Presumptuous Politics

Progressive Nithya Raman has clinched a spot in the Los Angeles mayoral runoff, Newsmax projects.

Raman, a City Council member, will face incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, who is seeking a second term. Raman overtook former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who had spent days in second place as votes continued to be counted.

Bass currently leads with 35%, followed by Raman at 27.12% and Pratt at 26.69%. Just 3,113 votes separate Raman and Pratt in the nonpartisan primary.

Bass, a former Democrat congresswoman, was first elected mayor in 2022 after defeating billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso in one of the most expensive mayoral races in city history.

A former ally of Bass, Raman was elected to the City Council with support from the Democratic Socialists of America. Raman has campaigned on promises to reduce inequality, revive the slumping entertainment industry, and build more housing.

Pratt noted Sunday, as Raman began cutting into his lead, that more votes remain to be counted.

"Remember everyone ... we are still in the lead, and we've got allllllll the way til July 6th to keep counting," Pratt wrote on X. "They're not the only ones who know where to find votes."

The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said Friday that it had opened "multiple election fraud investigations" related to California's elections and sent a prosecutor to the county's vote-counting center.

The developments came a day after President Donald Trump alleged widespread fraud in California's extended vote count following Tuesday's primary.

Under California law, mail ballots are valid if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at county election offices by June 9. California is known for vote counts that can take days to complete.

County elections officials must report final official results to the secretary of state by July 3.

There's government corruption, and then there's whatever David Rush allegedly pulled off. A CIA officer who spent 17 years inside one of the agency's most sensitive directorates created an entirely fake intelligence program and used it to funnel millions of dollars in federal funds straight into his own pocket, according to people familiar with the criminal investigation. It's the kind of scheme that sounds like a bad spy novel. Except the gold bars were very real.

When FBI agents raided David Rush's Virginia home on May 18, they found 303 one-kilogram gold bars worth roughly $40 million, about $2 million in cash, and 35 luxury watches. He has been charged with theft of public money.

Rush worked in the CIA's Directorate of Science and Technology, which builds technical espionage tools for American intelligence operations abroad. He allegedly constructed a fake "special access program" to drain millions of dollars in federal funds. For those unfamiliar, special access programs are so compartmentalized that even officials with top-secret clearance cannot enter one without specific authorization. Which, it turns out, makes them a pretty convenient cover for fraud.

He framed the fake program as a continuity-of-government operation, the kind of thing that covers what happens if a nuclear strike or natural disaster disrupts normal operations. It sounds serious. It sounds classified. It sounds exactly like the kind of thing no one is supposed to ask too many questions about. Using a fraudulent contract, he allegedly persuaded a defense contractor to purchase large quantities of gold. Your tax dollars at work.

Between November 2024 and March 2025, court documents show Rush requested gold bars and foreign currency as purported work expenses. When the CIA tried to account for those assets afterward, it could not find them.

Rush allegedly brought two colleagues into the fictitious program. Not to share the wealth, but to keep them quiet. He then persuaded one of them to funnel millions of dollars into the scheme through the fraudulent contract. Those colleagues may have been unwitting, according to people familiar with the investigation. So not only was he robbing taxpayers blind, he was using his own coworkers as instruments to do it.

And if all that weren't enough, Rush apparently couldn't stop there. A government affidavit alleges he claimed 744 hours of military leave after being honorably discharged from the Navy in 2015, pocketing about $77,000 he was not entitled to. He told the CIA he held degrees from Clemson University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. FBI investigators found no record he attended either school. He told neighbors he was a Navy pilot. He was not. At some point, you have to wonder whether there was a single true thing this man said to anyone.

It got worse at the courthouse. At a Friday detention hearing in Alexandria, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gavin Tisdale called Rush a "master manipulator" who "cannot be trusted.” The original charges, Tisdale said, represent only a "fraction" of the evidence now in hand. Rush is in a "world of trouble.” That last part is not a legal term of art, but it probably should be.

Rush's attorney, Jessica Carmichael, argued the government was piling on "sensational allegations" well beyond the single charge her client currently faces, and noted Rush had not fled even after learning he was under investigation. That's a low bar, but sure.

Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick wasn't buying it. He ordered Rush held, finding he had the "means and motive" to flee and was in a "different position than most to flee and evade detection by law enforcement.” Given that Rush spent 17 years building technical espionage tools for the CIA, that's probably an understatement.

The fallout is spreading. Several CIA officials have been placed on leave. A senior employee at a defense contractor was also fired. Trump administration officials have briefed both congressional intelligence committees, which, given the scale of what's alleged here, seems like the bare minimum.

