conviction settles the debate about his character and fitness for office. But consider what one prominent legal analyst — not from Fox News, Newsmax or a conservative publication — wrote about the case. The charge against Trump brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg boils down to this. Trump recorded payments connected to the Stormy Daniels matter as legal expenses. Bragg transformed that into 34 felony counts and secured a conviction in a jurisdiction where Trump remains unpopular. Elie Honig, CNN’s senior legal analyst, outlined his objections in New York Magazine. He was brutal.” (06/04/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna falsely reported that antiwar activist Medea Benjamin ‘smacked’ her during a confrontation on Thursday, subsequently calling the police in an effort to get the Code Pink leader charged with assault. If you watch the video of the so-called ‘assault,’ it’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen in your life. The 73 year-old activist barely grazes the clothing on Luna’s arm with her hand while speaking, after which the US Air Force veteran Luna collapses into a pile of blubbering victimhood. Benjamin reports that she was briefly detained by Capitol Police after the incident, but was released without charges after officers reviewed the video footage.” (06/04/26)
“Former Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter got smoked in Tuesday’s ‘jungle primary’ for California’s governor’s race, the runoff for which will come in November. Right now, it looks like Steve Hilton vs. Xavier Becerra will face each other in the general election, though that won’t be certain for days — but we do know Porter won’t be in the final. She plummeted from her position as the early front-runner and darling of progressives last year after questions about her temperament surfaced and she never left. When ABC News ran headlines like this last month, readers knew her campaign was finished: ‘Katie Porter fights questions on temperament as the only woman in crowded California gubernatorial race. Experts are mixed over whether she should have raised outbursts that went viral.'” (06/04/26)
