Monday, May 31

á           Four more members of the anti-government extremist group the Oath Keepers were charged for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol: Joseph Hackett, Jason Dolan, William Isaacs and one more individual whose name was redacted in the publicly released indictment report.

á           North KoreaÕs official news agency accused the U.S. of Òshameful double-dealingÓ by seeking to ban Pyongyang from developing ballistic missiles while agreeing to set guidelines with South Korea to allow the development of limited range ballistics.

Tuesday, June 1

á           On the anniversary of the Tulsa massacre, a 1921 tragedy in which a White mob murdered as many as 300 Black people in the Oklahoma city's Greenwood neighborhood, also known as ÒBlack Wall Street,Ó the administration of President Joe Biden announced measures to Ònarrow the racial wealth gapÓ by stopping housing discrimination, supporting minority-owned businesses and reinvesting Òin communities that have been left behind by failed policies.Ó

á           Biden became the first sitting president to visit the site of Tulsa massacre and meet with a few remaining survivors of the incident. ÒThis was not a riot, this was a massacre,Ó Biden said. ÒAmong the worst in our history. But not the only one and, for too long, forgotten by our history.Ó

á           Biden met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, whom he privately told not to expect much on reparations legislation and recommended setting the bar low for any congressional action in that area.

á           The U.S. Supreme Court endorsed Indigenous tribal police powers in a unanimous ruling that upheld tribal officersÕ ability to stop and search non-Indigenous people on Native reservations following a manÕs effort to contest drug and weapons charges against him when he was stopped by tribal police on Crow land in Montana.

á           The Biden administration formally ended former President Donald TrumpÕs ÒRemain in MexicoÓ policy, or the Migrant Protection Protocols, which has prevented over 11,000 migrants from entering the U.S. to pursue asylum claims.

á           Reuters reported on a congressional advisory report that said the Department of Commerce is failing to protect national security and keep sensitive technology out of the hands of the Chinese military by being too slow to create a list of said technologies that should be investigated before being exported to China.

á           The Department of the Interior ordered the suspension of oil and gas leases in AlaskaÕs Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while it reviews the environmental impacts of drilling in the region to address possible legal flaws in the program, which the Trump administration and Congress approved in 2017.

á           At a joint news conference with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Central American governments to do more to contain immigration in the U.S., citing the erosion of judicial independence, crackdown on dissenting media and rampant corruption in Central American countries as crucial areas to improve upon.

Wednesday, June 2

á           Paul Allard Hodgkins became the second person to plead guilty for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Hodgkins took two selfies on the Senate floor while wearing a Trump T-shirt and waving a red ÒTrump 2020Ó flag.

á           Biden announced a month-long effort to get to his goal of 70% of Americans vaccinated by July 4 by extending hours at vaccination sites, offering drop-in childcare services to parents and free rides from Uber and Lyft to and from vaccination appointments.

á           NASA announced two new scientific missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030, the first in decades, to study the planetÕs atmospheric and geologic features.

Thursday, June 3

á           Biden issued a Ònational security study memorandumÓ directing the government to send him within 200 days a report with recommendations on how the country can better use its resources and partnerships with other countries to battle corruption.

á           A Pentagon report admitted that the U.S. military is responsible for killing 23 civilians in foreign wars in 2020, far below figures compiled by non-governmental organizations but more than the U.S. has admitted in previous years. These 23 include fatalities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.

á           The White House announced a global COVID-19 vaccine sharing plan to distribute its stockpile of 25 million unused vaccine doses, 75% of which will go to the United Nations-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing program and the rest to allied nations and partners directly.

á           The Justice Department elevated ransomware attack investigations to a similar priority as terrorism investigations after the Colonial Pipeline hack forced the shutdown of the pipeline that provides most gasoline to the east coast. The department referred to the attack as an example of the Ògrowing threat that ransomware and digital extortion pose to the nation.Ó

á           Biden signed an order amending TrumpÕs policy banning U.S. investment in Chinese companies to include bans on 59 firms with ties to the Chinese military and ChinaÕs surveillance industry, including Huawei Technologies, a telecommunications giant that develops 5G wireless networks.

á           An intelligence report obtained by the New York Times said there is no evidence that the 120-plus unidentified aerial phenomena observed by the Navy over the past two decades were alien spacecraft, although they mostly did not originate from any American military or government technology and remain unexplained.

Friday, June 4

á           The Pentagon said it would maintain TrumpÕs policy limiting the types of flags that can be flown at military bases and not allow rainbow flags to be flown for Pride Month.

á           State Department spokesman Ned Price called on Nicaraguan President Daniel OrtegaÕs government to release detained opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro along with two of her colleagues, calling their detention Òan abuse of their rights,Ó Òan assault on democratic valuesÓ and Òa clear attempt to thwart free and fair elections.Ó

Saturday, June 5

á           After it was recently revealed that the Trump administration secretly obtained reportersÕ phone and email records, the Justice Department released a statement saying it would no longer secretly obtain journalistsÕ records Òin a change to its longstanding practice.Ó

Sunday, June 6

á           A delegation of senators announced the U.S. would give 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan after the small island country complained that China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, was hindering its access to injections.

á           Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) announced he would vote against the DemocratsÕ election and ethics reform bill, known as the For the People Act, which would expand voting rights, create ethics rules for federal officeholders, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics and limit gerrymandering. Manchin, whose breaking from the party line leaves the act in jeopardy, said such a bill was Òthe wrong piece of legislation to bring our country together.Ó