Former CIA operations officer Marc Polymeropoulos described the agency's vetting process as extraordinarily thorough, including blood tests, polygraphs, psychological exams, and line-by-line verification of credentials. "It's shocking that he got by a process that scrutinizes everything," he said. "It's a full-on colonoscopy."

Even the Democrats on the Hill couldn't spin this one. Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, put it bluntly:

"This is just staggering. Keeping gold bars and wads of cash in your house is not exactly top-notch tradecraft. From an oversight standpoint, how the hell did this happen?"

It's a fair question, and one that a lot of people in a lot of agencies are probably asking themselves right now.

One of the people who has been strongest in calling out the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Maine, Graham Platner, is Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). 

As we reported, Fetterman even called on him to release the alleged texts that he had with women that were revealed by a former Platner campaign operative. 

"Let me make a deal. I'll tell P-Hustle, I'll wear a suit every day, if he releases all those texts and messages that he's had," Fetterman said. P-Hustle is a reference to the account name Platner reportedly had on his Kik account.

Fetterman ripped Platner for having said so many offensive things that "it's hard to keep up with it."

Over the weekend, Fetterman also raised the possibility of "d**k pics" out there. 

READ MORE: Oh, My: John Fetterman's Challenge to Graham Platner

Platner responded, and somehow you just knew his answer would fit for a guy who had a Nazi tattoo.

— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) June 6, 2026

John Fetterman seems to genuinely think that the reason no one likes him is because he refuses to wear a suit.  It's not the hoodie, dude. It's because you've become a stooge for AIPAC and the Republican party.

Maybe when you had such a tattoo, you didn't want to be attacking American Jewish people? I mean, just a thought, of course. That raised a lot of eyebrows. Notice what you don't see in that response? He doesn't agree to release the texts.

Platner's response also indicates how clueless Platner is when it comes to the voters. Does he really think he's appealing to independents that he needs in Maine with this kind of take? 

Platner staff high on their own supply. Not that hard to win in a D +10 state in a D +8 year. And they still might? But their whole implicit electability argument is that Platner can appeal to apolitical disaffected white dudes, which is a heavy overlap w/the Fetterman demo. https://t.co/zpwxhhRx9w— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 7, 2026

The thing is, AIPAC didn't make Platner do what he allegedly did to his ex-girlfriend or demean women. It didn't make him get the Nazi tattoo, or say a wounded soldier didn't deserve to live. And on and on - that's all on Platner. Fetterman calling it out just proves that Fetterman has principles that not many Democrats seem to have today. 

Platner is full of himself, thinking the leftist bubble he's listening to is somehow representative of the voters in general in Maine.. But as we noted, the poll numbers are showing all this may be having an effect. The latest poll has him tied with the incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). 

The poll by Republican firm Fabrizio, Lee & Associates on behalf of the pro-Collins Pine Tree Results PAC showed Collins and Platner each receiving 46% support among likely voters, with the remaining 8% undecided. The results were first reported by Politico. “It is clear that the more voters learn about Platner the more they find they don’t like him, making the Senate race HIGHLY competitive,” pollsters Tony Fabrizio, David Lee and Travis Tunis wrote. “Senator Collins and her allies need to muster the resources to keep the pressure on Platner as the Democrat money machine tries to salvage Platner’s candidacy.”

That wasn't all. 

In an ominous sign for Platner, the survey showed nearly half (49%) of respondents had an unfavorable view of the Democrat compared to 29% who had the same opinion in January. The candidate’s net favorability rating had also plunged into negative territory, with just 40% holding a favorable view — and only 4% saying they had never heard of Platner. In addition, 59% of respondents said the revelations about Platner’s Kik activity would make them less likely to vote for him, while 33% said it would make no difference in their support.

Plus, this was after the sexting texts story but before the NY Times abusive behavior story. So it may slide even more. 

If you ever wanted irrefutable evidence of Democrats’ hate for white men, all you’d have to do is point to the rogues’ gallery of weirdos, losers, and mutations they’ve nominated over the last few election cycles. It’s like they don’t actually know any normal white dudes, because the people they pick in a baffling attempt to recapture this large and crucial group of voters—who have almost completely rejected the Democrats—are simply bizarre. How did they ever get the impression that these freakish nominees would somehow make normal white guys go, “Yeah, I identify with him. I’ll vote for him. Now, it’s off to the Porta-Potty with some champagne and a dozen roses.”

As a male-identifying person of paleness, I’d be pretty insulted if I gave a damn what Democrats thought. I’m just happy to see them screwing up with my demographic.

