Vega Security raised $120 million Series B, bringing its valuation to $700 million, in a round led by Accel. The company aims to rethink how enterprises detect cybersecurity threats.

The Singaporean government said the China-backed hackers gained "limited access to critical systems" run by the country's top four telecommunication giants, but said they did not disrupt services or steal customers' data.

"To use race or skin color as a consideration in selecting athletes to represent their country in the Olympics is the epitome of racism."

It increasingly appears that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are the only two people who will face justice in this whole saga.

Some athletes are displaying a lack of unity and stirring up media firestorms instead of pointing people to the beauty of the sport they love.

Trump is pressuring Congress to ban investor buying. But Congress says no. Lawmakers Push Back on Trump’s Proposed Ban The Wall Street Journal reports Proposed Ban on Investors in the Housing Market Hits a Wall in Congress The White House is at loggerheads with Congress over one of President Trump’s signature housing proposals, a ban on …

When barbecue turns into a hit song… Ernest recently returned to the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast, and the Nashville-based artist and songwriter had a story and anecdote for just about everything. He spoke to us about how rewarding it is to give joy to others through music, why he’s passionate about giving back to the Nashville music community, working with artists like Jelly Roll (and non-artists like Pat McAfee), and the responsibility he felt producing a Toby Keith demo after the country legend’s death. Ernest also had quite the story about how a food run turned into one of Jelly Roll’s biggest songs. The prolific songwriter was talking about how hit songs come to be (like “I Had Some Help), and whether or not artists and songwriters know they are crafting a No. 1 track while they are in the middle of creating it. Often times, the writers and artists in the room do have a good idea of when they catch lightning in a bottle. Ernest has over 10 No. 1’s as a writer, so he’s familiar with the feeling. And the songwriter told us one of the times he knew a hit song was in the making, it was a completely unexpected write. In fact, it was a trip to get some barbecue that led to a run in with Jelly Roll: “Another one I’m proud of is ‘Son of a Sinner’ with Jelly Roll. When we wrote that song, I think it was in 2020 and I was going to pick up barbecue at Martin’s. Jelly Roll was at the Sound Emporium next door. I just knew that because I saw his truck when I was going to Martin’s. I just walked into the studio so we could burn down while I waited on my barbecue. And he was like,’ Yo, let’s write something real quick.’ I picked up a guitar and I put it in Drop D and started playing that (song’s) lick.” Immediately, Jelly Roll and Ernest knew something was there. The two artists had actually been looking for a worthy song that could help launch Jelly Roll’s country music career. Sure enough, they stumbled upon it in one of the more random, barbecue-adjacent ways possible: “We had talked previously about him needing a country radio song. Right then, the thing that was popping for him was the ‘Save Me’ record and the YouTube video was going crazy. We just started spitting stuff out and the ‘Son of a Sinner’ verse and chorus came out in like 15 or 20 minutes. (We had) kind of a blueprint for the second verse, but I was like, ‘I gotta go.’ Took the barbecue and he sent me the demo at 1:00 in the morning.” Ernest went on to produce the song for Jelly Roll, who said he thought it could be his first country single… and he was right. “Son of a Sinner” connected with listeners, and Ernest and Jelly had a feeling that would likely be the case from the very first moment a string on that Drop D guitar was strummed. Once the real vocals were put on the track, Ernest knew it was destined to be big: “The night I wrote it, I didn’t know what would happen. I thought it was an awesome song. Once we did the record and heard Jelly’s vocal on it for real, I was like, ‘This could be a thing.’ And it was. The rest is Jelly Roll history.” @whiskeyriff @Ernest #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff ♬ Son Of A Sinner – Jelly Roll The song ended up charting as high as 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 list, and even reached the No. 1 spot on the US Country Airplay chart. Most importantly, it acted as Jelly Roll’s official entry into country music… and obviously with his latest Grammy win, that’s gone rather well for the rapper-turned-country-artist. To hear more from Ernest, make sure to download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here. We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts. Cheers, y’all. Audio Video The post How Ernest’s Barbecue Run Turned Into Jelly Roll’s First #1 At Country Radio, “Son Of A Sinner” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Any publicity is good publicity. Kid Rock is firing back at haters of the Turning Point USA halftime show, or those who are digging up 25-year-old lyrics from a song they’ve never heard in an attempt to cancel him yet again. Over the weekend, Kid Rock (whose real name is Robert Ritchie) served as the headliner for the alternative Super Bowl halftime show organized by TPUSA, the organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk. The halftime show was first announced after the NFL selected Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and his immigration policy, to headline the official Apple Music halftime show at the Super Bowl. The alternate broadcast featured performances from Kid Rock along with Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett, and ahead of the show Kid Rock said the goal was to provide an alternative for those who felt the NFL wasn’t appealing to them with their choice of headliner: “At the end of the day, like people like Taylor Sheridan and Tyler Perry have, they realize there’s a big portion of this country, like it or not, that’s underserved entertainment-wise. We’re just going to go play for our base, you know, people who love America, love football, love Jesus. And it’s pretty much that simple. Of course, the media and the haters are going to try to detract from it. And I think I would like to get this point across once again when I say I think I speak for Turning Point and all the artists involved that none of us are approaching this with any hate in our hearts at all. It’s just a love for our base and love for music, our country and everything else.  Naturally there have been quite a few critics of both the halftime show itself and headliner Kid Rock, including some of his fellow artists like Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves. But Kid Rock is no doubt used to receiving backlash, and doesn’t seem to mind it these days. In fact, he views it as free promo: “I’m used to it at this point. They’re just not smart enough to realize all they’re doing, these people are just basically my promo machine. People that like me love me. No one likes Kid Rock. They either love me or people hate me. And the people that love me, all these people do is amplify anything I have going on, so people go, ‘Oh, Kid Rock’s playing at halftime. Where do I watch it?’ So, thank you, haters.” Despite the critics, it seems like the Turning Point USA alternative Super Bowl halftime show turned out to be pretty successful. The livestream peaked at over 6 million concurrent viewers just on the organization’s YouTube channel, and is currently sitting at 21 million views on just the single platform of many that it was aired. Now, obviously those numbers are going to be dwarfed by Bad Bunny and the actual Super Bowl halftime show: People were already watching the game and didn’t have to change the channel to watch Bad Bunny, and…you know, it’s the Super Bowl, not a YouTube live stream. It’s apples and oranges to try to compare the two, and TPUSA was never going to overtake the Super Bowl halftime show’s numbers or even come close, but for a stream that most people watched on YouTube during the biggest sporting event of the year, those are more than solid numbers.The post Kid Rock Responds To Critics Of Turning Point USA Halftime Show: “They’re My Promo Machine” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

A new FBI document, which hasn’t been previously revealed, details how in 2006 President Trump called a local police chief in Palm Beach, Florida, to thank him for investigating Jeffrey Epstein. Here’s . . .

ICE Director Todd Lyons is testifying before the House Homeland Security committee today and you can watch it below. It’s already in progress.