Quick Hits
—Disinformation Expert Ace
The Absolute Balls,, Part 2: Me-Again Kelly, who has spent the entire last year claiming that anyone bothered by Candace Owens' stalking and torture of Erika Kirk was only making an issue of it because they're Israeli operatives -- she actually claimed that we were complaining in bad faith just to sabotage Candace Owens' "important questions" about Israel's role in the murder.
And of course, she's the woman who told we who were horrified by this to "Fuck. Off.," now realizes "Oh right my former audience was largely conservative and maybe they didn't like being told that their concerns about the martyer's widow Erika Kirk were all fake and hypnotized into their brains by Ben Shapiro, Super Jew-Fluencer."
So now she says that maybe people -- she won't say who should stop defaming the grieving widow every single day.
So is Me-Again Kelly a Jewish Agent of AIPAC now?
Here she is with her work-husband Tuq'r Qarlson attacking her former audience members who told her to condemn Candace Owens.
Here she was telling those who criticized her for her click-whore cowardice to "Fuck. Off."
Here she was endorsing Candace Owens' central antisemitic conspiracy theory that Israel killed Charlie Kirk due to his becoming "much more skeptical" about Israel, calling it an important and plausible theory.
And now this foul Aryan Slut says:
The Megyn Kelly Show @MegynKellyShow.@MegynKelly: "I really, really, wish the people who have doubts about Erika Kirk would just keep them quiet this week. Whether you like her or you don't like her, hopefully the human inside of you can see how difficult this is for her and the family... It's just beyond human what is being asked of the family, and I beg for you to keep them in your prayers."
She has repeatedly claimed that anyone objecting to Candace Owens' stalking and assassination-prep campaign against Erika Kirk was just making a bad-faith attack on Owens "because of Israel."
But now it's "beyond human" for Candace Owens to ask if Erika Kirk was part of a Jewish plot to murder her husband? When did it move from an "important question that must be asked" to "beyond human"?
Was it when she last checked her YouTube views? Is that when she decided it was now "beyond human"? When she discovered her influence had plunged to almost nothing?
What happened to her prideful, antisemitic vow to never separate herself an inch from "young mom" Candace Owens?
Meanwhile, Candace Owens is spamming out new defamatory accusations without evidence, to cover up for her previous defamations having been proven false in court.
Her new claim? Well, Ben Shapiro -- a highly connected person in the media who personally knew Charlie Kirk -- got word through a text that Charlie Kirk had been shot before Candace did, so this must mean... that Ben Shapiro is involved in the murder.
See, it wasn't telling Shapiro "SHIT CHARLIES BEEN SHOT," it was the Israeli assassins telling him "TARGET DOWN, CONGRATULATIONS AND MAZEL TOV."
Bad Hombre @Badhombre4h
Candace Owens is not crashing out, contrary to popular belief.
Her frantic posts are the hallmarks of a narcissistic psychopath backed into a corner: the people she misled and profited from are now defecting and demanding answers.
Her decision to double down through denial, aggression, victimhood, blame-shifting, and a complete lack of remorse is calculated. She needs the public to believe she genuinely believes the defamatory claims she promoted--even if she doesn't.
Why? Because she knows there is sufficient evidence to convict Tyler Robinson and expose her own claims as false. If he is convicted, the existing defamation suits against her become stronger, while opening the door to new ones from TPUSA, Andrew Kolvet, Erika Kirk, and others.
She's now laying the groundwork for a legal defense that she acted with a bona fide belief in her claims and without actual malice.
It won't work. She's screwed.
Liz Wheeler
@Liz_Wheeler6h
Candace claims it's NOT Tyler Robinson in the videos...
But Tyler Robinson's MOTHER identified him from those videos.
Think very carefully, America.
Candace Owens' cultists are now accusing Charlie Kirk's parents of being in on the conspiracy. They're being "paid" to "keep quiet."
The Tate Brothers have been indicted for sex trafficking and pimping out an underaged girl.