And they really are screwing up with it. Here’s the conundrum. They need our votes, but they don’t like us. White guys aren’t welcome in the Democrat Party, at least not unless they have some sort of asterisk and a total dedication to the ideology. With Pete Buttigieg, who has definite Ivy League Alfred E. Neuman vibes, the asterisk is that he’s gay. That made him tolerable, along with his absolute willingness to submit himself to bizarre left-wing orthodoxy. You remember how roads are racist? He managed to do that with a straight face. Yeah, homeboy knew where his bread was buttered, and it’s his slavish devotion to leftist weirdness that gets him a pass on being a person of pallor. Well, except for among blacks, where he polls an amazing 0% for 2028.

White men were not always anathema in the Democrat Party. Palefaces with penises used to be welcome. The white working class was a huge part of the party—you know, tough union guys and that sort of thing. Well, over the years, the white union guys figured out that a party run by wine women, race hustlers, and campus communists didn’t have a lot of concern for their interests. In fact, it was mostly concerned with neutering them, first figuratively, then literally during transmania. Democrats were happy to send their jobs overseas. They were happy to tell men that they sucked. And they were happy to choose soft hands over hardhats. 

As it became the party of credentialism—they will tell you they’re educated, but there’s no one dumber than a college graduate—there was less and less room for folks who worked with their hands because the new Democrats simply despised them. Today, Dems talk a good game about the working class, but the kind of “working” they are talking about are the kind of tasks performed by college professors, DMV clerks, and HR managers.

They’ve completely lost touch with people who actually do things, who build things, and make things. Mike Rowe is everything they hate and fear. There was a great example in recent weeks as Democrats publicly wet themselves over pictures of the reflecting pool being repaired and the new East Wing of the White House being built. Those photos were supposed to show how these landmarks have been totally destroyed by the evil Trump monster. Normal people look at these pics and say, “Oh, those are construction sites,” and wonder what the big deal is. But here’s the thing. There’s a very real chance the Democrats don’t understand the concept of construction. They don’t understand that it’s not finished. And while it’s tempting to believe that nobody can be that stupid, well, they’re Democrats.

They hate white guys because men actually make something besides synergy and problems, and because they refuse to apologize for their testicles. The male part is terrible, except when it’s not, but we’ll get back to Graham Platner in a minute. They also hate these men because they’re white, since white people are bad because of reasons, and shut up, and 1619, and whatever. That’s why, when they need a white man, they look for that asterisk. Kamala, who’s never been around a normal white guy in her life, decided that the obvious candidate for vice president was Tim Walz. His asterisk was his resume. He was a total leftist, but an Army guy who liked sports and was from one of those flyover states, so the suckers would love him. But, of course, every white guy took one look at him and his weird jazz hands, and that was that. They were furious that normal white guys rejected him. They just didn’t get it. They were offended that we didn’t fall for their scam, but we have to credit them with not knowing it was a scam. They really thought Tim Walz was the kind of guy normal guys looked at and said, “Oh yeah, Eastwood, Wayne, Walz.”

This election cycle has seen the Democrats try to address their white guy deficit by going to two opposing extremes. In Texas, they picked a white male Democrat who makes Tim Walz look like Sylvester Stallone—he’d be particularly excited about the getting oiled-up part. James Talarico could be kindly called gender ambiguous, but there’s no real ambiguity. He’s a male in the way that Boone’s Farm is a wine.

Talarico, of course, also allowed them to try the Christian grift. They know about as much about Jesus followers as they do about dudes. It was kind of hilarious how they were completely blind to the fact that all his stuff about Jesus is heretical blasphemy. It was beyond their comprehension that there might be different kinds of Christians—in this case, Christians who are Christian as opposed to pseudo-Christians who subscribe to whatever kind of Unitarian pinko baloney this little demon spews. The fact that he thinks meat is murder doesn’t help, and until Graham Platner’s latest revelations, Talarico’s laughable attempts to convince us that he was down with a hot Latina chick—she was not hot and there was no way they were down to anything—were the funniest meme in American politics.

At the other end of the spectrum of male pathology sits the aforementioned Herr Oysterfuhrer. To Democrats who don’t know any better, he’s a manly man, with beard stubble, a DD214, and history of abusive relationships. There have been arguments on social media that his many, many, many problems—there’s a new one every day— just go to show that he’s a regular guy. Democrats think normal guys are all toxic, unstable weirdos with a bizarre homoerotic secret. But, of course, Tattboy couldn’t keep that a secret—apparently, he revealed to one of the several women he was in an abusive relationship with that he yearned to dominate any man he caught trespassing in his house through the power of man rape. But he was very clear that doesn’t make him gay. I guess prison rules apply.

What the Democrats’ choices of white males to represent their party and appeal to white males who have doubts about a party of frigid wine women, neutered fem-boys, and race communists tells us is that they have nothing but contempt for us. They despise us. They hate us. And that’s why they pick these creeps to try to appeal to us. They think we’re just as loathsome.

