It’s the story everybody in America is talking about. No, not the story about Luigi Mangione, who allegedly killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, setting off a national debate about health insurance in the U.S. and who profits from denying everyday Americans care. We’re talking about drones. Specifically, those mystery drones that have launched a million conspiracy theories online about what they could be. The drones have been reported every night in New Jersey since Nov. 18, according to NBC News, except for just one day that didn’t have any sightings in the state: Thanksgiving. That’s weird, of course, but not as weird as the fact that everyone seems to be confused about what these flying objects might be. Most of the viral videos appear to show aircraft that are plainly just normal commercial jets. But there are plenty that can’t be easily explained. The supposed “drones” have been spotted in other parts of the country too, like Southern California , though nothing has emerged on the west coast quite like the videos on the east coast. And elected leaders are calling for serious action. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader in the Senate for another month before Democrats lose control of the Senate, has called for a recently declassified drone-detection technology to be used to figure out what these flying objects might be. “Some of the drones are small. Some of the drones’ flight patterns are erratic,” Schumer said on Sunday, according to NBC News . “Multiple drones flying together can confuse a traditional radar system and that’s why, again, this new technology can really get us the answers that we need.” And with no easy answers yet, the internet is absolutely bubbling over with conspiracy theories. To be clear, we’re in no position to confirm or deny any of these theories right now. Because politicians and average people alike are still scratching their heads about what could be going on. Is it mass hysteria? Probably. But there are also videos with confusing elements that are difficult to explain. And whereas normally we can pretty definitively say that a conspiracy theory is clearly absurd, we have to remain open to almost any ridiculous angle at this point. Almost. Arguably the most popular conspiracy theory to emerge over the weekend started with a TikTok from John Ferguson, the CEO of Saxon Aerospace in Kansas. The video was deleted from TikTok but sparked such a wide-ranging conversation that clips have been shared on all kinds of social media sites. And you can watch the entire thing here . The long and the short of it is that this guy believes the drones may be hunting for some kind of chemical leak or, more disturbingly, may be looking for a rogue nuclear weapon that’s somewhere in the U.S. The man claims that a nuclear weapon that went missing from Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union somehow made its way to U.S. soil recently and the American government is hunting for it with these drones. Joe Rogan helped amplify the theory on Sunday , giving it a lot more attention. There is a team of people from the National Nuclear Safety Administration, housed under the Department of Energy, who are specifically tasked with looking for any rogue nukes. It was set up in the 1970s after a spate of bad nuclear extortion threats against U.S. cities, most of which were not credible and involved people just trying to get money from the government. But there have been some instances of people obtaining real nuclear material and threatening to blow people up. There’s no available evidence at this point, however, that we’re dealing with government-sanctioned nuke hunters. There have been sensationalist claims made on X in the wake of this video about lost nuclear material. Right-wing influencer Benny Johnson tried to make it sound like a scandal on Monday that a report on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s website listed some lost radioactive material in New Jersey recently. But this kind of thing happens all the time. And you’ll notice in the report it’s clearly not a nuclear weapon. Radioactive material is used in all kinds of scientific equipment and this kind of stuff gets lost in transit sometimes and needs to be reported to the authorities. It doesn’t mean that anyone can make a nuclear bomb out of it. As a Community Note points out in one of the alarmist tweets, the amount of radiation that one could receive from the missing material, in this case, would be roughly equivalent to a CT scan , provided you stood next to it for a full year. Incoming president Donald Trump said the government knows what’s going on but won’t tell anyone. And while it’s entirely possible that he’s right, he also lies all the time and has plenty of motivation to make it seem like the U.S. government is currently inept and deceitful, which will surely be remedied when he takes power gain on Jan. 20, 2025. “Look, our military knows where they took off from,” Trump said at a press conference Monday . “If it’s a garage, they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went. And for some reason, they don’t want to comment.” Then there were the people who insisted the U.S. government was planning a staged alien invasion to distract Americans, called Project Blue Beam. The conspiracy theory pushes the idea that a fake alien invasion will be used to justify a world government and then be used to destroy Christianity and Judaism, replacing traditional religion with New Age beliefs. The idea was first dubbed Project Blue Beam by Serge Monast, a Canadian conspiracy theorist in the 1990s. But it’s still popular among figures like Alex Jones. And the InfoWars host insisted as early as Dec. 11 that this spate of drone sightings was all about setting up a New World Order—a term he’s been obsessed with since he first got his start on local public access TV in Texas during the 1990s. The theory was also pushed by right-wing figures, like comedian Roseanne Barr. “Now you see why I mention Project Blue Beam every week on my podcast.....” Barr tweeted Dec. 14 . It wasn’t just Trump who was floating his own conspiracy theories about the so-called drones. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, said it’s “total bullshit that no one knows what these are.” And while Greene may be correct, she hasn’t presented any evidence for that assertion just yet. Instead, she just insists that once Trump gets back into power, we’ll know everything. Eventually, Greene escalated her rhetoric, as she often does when there’s attention to be had. By Dec. 14 she was claiming that not only does the U.S. government know what the drones are, they’re controlling them. “The government is in control of the drones and refuses to tell the American people what is going on. It really is that bad,” Greene wrote on X . Then there are the politicians like Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a Republican congressman from New Jersey, who claims the drones are actually Iranian in origin and are being launched from a mothership off the east coast. There’s no evidence for that and it’s a claim the Pentagon has denied. But it’s not like Rep. Van Drew is some random guy on the internet. This is an elected official who’s making this claim and says he’s talking with people who would know. Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican, also posted his own video of what he said were “dozens of drones” spotted over Maryland. “We are being told that neither the White House, the military, the FBI, or Homeland Security have any idea what they are, where they came from, or who has launched or is controlling them–and that they pose no threat,” Hogan wrote. “That response is entirely unacceptable. I join with the growing bipartisan chorus of leaders demanding that the federal government immediately address this issue. The American people deserve answers and action now.” But the video is very shaky and at least some of the lights in the video appeared to be just stars in the sky. And this all brings us full circle. We don’t know what’s going on, but it really seems like nobody does at this point. And the vast majority of the videos that are circulating online can be explained as either regular planes or stars in the sky. The FBI released a joint statement with the Department of Homeland Security on Dec. 14 that promised the public that both agencies were investigating. “We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus,” the statement read . “The FBI, DHS, and our federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings.” “Historically, we have experienced cases of mistaken identity, where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities,” the statement continued. “We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space. ” The statement ended by saying the agencies hadn’t seen “malicious activity” which is both encouraging and vague if you really think about what it means. “We take seriously the threat that can be posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), which is why law enforcement and other agencies continue to support New Jersey and investigate the reports,” the statement read. “To be clear, they have uncovered no such malicious activity or intent at this stage. While there is no known malicious activity occurring in New Jersey, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight the insufficiency of current authorities.”Stock market today: Wall Street inches higher to set more recordsslot bet 200k 。

NEW YORK (AP) — Jay-Z says a rape allegation made against him is part of an extortion attempt. A woman who previously sued Sean “Diddy” Combs , alleging she was raped at an awards show after-party in 2000 when she was 13, amended the lawsuit Sunday to include a new allegation that Jay-Z was also at the party and participated in the sexual assault. The 24-time Grammy award winning rapper, producer and music mogul called the allegations “idiotic” and “heinous in nature" in a statement released by Roc Nation, one of his companies. His lawyer also argued Monday that his accuser, who is only identified as Jane Doe, should have to reveal her identity, or have her lawsuit dismissed outright. Attorney Alex Spiro said in a filing in Manhattan federal court that the woman hasn’t provided any specific evidence to justify her anonymity and that her “vague assertions of potential harm fall far short of the stringent requirements” under law. He also noted the court has already ruled that some of the other sexual misconduct lawsuits brought by the woman's attorney against Combs do not meet the criteria to proceed anonymously. “Mr. Carter deserves to know the identity of the person who is effectively accusing him — in sensationalized, publicity-hunting fashion — of criminal conduct, demanding massive financial compensation, and tarnishing a reputation earned over decades,” Spiro wrote. “He has never been accused of, let alone engaged in, any sexual misconduct.” Jay-Z, in his statement released earlier on social media, also revealed that he had anonymously sued the woman's lawyer, Tony Buzbee, alleging he was trying to blackmail the rapper by threatening to make the rape allegation public if he didn't agree to a legal settlement. He said Buzbee sent a letter to his lawyer appearing to seek a settlement, but the letter had the “opposite effect" on him. “It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion,” Jay-Z's statement read. “So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!” The litigation is part of a wave of sexual assault lawsuits levied against Combs as the hip-hop mogul remains in custody in New York awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges . The unnamed woman says she was hanging around Radio City Music Hall during the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards and managed to talk a limousine driver into bringing her to a celebrity-studded party at a private residence after the event. She said that while she was in the limousine, she was asked to sign a nondisclosure document. Once at the party, the lawsuit said, she took a drink that made her feel “woozy and lightheaded” and went into a bedroom to lie down. She said that Combs and Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, then barged into the room along with another unnamed celebrity and raped her. The woman said she eventually escaped the room, fled the house and called for a ride from a nearby gas station. Buzbee, a personal injury lawyer in Houston, said the notion that he was trying to blackmail Jay-Z is “stupid and laughable,” and that his letter simply sought confidential mediation in the litigation. “What he fails to say in his recent statement is that my firm sent his lawyer a basic demand letter on behalf of an alleged victim and that victim never demanded a penny from him,” he said in an emailed statement. “Since I sent the letter on her behalf, Mr. Carter has not only sued me, but he has tried to bully and harass me and this plaintiff. His conduct has had the opposite impact. She is emboldened. I’m