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan made 1 million pounds from prostituting a teenager through their webcam sex business, police have alleged.The brothers are facing a heap of new charges from Romania's directorate for investigating organised crime and terrorism (DIICOT).
In addition to charges of human trafficking and rape, prosecutors have now added money laundering, witness intimidation and complicity in the trafficking of minors to the list of charges.
Former world champion kickboxer and self-described misogynist Andrew, 39, is accused of manipulating a 17-year-old girl into working for the Tate brothers' pornography business between November 2014 and December 2021.
She was then placed under the control of Tristan, 37, who is accused of sexually exploiting her by controlling her online webcam account and setting financial targets which she needed to meet, DIICOT said.
The exploitation of the then-17-year-old allegedly earned the brothers $1.53 million (1.14 million pounds).
Prosecutors said between 2018 and 2021, Tristan recruited three victims using the 'lover boy method' - showering them with gifts to emotionally blackmail them into sex work.
Tristan is accused of intimidating 11 witnesses into making false statements, or not giving statements to prosecutors.
Andrew is also said to have threatened two alleged victims and two alleged witnesses with lawsuits to withdraw their cooperation with the police.Both brothers are also accused of illegally selling luxury vehicles.
Five of the Tates' luxury vehicles were also seized by the authorities.
In the UK, the brothers have been charged with 21 offences, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking.
Both brothers deny the allegations.
You know, I might be skeptical of these charges, if the Tate brothers did not have a subscription life coaching service where they teach men how to manipulate girls into being whores using the "loverboy" treatment (which is actually how pimps recruit hookers) -- tell them how much you love them, but they just need to do this one thing to make them some money...
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James Talarico Hired the Leader of a Queer-Themed Anti-Gun Movement -- "Cocks Not Glocks" -- to Write His Anti-Gun Legislation
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Who better?
Democratic Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico tapped the former leader of a protest movement called "C--ks Not Glocks" at the University of Texas at Austin to be his legislative aide, a job that included drafting gun control legislation.Ana Lopez helped Talarico craft three major firearm restriction bills that he rolled out in the state legislature in 2019, all of which failed to pass.
Lopez took over the leadership of "C--ks Not Glocks," which once handed out more than 4,500 dildos on the UT-Austin campus to protest a 2015 law allowing licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons at state universities and community colleges, from founder Jessica Jin -- an alum of the school, like Talarico.
Lopez told Study Breaks Magazine in 2017 that Jin had moved to California after graduation and passed the "torch down to me."
With its motto of "fighting absurdity with absurdity," members of "C--ks Not Glocks" marched on campus with t-shirts and banners depicting male genitalia emblazoned with perverse takes on pro-Second Amendment slogans such as "take it and come," while others donned dog collar sex toys.
Jin, who started the movement as a joke on social media, said she wanted to "put a dildo in the hands of every pissed off college student who hasn't been heard in this safety conversation."
"Strap it on, feel the discomfort, feel the weird looks. Wear it loud, wear it proud, and don't take them off until people take their guns home," she added, per the Houston Chronicle.
"As long as you have a d-- on your backpack, people will be thinking about the guns," the Texas Tribune quoted her as saying.
Lopez later complained about the backlash to the group, telling Study Breaks Magazine, "It's usually just men who can't take a joke."
Flashback: James Talarico wants to tell you about Positive Masculinity.
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The Absolute Balls: Alex Thompson Again Claims a "Scoop" On Something Conservative Media Reported Months Ago
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Huh. If you forgot the name Alex Thompson, one, congratulations on the efficient use of your memory cells, and two, he joined with Jake Tapper to share the B R E A K I N G news that Joe Biden had lost a step and really shouldn't have tried running for president in 2024.
He wrote this book in 2025. He really had his finger on the pulse of a corpse.
And now he's discovered -- apparently by simply reading conservative media outlets, who have reported this for months -- that Graham Platner's claims of being a "working class" "oysterman" are entirely a a fiction invented in 2024, when he decided to run for the Senate.
One might bid him a hearty welcome him to Current Day, except for the fact that he absolutely refuses to acknowledge the media outlets that reported this long ago, pretending he's got a real Shoeleather Express Scoop on his hands here.