What’s particularly funny is how mad they get when it doesn’t work:

“Don’t you see Talarico standing awkwardly next to his girlfriend? Here’s a photo in a truck, and he’s got a cowboy hat! Why won’t you fall for it? And Platner’s a drunken, unstable bully with bizarre sexual fantasies—why won’t you appalling non-melanin, non-menstruating individuals identify with him?”

See, us white males are making them mad because we won’t do what they want us to do. We refuse to obey yet again. That’s how this whole thing started. We selfishly admit we are the worst people in the history of humanity and the cause of everyone else’s problems. And now, we won’t do what’s expected of us by embracing these bizarre caricatures of actual manhood. What the hell is wrong with us?

US President Donald Trump is applauded as he arrives to participate in a roundtable on “American Agriculture” at Custer Farms in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, on June 5, 2026.

An exchange between President Donald Trump and NBC’s Kristin Welker became heated in a “Meet the Press” interview.

During a Sunday segment focused on a proposed “anti-weaponization” fund, which is meant to provide compensation to Americans who were politically or ideologically targeted under the administration of former President Joe Biden, the discussion quickly became tense.

“You had a bunch of dirty cops, and frankly what they did was weaponization of our government,” Trump said, the conversation specifically focused on the January 6th protesters. “There’s no evidence of that,” Welker said. “Try looking at the tapes one time,” Trump replied.

In support of her assertion, Welker brought up the number of people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers.

“They plead guilty because they were frightened,” Trump claimed, purporting people had been told they would be jailed for significant periods of time.

He noted that the fund, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche recently announced the Department of Justice (DOJ) would no longer be pursuing, would have been applied on an “individual case basis,” rather than blanket allocations.

As the interview continued to heat up, the discussion turned to the topic of election fraud, including about the 2020 presidential election, as well as Trump calling out the lengthy vote counting process in California. Registered voters are automatically mailed ballots before elections in California, leading to long ballot counting times and concerns by some of the opportunity for fraud.

“Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later they’re nowhere close to picking a winner,” Trump said of the Golden State. “State and local officials acknowledge they are slow…” Welker said. “No, they’re crooked,” Trump said. “They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked, and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.” “You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they are rigged,” he continued, accusing the press of lacking credibility due to unbalanced reporting.

Besides NBC, Trump accused several media outlets of being “crooked,” naming ABC, CBS and CNN.

“You’re one-sided, crooked networks,” Trump said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just gave voters a master class in political dodge. After meeting privately with Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner on Capitol Hill, Schumer refused to answer repeated questions about the scandals dogging Platner. Instead, he kept repeating the same line: “We’re going to beat Susan Collins, take back the Senate.” That one-liner says more about Democrat priorities than any detailed answer would.

Schumer’s one-line deflection: power over standards

When reporters pressed Schumer about reports that Platner exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women and about a once-visible chest tattoo tied to Nazi imagery, Schumer would not engage. He met with Platner, then handed Americans a slogan and a shrug. That tells you what matters most to party leadership right now: the Senate math, not the questions voters have about character and judgment.

What the reporting actually says about Platner

There are real, confirmed details here. Platner’s campaign acknowledged that his wife warned staff last year about sexually explicit messages he’d sent to other women. Multiple outlets have published follow-up reporting, including interviews with women who described troubling behavior. Reporting also documents that Platner had a chest tattoo resembling a Totenkopf symbol and later covered or altered it; fact-checks have probed what is proven and what is disputed. These are not garden-variety gaffes. They are serious enough that Democratic senators and operatives are said to be visibly upset.

Why Schumer’s posture matters for the Maine Senate race

Maine’s Democratic primary is imminent and the general election is close enough to matter. Platner is the leading Democratic candidate against Senator Susan Collins, who is a target for Democrats. But when leadership answers every ethics or character question with a political slogan, they risk two things: losing credibility with independent voters, and handing Republicans an easy attack line about hypocrisy. If Democrats want to reclaim the Senate, they should not pretend troubling, specific allegations don’t exist.

The Justice Department scored another big win for parents when it forced the Cleveland Clinic Foundation to stop performing pediatric sex‑rejection procedures. The settlement ends puberty blockers and cross‑sex hormones for minors at one of the nation’s largest health systems, carries a $308,000 penalty for alleged false billing, and requires the Clinic to fund $2 million for care for people who detransition. This is not a small change. It’s part of a larger federal push to hold providers accountable.