very proud of her resolve.” Buzbee announced at a news conference in October that he represents some 120 people — both men and women — with allegations of sexual misconduct against Combs. His firm, which has set up a 1-800 number for accusers, began filing a wave of suits against the hip-hop mogul a few weeks later. Jay-Z, in his statement, challenged Buzbee to seek criminal charges and said his “heart and support goes out to true victims in the world.” He also lamented that he and wife Beyoncé will likely have to address the claims with their three children and “explain the cruelty and greed of people.” “I mourn yet another loss of innocence,” Jay-Z wrote. Combs' lawyers, in a statement, also dismissed Buzbee’s lawsuits as “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs.” Combs was denied bail a third time last month. He’s pleaded not guilty to charges he coerced and abused women for years and faces trial in May. Jay-Z and Combs are part of a generation of hip-hop titans who rose to prominence in the 2000s, emerging as wide-ranging entrepreneurs and two of the world’s wealthiest rappers. Earlier this year, Forbes estimated Jay-Z’s net worth to be $2.5 billion. The artists have collaborated over the years, with Jay-Z being featured on Combs' debut album, “No Way Out” and Combs appearing on Jay-Z’s sophomore album, “In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.” While the pair has been frequently photographed together at events, they've also been competitors. Diddy launched his Bad Boy Records around the same time Jay-Z launched his Roc-A-Fella record label. AP Music Writer Maria Sherman in New York contributed to this story. Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo .Diddy's Lawyers Respond to Jay-Z Accusations

City of Ottawa ends endorsement deal with water line insurer

As expected, the transition team for President-elect Donald Trump is now reportedly looking to slash support for electric vehicle (EV) and charging programs set up by the Biden administration, along with lodging global tariffs and pushing to ease regulations on fossil-fuel emissions. The Trump transition team is now looking at plans to ease regulations on the fossil fuel industry and to cut many EV programs, including the $7,500 EV tax credit , along with lodging tariffs on battery material imports worldwide, according to a document seen by Reuters this week . As part of efforts to bolster the domestic supply chain for battery materials, many of which are produced in China and are heavily subsidized in the U.S., the transition team has recommended imposing tariffs on all battery materials around the world, before negotiating individual exemptions with allies, as the document shows. “When he takes office, President Trump will support the auto industry, allowing space for both gas-powered cars and electric vehicles,” said Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for the Trump transition team, in a statement. RELATED: U.S. Supreme Court to hear challenge on California emission rule waiver Although Trump campaigned on promises to end the $7,500 federal EV credit and official plans to kill the subsidy were reported last month, the transition team has also called for rolling back the $7.5 billion plan passed under Biden to help aid the buildout of charging stations for EVs. Instead, the team has said that it would shift this and other funding currently going toward making EVs more affordable toward national defense efforts, including the initiative to secure battery supplies without relying on China. The document notes that these efforts would focus on shifting money toward battery material production, as well as the “national defense supply chain and critical infrastructure.” The document suggested that the team utilize Section 232 tariffs, which are intended to limit the import of any items related to potential national security threats. Biden recently increased tariffs on several imports related to charging technology and critical minerals for EV batteries, including graphite, “permanent magnets” used in EV motors and in military applications, and lithium-ion batteries, among others, though the tariffs were issued on economic grounds, rather than on those in national security. The transition team is also looking to waive environmental reviews to accelerate “federally funded EV infrastructure projects,” such as those in battery production and recycling, charging deployment, and manufacturing of critical minerals. Other proposals detailed in the document include: While many have said that ditching the $7,500 tax credit and other policies intended to help spur on the adoption of EVs could hurt Tesla, CEO Elon Musk and others have argued that it may only benefit the company by harming other automakers even more. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said last month that the change would only “enable Tesla to further fend off competition from Detroit,” given its already decisive advantage in EV scale. In his latest statement regarding EV subsidies, made on X last month, Musk called for the U.S. to “end all government subsidies, including those for EVs, oil and gas.” Musk also campaigned with Donald Trump during the election and created the political action committee (PAC), dubbed America PAC, to support his candidacy financially. He has since gained a position in what the team has called the Department of Government Efficiency, and he’s expected to play a major role in the upcoming administration. In a report last week, it was said that the Trump transition team is also considering getting rid of a mandatory reporting measure for automated driving systems , as part of a larger effort to remove regulations and push self-driving vehicle development forward more quickly. An additional report from last month also suggests that Trump is already looking to create federal rules surrounding the rollout of autonomous vehicles , expected to accelerate the deployment of commercial robotaxis and other self-driving technologies. What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com , find me on X at @zacharyvisconti , or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com . Analysts weigh in on Trump presidency’s effects to U.S. auto sector Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

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Jackson leads but Barkley closes gap in NFL Pro Bowl votingWhether Diontae Johnson turns a corner, becomes a distraction or is released isn't clear, but the Ravens are trying to carry on as usual.