With the World Cup returning to the United States for the first time since 1994, Europeans are flooding into the nation to watch their country compete while visiting numerous notable cities. One European in particular is documenting his first time in the States and is already enamored with one section of the nation — the SEC. A user on X named Freddy (@FreddyLA7) is going viral for documenting his six-week World Cup trip to the United States, which begins in the heart of the South. “The World Cup trip starts tomorrow,” Freddy wrote in his initial travel post on X. “Tomorrow we’ll fly to Dublin, and after a 24-hour layover we’ll arrive in Atlanta on Friday.” Little did the European know how much he would fall in love with what many deem “SEC Country” as he drove through numerous states and cities home to diehards of the Southeastern Conference. Just passing through a town called Gainesville and this place looks beautiful. The houses are insane wow. pic.twitter.com/x5SpGr6NAg — Freddy

Inflation ticked up to 4.2% in May, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The 4.2% increase was in line with expectations, with analysts predicting a 0.4 percentage-point increase from April’s 3.8% annual rate. The inflation increase was driven primarily by higher energy costs as oil prices surged amid tensions in the Middle East. The inflation report showed energy prices accounted for more than 60% of the monthly increase in the Consumer Price Index, with gasoline prices rising sharply, up 8.6% before seasonal adjustment. Shelter costs also continued to climb, rising 0.3% during the month, while food prices increased 0.2%.  “It’s not a good number,” former Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher told CNBC. “I think the consumer is under tremendous pressure, and we’re just going to have to see if this is going to abate.” Fisher added that if he were Fed chair, he would leave interest rates unchanged for now to allow more time to assess the economy. Stocks, which are edging lower on the data, started the day with a downward trend after President Donald Trump blasted Iran for taking “too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them.” “Now they will have to pay the price!!!” Trump added.  After Trump’s message, Brent crude oil futures jumped to around $93 per barrel. Higher energy prices have become the Trump administration’s Achilles’ heel for inflation. Higher energy prices have become a persistent challenge for the Trump administration’s efforts to bring inflation lower. After nearly a month of conflict with Iran, the energy index rose 3.9% in May, up from a 3.8% increase in April. The latest data continues a trend of steadily rising inflation since February. While Federal Reserve policymakers have signaled patience in recent months, the continued acceleration in prices could complicate the central bank’s path forward. Investors who had hoped for interest rate cuts later this year are now debating whether officials will instead keep rates elevated for longer, or consider additional rate hikes if inflation remains stubbornly high.

Texas Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett claimed that black women suffer more “agony every single day” than the family of murdered high school athlete Austin Metcalf. Crockett made the remark during an unhinged two-hour stream after 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison for murdering the 17-year-old Metcalf. Anthony fatally stabbed Metcalf during a track meet in April 2025 in Frisco, Texas, and the case quickly garnered national attention.  Responding to the murder sentence, Crockett turned to race, arguing that the Metcalf family, who are white, don’t understand the alleged pain of black women.   “Black women, especially black women who have black male children live in fear and agony every single day … fear and agony that I promise you the Metcalfs probably never spent a day living that way and we’re going to have to have just some real conversations about race in this country,” Crockett said during her stream.  Rep. Crockett: “Black women live in agony every day that I promise the Metcalfs had never lived through” pic.twitter.com/GVielzMf51 — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 10, 2026 Crockett, who will leave Congress at the end of her current term after a failed run for Senate, added during the stream that she didn’t think the knife carried by Anthony at the track meet qualified as a “deadly weapon.”  “Well, I would have argued the size of it alone, you wouldn’t even think it’s a deadly weapon,” she said as the panel she hosted argued that the knife used in the murder was a multi-tool and it only killed Metcalf because of where he was stabbed.  Rep. Crockett (D) says the knife used to kill Metcalf “was not a deadly weapon” pic.twitter.com/evYfecEhqW — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 10, 2026 She also claimed the jury should have considered whether it was “one stab versus a gazillion” that led to Metcalf’s death.  “Because those are the ways that you look at intent, right? Like if you got a machete, bro, it’s a wrap, right? Like I mean, like the size and even in arguing these are the things that you argue right, like, is like what do you expect will happen if somebody got a machete versus what do you expect will happen if somebody has like a switchblade, like, or a Swiss Army Knife,” Crockett said.  Crockett added that the jury should have considered the size of Metcalf compared to Anthony. She claimed the size differential could have strengthened Anthony’s self-defense claims. “If a 300 pound man is beating me, like, on top of me and beating me down, I’m not limited to fist,” she said. “You know, I would argue that even, the only time we go into things like people’s hands being considered deadly weapons, is typically, like, if they’re a professional boxer, that kind of stuff, but I think by the time you start getting to, like, football player, good argument. 
Good, freaking arguments. We are not talking about, like, the golfers. We’re talking about football players, right?” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D) suggests that she also would have stabbed Austin Metcalf: pic.twitter.com/TBn3txFSAi — End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) June 10, 2026 At the end of the stream, Crockett claimed one of her takeaways from the trial was that more black people needed to be on juries.  “So, black people, stop walking yourself off the juries. First of all, make sure you show up,” she said. “Stop wondering why our kids are not being saved when you literally have people that don’t even see their humanity nine out of 10 times pulling up to jury duty and you saying you got other things to do and you trying to come up with every excuse for not showing up. You got to pay it forward.” Contradicting Crockett’s racial narrative, a number of black teen witnesses testified during the trial that Anthony was in the wrong and praised Metcalf’s character. The high-profile trial started on June 1 with jury selection and wrapped in a matter of nine days. Video footage and witness testimony — even from defense witnesses — generally indicated that Anthony provoked the situation with Metcalf and deadly force was not needed, contradicting the self-defense argument from Anthony’s team.