What the Cleveland Clinic agreement actually does

Under the deal, Cleveland Clinic agreed to stop offering puberty blockers, cross‑sex hormones, and other sex‑rejection treatments to children. The Justice Department said the settlement resolves allegations the Clinic submitted false claims to public and private payors to secure coverage. The agreement was coordinated with Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson and includes long‑term commitments to provide restorative care for detransitioners, regardless of insurance.

Why this follows the Texas Children’s pattern

This settlement comes on the heels of a larger deal with Texas Children’s Hospital, where the hospital paid about $10 million and agreed to create a detransition clinic. The DOJ’s nationwide inquiry has produced subpoenas and probes into billing and other conduct. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. made clear the department intends to “vigorously enforce federal law where children are put at risk,” and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche backed that message in earlier announcements.

Why parents should care (and why critics are squirming)

For years, many parents watched as hospitals, schools, and powerful activists pushed gender ideology on children with little oversight. Now hospitals are being asked to answer for those choices — and to put real money into fixing harm. Call it accountability, call it common sense, or call it basic medicine: adults should not be experimenting on kids and then shrugging when problems show up. The $2 million for detransition care is a tacit admission that someone, somewhere, needs to pay for the damage.

What to expect next

The U.S. will attempt to redirect Iranian assets to Gulf states for rebuilding and repairs of damage caused by Iran, a source familiar with the matter said, as Tehran followed up a wave of strikes against Kuwait and Bahrain with further drone launches.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has directed a team to assess costs for ‌damage inflicted on Gulf allies by Iran, the source said on Saturday, adding the U.S. will consider using Iranian assets for repairs of any future ​destruction as well.

The disclosure came a day after Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader, told CNN that a peace deal to end the three-month-old war hinged on the release of $24 billion in Iranian assets frozen by the United States.

NEGOTIATIONS APPEAR STALLED

The source did ⁠not specify what kind of assets the Treasury was examining. The language used to describe the new measures did not appear limited to frozen assets.

The threat to ​redirect Iranian assets could create a new irritant to a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran, which was tested again this weekend with strikes by ⁠both nations.

Peace negotiations appear to have stalled, although a minister from mediator Pakistan traveled to Tehran on Saturday with a letter for Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

U.S. forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites in Goruk and Qeshm Island, both in the Strait of Hormuz, early on Saturday after shooting down drones launched by Iran that U.S. Central Command says posed a threat to maritime ‌traffic. Two more Iranian attack drones that were threatening shipping in the strait were shot down, the U.S. military said late on Saturday.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards ​said it retaliated against ‌U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, and Kuwait's army said it engaged seven ballistic missiles that passed over residential areas, resulting in material damage but no casualties.

In Bahrain, sirens sounded and residents were urged to seek shelter. Kuwait and Bahrain condemned the strikes.

Iran ‌later said it had hit U.S. bases in both countries with ballistic missiles, but the U.S. military said six missiles were intercepted and a seventh did not reach its target.

OPEC+ EYES ANOTHER OUTPUT HIKE, BUT WAR THWARTS SHIPMENTS

The U.S. and Iran have engaged in largely indirect negotiations for an interim deal ⁠to halt the three-month-old war that would leave issues including Iran's nuclear program ‌to further negotiations.

But a deal has remained elusive while the ⁠two sides have periodically skirmished.

Tehran wants access to billions of dollars in oil revenue, waivers on sanctions on crude exports, the lifting of a U.S. blockade on its ports and leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran ⁠has effectively blocked ⁠the waterway, where about a fifth of global oil traffic transited before the war.

President Donald Trump is facing mounting domestic political pressure due to rising gas prices to bring the unpopular war to an end. He told NBC that ‌while most of Iran's drone and missile manufacturing facilities had been destroyed, the Iranians still had access to about a fifth of their missiles.

"They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say percentage wise, maybe 21% to 22% of their missiles. It's a lot of missiles, but it's not what it was when we first attacked," Trump told ‌NBC News' "Meet the Press" ​program, according to excerpts released by the network on ‌Friday.

The conflict has driven up oil prices and fueled inflation around the globe. OPEC+ is set to agree on Sunday a fourth increase in oil output targets in as many months, three sources in the oil-producing group said, even though the war is still preventing several of the group's members ​from pumping more.

As we reported on Friday, there were some good, bad, and really ugly reactions to the latest revelations against the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, Graham Platner. 

The ugliest may have been that of Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17). He acknowledged The New York Times story, said the allegations were "wrong and toxic," but argued that Platner had "sought redemption."

"The people of Maine deserve a senator who is going to stand up to the billionaire class, against genocide, and for the working class," Khanna said. And he was still going to support Platner at his rally in Bar Harbor, ME, on Friday. 

But if you thought that was bad, Khanna managed to make it even worse at the rally for Platner and in his subsequent comments. This is another level in attempting damage control. 

