The Lounge

  Brandon Johnson addresses the crowd during a rally at Credit Union One Arena in Chicago on March 30, 2023, (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.) Brandon Johnson, a Cook County commissioner was elected as the next mayor of Chicago on Tuesday in a victory of former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas. With about 91% of the vote counted, Johnson had 51.4% of the vote compared to 48.6% for Vallas. Johnson will succeed current mayor Lori Lightfoot who became the first mayor in 40 years to lose her reelection bid as she finished third behind Johnson and Vallas. Both political candidates ran on the message of crime in the city which saw a 33% increase since 2019.  Vallas supported a law-and-order crime that would include hiring hundreds of more police officers to patrol the city and take a taking a hard line on minor crimes while Johnson argued that the city instead should invest in mental health treatment, affordable housing for all and job programs for younger Chicagoans and have

Oil workers stand in the tear gas thrown by riot police as they block the access to an oil depot in Fos-sur-Mer, southern France on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, (AP Photo/Daniel Cole). Working class Frenchmen staged a massive protest across France in response to President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to pass a divisive bill that would increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a vote from the French Parliament.  The move infuriated the country as 234 people were arrested overnight in Paris with smaller protest taking place in other cities around France which resulted in some degenerating into violence late Monday. A series of political meetings on Tuesday planned by President Macron will have the prime minister, parliamentary leaders and lawmakers from his political party, President Macron is also expected to give a nationally televised speech on Wednesday – the first time since he passed the law to try and explain why he passed such a bill.  

  Doris Marlin, left, of Silver Spring, Md., and fellow activists demonstrated in front of the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, April 14, 2023 (AP Photo/Scott Applewhite). On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a lower court restriction to a pill most common with abortions.  The drug had been in use since 2000 and 5 million women have used it. Two of the nine justices – Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, two of the judges that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade – voted to allow restrictions to take effect. President Joe Biden praised the high court’s decision for keeping mifepristone available while the court fight continues.  “The stakes could not be higher for women across America. I will continue to fight politically driven attacks on women’s health. But let’s be clear – the American people must continue to use their vote as their voice and elect a congress who will pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade,” said Biden. The Supreme Court had initially said it

  Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy holds the gavel and sits on the speaker’s chair after he was elected early Saturday on the 15 th  ballot on Jan. 7, 2023. (Olivier Douliery/AFP) Kevin McCarthy became the house speaker at midnight after a long and brutal process that took 15 votes which was the longest time a speaker has been selected in 164 years. McCarthy and his allies had been in tough negations with a small but critical group of far-right congressmen and women who did not want to see McCarthy become speaker due to the disappointment of the 2022 midterms where Republicans were projected to have a 25-point seat over the Democrats.  Conflict escalated on the Republican side during the break with Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama approached Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida in an aggressive manner, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, physically pulled him back.  McCarthy finally emerged victorious over the small group of far-right republicans after he was able to convince Rep. Andy B

  Former President Trump in a Manhattan courtroom for his arraignment this month, (Curtis Means/Associated Press). A Manhattan grand jury decided to indict former President Trump on more than 30 counts on business fraud.  This is the first time in American history that a former or current president has faced criminal charges. Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney has been investigating the former president in connection to his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme with adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. Trump released a statement on his Truth Social account in response to the indictment claiming that it was merely a “Political Persecution and Election interference at the highest level in history.”  Atlanta prosecutor Fani T. Willis is looking into a wide range of conduct centered around efforts to subvert the democratic process and overturn Trumps’ 2020 election loss in Georgia by asking Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger if

  A woman is deciding on what vegetables she wants to buy at a grocery store in Greenville, New York, April 30, 2023 (Robert Nickelsberg via Getty Images). For the 10 th  time since March, the Federal Reserve is on track to raise interest rates to try and defeat high rates of inflation.  The consumer price index rose 0.1% for the month of March while the core CPI increased 0.4% and 5.6% on an annual basis, which were both expected.  A separate measure issued Friday by the Labor Department showed that workers’ pay, and benefits rose 1.2% in the first three months of this year which was faster than the 1.1% rise in last year’s final quarter.  With high prices, consumers are forced to cut back on their spending. Consumer spending was flat in March for a second straight month which includes cuts on autos, furniture and appliances, but consumers continue to spend on services which includes household utilities, restaurant meals and hotels.

  Flowers litter the steps of the Old National Bank in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday after the mass shooting, (John Sommers II/UPI). America is experiencing a record pace in the amount of mass shootings with roughly once a week so far alone this year. The 17 mass shootings over 111 days so far this year have taken the lives of 88 people which has not happened in America since 2009. The recent mass shooting at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Ky., which left five dead and eight others injured joined a list of other notable mass shootings which include The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tn., which left three adults and three children dead with one person injured, the Monterey Park shooting which left 11 dead and nine injured. Along with a Sweet 16 party in Dadeville, Alabama, which left four people dead and 32 injured. The deaths of mass shootings represent only a fraction of the fatal violence that occurs in the U.S. as 54% of gun deaths are suicides while the remaining 43% ar

People carry a body bag as locals wait for their family and friends to be saved from the rubble of collapsed buildings in Hatay, Turkey, (Al Jazeera). A 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated the people of Turkey and Syria which is one of the most devastating earthquakes in recent international history. The earthquake has killed at least 50,000 Turks and Syrians with many more injured, thousands of people are still missing along with hundreds of thousands of people homeless, the U.N. humanitarian chief said. On Feb.6, the 7.8 magnitude earthquake first struck the southern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, U.S. Geological survey said.  A 7.5 magnitude quake hit more than 60 miles away from Kahramanmaras which left destruction and chaos in its path. The U.N. agreed to send in $397.6 million to help Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims. 42% of the money will go to the victims in Turkey but it only covers emergency needs for three months. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.  The U.N.

                                                  Members of the Taiwanese military participated in a military exercise in Pingtung, Taiwan, Last month, (Lam Yik Fei for the New York Times). On Monday, China’s military declared that they were “ready to fight” after their three-day military combat-exercises around Taiwan that sealed off the island in response to Taiwanese President Tsai lng-wen trip to the U.S. last week.  China conducted a similar exercise last August, when they launched missile strikes around the seas of Taiwan in retaliation when then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visited the country, however. The previous exercise was smaller and less disruptive.  Military experts say that the exercises both served as a form of intimidation and an opportunity for the Chinese military to practice sealing off Taiwan if China decides to invade Taiwan. U.S. President Joe Biden has stated that the U.S. military would defend Taiwan if China decided to invade Taiwan but has not made a statement s

                                                                 President Joe Biden walks around Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at St Michael’s   Golden-Domed Cathedral during his visit, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. (US Department of Defense.) President Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Monday in a move of western solidarity with a country that is has been going through a brutal war with Russia as the war begins to enter an uncertain new phase. “One year later, Kyiv stands,” Biden declared after meeting with Zelenskyy at Mariinskyi Palace. He continued: “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.”  The United States along with other western nations have seen sending in arms, tanks, ammunition, and other military equipment to Ukraine in hopes that it will help Ukraine fend off a powerful Russian military.  US officials hope for a massive influx of weapons such as new vehicles, longer-ran