Collin County, Texas, authorities on Tuesday night released the booking photo of Karmelo Anthony, the teen convicted of murdering high school athlete Austin Metcalf. Anthony was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 35 years behind bars. Tuesday was his first day serving out his sentence. “New mugshot of Karmelo Anthony in the Collin County Jail as he spends the first night of his 35 year sentence for murder,” CBS 11 reporter J.D. Miles posted. “He will [likely] be transported to prison in the coming days.” New mugshot of Karmelo Anthony in the Collin County Jail as he spends the first night of his 35 year sentence for murder. He will like be transported to prison in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/yENKRyD6AP — J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) June 10, 2026 Anthony, who is black, fatally stabbed Metcalf, who was white, at a track event in April 2025 in Frisco, Texas. The case quickly generated national attention, both due to a narrative peddled by the Anthony family and the glaring lack of coverage from the legacy media, which routinely highlights and escalates white-on-black incidents. The high-profile trial started on June 1 with jury selection and wrapped in a matter of nine days. Video footage and witness testimony — even from defense witnesses — generally indicated that Anthony provoked the situation with Metcalf and deadly force was not needed, contradicting the self-defense argument from Anthony’s team. Anthony broke down in tears when the verdict was read and was visibly shaking; he also broke down when his 35-year sentenced was announced. It’s unclear if Anthony cried during any other part of the trial.  Karmelo Anthony breaks down in tears you can hear inside courtroom. His bond has been extinguished he is in the custody of Collin County Sheriff — J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) June 9, 2026 Notably, when Metcalf’s family read victim impact statements before the court, Anthony reportedly kept his head down and refused to look them in the eyes, even when asked to do so. “You can’t even look me in the eyes right now, but you can stab my f*cking son in the heart,” the victim’s father Jeff Metcalf said. Hunter, Metcalf’s twin brother, reportedly said to Anthony, “If you could just look me in the eye while I speak, I would really respect that.” Anthony looked down at the ground until Hunter was done speaking. Related: Slain Teen’s Dad Unloads On Karmelo Anthony In Courtroom: ‘Can’t Even Look Me In The Eyes’

Parents, not school administrators or teachers, should be the ones making final decisions for their children’s well-being. Throughout American history, this principle has been understood to be a cornerstone of liberty. Yet, across the country in recent years, public school systems have increasingly sidelined parents while encouraging their children’s gender confusion behind closed doors. The United States House of Representatives recently took a major step to address this problem by passing the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act. If signed into law, this bill would require that elementary and middle schools that receive federal funds obtain parental consent before making changes to a child’s pronouns, preferred name, and gender markers on any school forms, or before allowing a student to use opposite-sex bathrooms and locker rooms. Most importantly, the bill would withhold funds from schools that “teach or advance concepts related to gender ideology.” This bill seeks to address a widespread social contagion. School officials in states around the country have socially transitioned children or exposed them to gender ideology without parental notice or consent, and at times directly against parental instructions. In more than one case, children have ultimately attempted suicide after school officials exposed them to this ideology. In Massachusetts, a school counselor encouraged an eleven-year-old girl to meet with her weekly to discuss gender-related issues as the school facilitated her social transition. All this happened without her mother’s knowledge and despite her mother’s specific instructions to the school not to discuss gender identity with her daughter. In another case, a school reassured a mother that nothing unusual was happening at school despite her declining academic performance. In fact, the school was facilitating the child’s social gender transition the entire time. Even when the mother withdrew her child from the school, officials continued to communicate with the child about gender identity. In New Jersey, a school worked to ensure a father would not discover his daughter’s social transition at school, even using her legal name during announcements to avoid alerting siblings who might inform him. And in Colorado, a teacher encouraged two eighth-grade girls to attend after-school meetings of the Gender and Sexualities Alliance Club. When one of the girls attended, a substitute teacher told the assembled children that they were “likely transgender” if they “were not completely comfortable with their bodies,” and warned them that telling their parents about the meeting “might not be safe.” The other girl, sometime after attending the meeting, asked her parents to homeschool her so she could avoid the teacher who had invited her and who “kept asking” her to come back. The girl identified her attendance at that meeting as the beginning of her mental health decline, which resulted in her ultimate attempt to take her own life. The Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act would not completely eliminate these problems. But it would provide a significant roadblock to gender indoctrination in schools around the country. Parents must be the ones making these important decisions for their children, not teachers and school administrators. As case after case has shown, when schools attempt to cut parents out of their children’s lives, the consequences are devastating. Congress, states, and local school boards all must act to restore parental authority. Passing the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act would be a critical step in the right direction. *** J. Marc Wheat is the General Counsel at Advancing American Freedom Foundation.