"No one should make excuses for his past relationships, some of which were toxic and volatile, and no one on our side should attack any of the women who came forward," Khanna said.

"You know why? Because Democrats believe in respecting the equality and dignity of women. And we always will," he insisted. 

He claimed Platner also hated "misogyny" and "took accountability" for things he previously said and did. "And he's worked to be a better man, a better human being." 

Khanna then attempted to blame sending Platner and others to war for why he acted as he did, saying that it "broke" thousands of men. "Sometimes I think we're broken as a country," Khanna said. 

He also posted on X in response to a reporter that "we should not attack the women who told their story or journalists."

This is demonstrably delusional about the Democrats in general, and in this case specifically. He's saying no should attack any of the women coming forward - even as the guy he supports is doing just that. 

Not only has Platner not taken accountability for all the behavior alleged, but he's slammed the whistleblower campaign person who came forward to reveal the sexting texts. He also attacked the media for "journalistic malpractice."

In an interview with Chris Hayes on MS NOW, Platner also attacked his ex-girlfriend, who came forward, as "politically motivated". 

“Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who’s politically motivated.”

He also said she was lying about the abusive behavior she alleged. 

“She’s lying about that, that’s what you’re saying?” Hayes asked Platner. “Yes, that is not true,” he replied. 

Party of women. 

On top of that, Khanna laid the blame for Platner's behavior at the foot of his service, saying that "broke" him and thousands of others. That's insulting to veterans who performed admirably, and managed not to do any of these vile things. 

Khanna used to be considered a moderate, but he apparently has thoughts about 2028, and thinks he needs to bend to the Left to break away in the Democratic field. 

This is a moment that is likely going to come back to haunt Khanna: 

Oh, and let's not leave out this moment. Paging, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Khanna said he would call for Schumer to step aside, something Platner had also said in the past. Yet Schumer debased himself this week, continuing to support Platner. 

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was in France to mark the anniversary of D-Day on Saturday. 

Hegseth took his family with him, and he met with World War II veterans who were there to be honored in Normandy for the 82nd anniversary. 

The Washington Post and some on the left seemed to be trying to make bringing the kids into a "thing." 

Did these folks ask any questions when members of the Biden family were accompanying Biden regularly on trips? 

But this was a non-controversy with Hegseth, since he was paying for the family. What a great learning experience for the kids. 

Here's Hegseth also recognizing the grave of an unknown soldier. 

This is what he was doing: 

Hegseth posted Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's letter to the troops that day. 

June 6, 1944 pic.twitter.com/X5WWu6YUyZ— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) June 6, 2026

Hegseth also delivered remarks honoring the approximately 160,000 Allied troops, 73,000 of whom were Americans :

"Eighty-two years ago today, the survival of Western civilization hung in the balance. Dark forces had swept across Europe. Hitler boasted that his [coastal defensive] Atlantic Wall was impenetrable. But our enemy made a fatal miscalculation: they underestimated the unbreakable will of the American fighting man," Hegseth said early in his remarks. 

As we face an increasingly complex threat environment, we apply the lessons from 82 years ago learned on these beaches: strong allies, each fully committed to doing their part, win wars," he said.   Hegseth further explained that the men who fought and died at Normandy were part of a war fighting alliance where every partner brought its "full measure of industry, courage and sacrifice," as opposed to "empty slogans" and "lavish summits."   "Each nation pulled its weight; each nation bled. America will lead — and we must — but capable allies must be right there with us, shoulder to shoulder, in the breach, when it matters," Hegseth said.   [....[ "We forgot that freedom is not free. We forgot that peace is not wished into being. It is bought with purpose, with honor and with strength. The men who landed on these beaches knew this; the question we ask ourselves is, do we?" Hegseth said. 

Hegseth also met with some U.S. service members to tell them that they were clearing the way to help them do the best job they could do, and that he and the president had their backs. 

— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) June 6, 2026

He does a pretty good imitation of President Donald Trump. 

The Texas Rangers have made the decision to stand up to the woke mob and will not be hosting any pro-LGBT events for the month of June, referred to by many as “Pride Month.”

The Rangers appear to be the only MLB team with the courage to buck the gay pride trend, as they are the lone club to refuse to post any pro-LBGT content as of now. The team further decided that they would stand on the side of Christians and have opted to host a “Faith and Family Night” on June 18.

“Join us for a special afternoon of community, connection, and celebration,” the advertisement for the event read. “Tickets purchased through this offer include an exclusive experience featuring personal testimonies from Rangers players Wyatt Langford, Josh Jung, Cody Bradford, Jacob Latz, Jalen Beeks, and others, sharing how faith impacts their lives both on and off the field.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Administration (FNA) and the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Ohio Investigative Unit (OIU) have issued violation notices to 19 alleged fraudulent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) retailers across Ohio. 