Looks like the word has gone out to all the Narrative Tenders in political and media culture. Time to shut down Graham Platner's "working-class man" credentials. AdvertisementMost people saw through this false premise months ago. Axios decided to catch up today, now that Democrats need to pressure Herr Totenkopf to withdraw from the Senate election in Maine. Alex Thompson and Holly Otterbein do a deep dive into the predicament Democrats now face after attempting to sell Platner as a MAGA-adjacent man of the people instead of the middle-class parental mooch that he is. Readers have to get halfway through the analysis to get to Axios' half-assed admission of participating in the fraud:
Starting with their launch video last August, Platner and his team billed him as an oyster farmer -- a title most of the media, including Axios at times, repeated without scrutiny.
But as early as August, he told ideologically friendly outlets that he makes little money from selling oysters and it's not how he makes a living.Platner and his team pitched him as a "working-class Mainer" who bought his house with veterans' benefits.
"I bought my house in 2017," he posted in September 2025. "If I hadn't bought then, if I hadn't had the support of the VA, my wife and I would now be priced out of the town I grew up in, like the millions of Americans being exiled from their towns and cities."In fact, Platner's father -- a lawyer -- loaned him $200,000 for the home.
Platner said last fall he's "never been close to money and power," but he briefly attended the elite prep school Hotchkiss in Connecticut before attending a private school in Maine.
Golly! Who could have known that? Well, anyone who read the Free Beacon more than two months ago, when Collin Anderson and Peter Hasson first reported on the details of the house purchase.
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Leftwing Judge Refuses to Sentence Former Judge Dugan to Jail for Helping Illegal Alien Elude Police, Won't Even Put Her on Probation
—Disinformation Expert Ace
It's getting harder and harder to believe this country can be saved, or, frankly, should be saved, at least in its current configuration.
Who wants to fight for this?
Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_
BREAKING: Former Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan has been sentenced to no prison time after she was found guilty of obstructing ICE agents from arresting an illegal alien in a courthouse last year. Federal judge Lynn Adelman (Clinton appointee) has just ordered Dugan to pay a 5,000 fine instead of any time behind bars.Prosecutors has asked for a sentence of 15-21 months.
"This is a situation where an otherwise good person upset by immigration enforcement in this country, a sentiment widely shared, made a bad decision in the moment," Judge Adelman said in court.
Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew1h
Judge Lynn Adelman finally showed his true colors in the Judge Hannah Dugan sentencing today in Wisconsin.
No only did he not sentence her to a jail term on a federal felony, he did not even put her on probation.
He departed downwards on the guidelines -- I don't know his justification yet -- and imposed only a $5000 fine for felony obstruction where she sent an illegal alien with armed federal agents waiting for him on a path to escape from them on a public street.
Adelman did her no favors in how he presided over the case in terms of his legal rulings, and he upheld the jury's verdict.
She will suffer professional consequences from the felony conviction.
But he let her off the hook entirely today in terms of the penal consequences for her conduct.
He's a left-wing nut job judge and has always been a nut job.
He showed it today.
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Unshocking: Biden Prosecutor Jack Smith Mishandled Classified Information While Prosecuting Trump for Mishandling Classified Information
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Paul Sperry @paulsperry_2h
BREAKING: Just-declassified messages reveal an assistant to Special Counsel Jack Smith violated SCIF security procedures and others on his team mishandled classified material WHILE prosecuting President Trump for allegedly mishandling classified info in 2023-2024.
"This is yet another example of law enforcement's double standards in the previous administration," said Senate Judiciary Chair Grassley, who uncovered the new records.
Prosecutors under former special counsel Jack Smith apparently disclosed classified material after bringing charges against President Trump over identical violations, according to internal government records released Wednesday.Messages between members of the special counsel's office from July 2023 show that investigators seemed to provide "access to classified materials" without confirming those who reviewed the information did so on a "need to know" basis.