On June 3 and 4, 2026, OIU and FNA – working alongside the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) – issued formal violation notices to 19 SNAP retailers across Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, kicking off the enforcement process that holds bad actors accountable. These retailers are charged with committing blatant SNAP fraud, including exchanging benefits for cash, alcohol, tobacco and other illegal items. Charges include:

A Cleveland convenience store trafficking more than $14,000 in SNAP benefits—stealing from taxpayers and families in need.

A Columbus retailer exchanging more than $800 in benefits for $300 in cash and trading SNAP benefits for a glass bong and bottles of wine, items that have no place in a food assistance program.

A Columbus retailer accepting SNAP benefits for beer, which is not and never has been allowed for purchase with SNAP benefits.

Potential penalties for these charges range from prolonged suspension to permanent disqualification from SNAP as well as significant monetary fines.

This week’s enforcement sweep is part of an ongoing USDA-Ohio partnership that has already resulted in criminal convictions for SNAP retailer fraud. For example, during an OIU and FNA investigation, a Cleveland retailer trafficked more than $17,000 in SNAP benefits for cash with undercover agents. 

Further investigation revealed significant additional fraud. The owner was convicted of trafficking, money laundering, and theft, sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $63,000 in restitution.

“This joint operation was vital in disrupting these illicit schemes. Not only will these retailers face repercussions from the Food and Nutrition Administration, but OIU has taken further action as well, both administratively and criminally,” said OIU Senior Enforcement Commander Greg Croft. “Because several of these businesses also held liquor permits, it allowed us to hold them accountable on multiple fronts by issuing administrative citations against their permits for the illegal use of benefits.”

Fighting fraud means holding criminals accountable while also protecting our most vulnerable neighbors and the American taxpayers who support them. https://t.co/T8UzS0T8IW— White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud (@WHFraudTF) June 6, 2026

— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) June 4, 2026

This federal-state collaboration demonstrates the Trump Administration’s whole-of-government approach to protecting vulnerable families who participate in SNAP and the American taxpayers who fund it.

Each year, FNA evaluates tens of thousands of retailers and conducts nearly 50,000 undercover compliance visits to identify and stop SNAP fraud. 

A war of words has erupted between U.S. and British officials after a young Briton with a bright future bled out in handcuffs as police took him into custody on suspicion of making racial remarks, only to learn later that his killer fabricated the allegation. 

The State Department issued a harsh rebuke Thursday night amid online outrage stemming from the stabbing of Henry Nowak, and Vice President JD Vance was quick to pile-on, claiming the incident proves that western civilization is at risk.

"Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline," the State Department wrote Thursday in a viral post on X. "They must be rejected across the West. The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time."

Freshman student Henry Nowak was stabbed many times by Vikram Digwa who used an eight inch ceremonial knife in December 2025. Digwa was found guilty of murder in late May. (Hampshire police handout.)

In December 2025, Nowak was returning home from a night playing soccer with friends in the southern England city of Southampton when he encountered 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, a British Sikh man of Indian heritage wearing a turban and carrying a long ceremonial knife.

Nowak was later handcuffed by police after Digwa claimed the student was racist against him, and police refused to believe him when he said he was stabbed. He died while in police custody.

"Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit," Vance wrote on X in a lengthy post addressing the overseas crime.

"His murder is as tragic as it is enraging," the vice president continued. "He should still be alive today, and he would be if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it."

He reiterated how a top priority of the Trump administration is working to preserve western civilization by stopping mass migration.

Vickrum Digwa was found guilty at Southampton Crown Court of murdering university student Henry Nowak by stabbing him five times with a Sikh kirpan ceremonial knife on Dec. 3, 2025, in Southampton. Digwa falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist attack after the stabbing. (Press Association via AP Images)

Vance's post drew an immediate response from across the pond. 

"In recent days we have seen people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets," a Downing Street spokesperson said. 

"The Nowak family are grieving after Henry’s horrific murder. They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We should be respecting their wishes," the statement continued. "Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country."

Nowak filmed the initial encounter before his death, where he called Digwa a "bad man."

"I am a bad man," Digwa replied, taking offense to the comment. He then stabbed the student five times, including a fatal wound to his chest. What came next sparked worldwide outrage while Digwa, now convicted of murder, was on trial in May.

Body cameras worn by officers show Digwa alleging racial abuse and claiming Nowak removed his turban. The police took Digwa's word, and handcuffed Nowak when they located him. Footage shows Nowak lying on the ground, repeatedly telling officers he couldn't breathe.

When Nowak told officers he had been stabbed, one is heard dismissing him with: "Don't think you have, mate."

The young student bled to death in police custody.

It was later revealed that Digwa called his mother, Kiran Kaur, who arrived at the crime scene before the police so she could take the murder weapon to their family home and hide it. She was recently found guilty of assisting an offender and will be sentenced July 17.

Digwa was sentenced on June 1 to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.

Carrying knives in Britain is a heavily regulated practice, and certain types of knives are banned entirely. Digwa's knife was considered an exception due to his religious beliefs, which also fanned the flames of the controversy surrounding the murder.

British law has a provision allowing Sikhs to carry kirpans, which are ceremonial religious knives. In Digwa's case, he was carrying an eight-inch blade.

The country's tightening speech laws have also come to the forefront, with critics arguing that police in Nowak's case were too blinded by the report of racism to notice he had been mortally wounded. Since the Online Safety Act of 2023 took effect, swaths of Britons have been jailed for internet posts deemed racist by authorities.

Police eventually apologized for the way the stabbing was handled.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on during a dedication ceremony for an annex building at the U.S. embassy in New Delhi on May 23, 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AFP)

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Miss., also responded amid the controversy.

"Britain has a regime willing to jail people for tweets, but unwilling to protect its own citizens from bleeding out in the street," he said in response to the State Department's post. "Henry Nowak deserved better. That is what civilizational decline looks like. This is the future the Left is trying to import. We have to stop it."

So did SpaceX founder and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk, who posted multiple times about the case.

"Send the video to everyone you know showing how heinously Nowak was treated by the police in his dying moments and how the police cravenly kowtowed to his murderer," he said in one post that was viewed 28 million times. "Legacy mainstream media, same ones who wrote about George Floyd millions of times, are dead silent about Nowak."

Court filings show Bolton is scheduled for a re‑arraignment on June 26 in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he is expected to enter his new plea; that date will finally force a public accounting of what critics and partisans have been talking about in the echo chambers. The spectacle of a former national security adviser reduced to a guilty plea is a moment of reckoning — and a test of whether justice in America is blind or selective.

Reports indicate the plea deal dramatically narrows the case and could allow Bolton to avoid prison time, which is exactly the kind of outcome that fuels justified public cynicism about Washington’s two-tiered justice system. Conservatives should be clear-eyed: we want accountability, but we also want it applied evenly, not reserved for political enemies or waved away for the connected.

Against this backdrop, President Trump has announced he will nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to serve as the permanent head of the Justice Department, a move meant to lock in an attorney general who understands the need to defend the rule of law rather than weaponize it. Conservatives who have watched a politicized DOJ under prior administrations see Blanche as a corrective — someone who will prioritize impartial enforcement and protection of citizens’ rights.

Blanche has already signaled a willingness to pursue investigations into political operatives and to take aggressive steps the previous regime dodged, actions that have unnerved the coastal elite but energized ordinary Americans who longed for someone in the DOJ who fights back for them. If confirmed, Blanche should focus on restoring credibility, enforcing laws without fear or favor, and ensuring that every American — from pundits to presidents — faces the same legal standards.

Newly unsealed warrants provide a glimpse into why conservatives smell a rat: prosecutors and investigators leaned on prior affidavits and alleged discrepancies in audit logs and ballot handling stretching back to earlier election cycles. Those court documents make it plain that this isn’t just idle chatter from commentators — there are paper trails, claims about chain-of-custody, and enough loose ends to justify an honest, transparent inquiry rather than immediate dismissal by partisan officials.

As votes trickled in during the recent primary count, Republican figures and even the White House cried foul over slow counting and alleged irregularities, while much of the mainstream media reduced the controversy to partisan noise. The refusal by some counties to publish full ballot tallies on election night and the inconsistent handling of drop boxes and ballot envelopes are the sorts of administrative failures that inevitably breed suspicion and should be fixed before they poison public confidence.

This California episode is not isolated: federal prosecutors and conservative legal groups are pursuing election-integrity cases and claims across multiple states, which suggests there are systemic vulnerabilities that need addressing. Whether you call it an organized scheme or a series of sloppy administrative lapses, the end result is the same — too many Americans now wonder if elections are being run by rules that favor one party over another, and that doubt corrodes democracy itself.

Voters tried to respond: Proposition 50 and similar reform efforts have been floated to tighten up envelope designs, chain-of-custody procedures, and ballot transparency, reflecting public hunger for clear, enforceable standards rather than opaque processes run by political appointees. If rules were robust and uniformly enforced, skeptics on both sides would have less to gripe about, and confidence in winners — whichever party they represent — would be restored.