Other communications from Oct. 15 and 16 of that same year revealed that "a classified letter" was left out, while on April 19, 2024, a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) was left open because "no one closed it the day before."
"That's a violation and an incident so I need to know the details," said Carli Rodriguez-Feo, a Department of Justice veteran who has worked in its Litigation Security Group.
An assistant to Smith, Stephanie Van Buskirk, appears to have been responsible for the security lapse.
It's unclear whether the special counsel's office members involved in the exchanges were working on Smith's case against Trump involving the alleged retention of classified documents at the 45th president's Mar-a-Lago estate or his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
...
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released the communications in a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, claiming they suggested a "double standard" by the Biden administration."Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," Grassley said in a statement. "According to these messages, Biden DOJ personnel may have committed the very offense for which Jack Smith was prosecuting President Trump."
The Iowa Republican's letter cited former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified material -- and the DOJ's decision under former President Barack Obama not to prosecute her for it.
He also noted the DOJ's non-prosecution of Biden, who was clearly guilty, but presented as a "well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory," which -- and I wasn't aware of this -- turns out to be a perfect defense against an Espionage charge.
When You Decide Not to Report a Rape Because You Agree With Your Rapist's Politics, Congratulations, You Are Now Officially a Cultist
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Sensurround @ShamashAranMy own deeply felt schadenfreude aside, why shouldn't Platner dig in?
Micky Kaus pointed out that Platner "has the leverage. All he has to do to screw the Dem party is... nothing." And my RedState colleague Bonchie described the Left's "nuclear levels of cope" over their rapey Nazi: "He's a mentally disturbed do-nothing who works for his mom. He doesn't care about the party. Why would he? And there is no mechanism to forcibly remove him."
...
Make no mistake. Democrats are the whores in the Platner story, willing to overlook a Nazi tattoo, anger management issues, credible rape allegations, public airing of sex fetishes, admissions to joining the military just so he could kill people, and more. All because they thought they finally had a workingman candidate who could beat Collins.
Now Platner is haggling over the price of his withdrawal, and he has until Sunday night to bleed his party nearly dry.
I have now read this highlighted sentence seventeen times because I assumed I wan't actually reading what was written. Surely my eyes didn't actually read this. Maybe someone accidentally pasted in dialogue from "The Onion." back when it was funny. But no.
She is saying that she delayed reporting a rape because she agreed with the accused, politically.
This is one of those moments where, if your IQ is over 85, your brain quietly excuses itself from the room.
We have apparently reached a point where politics has become the emotional-support animal for basic human survival instincts. "Yes, this person committed one of the worst crimes imaginable against me, but we both liked the same tax policy. Awkward."
If your political identity has become so central that it can outweigh reporting your own rape, congratulations: you hve joined a cult. Cults are famous for making people subordinate reality, morality, and self-preservation to the interests of the group.
I hate cults. I hate them a lot.
They don't ask you to ignore facts all at once: they ask for one tiny compromise after another until one day you discover you're explaining away things that should be absolutely indefensible.
What's sad isnt just that people end up there. It's that many of them don't even realize it. They sincerely believe they're making a principled decision when, from the outside, everyone else is wondering why the obvious isn't obvious anymore.
At least religious cults usually promise enlightenment, salvation, eternal life, or an alien spaceship hiding behind a comet. Political cults dont even offer that. They ask you to sacrifice your judgment, your relationships, sometimes even your own well-being in exchange for cable-news talking points, in favor of a politician who will sell you out for a pack of gum.
That's a spectacularly bad trade.
At some point, "my team" has to lose to "the person who committed a violent felony against me." That's not supposed to be a close game.
My own deeply felt schadenfreude aside, why shouldn't Platner dig in?Micky Kaus pointed out that Platner "has the leverage. All he has to do to screw the Dem party is... nothing." And my RedState colleague Bonchie described the Left's "nuclear levels of cope" over their rapey Nazi: "He's a mentally disturbed do-nothing who works for his mom. He doesn't care about the party. Why would he? And there is no mechanism to forcibly remove him."
...
Make no mistake. Democrats are the whores in the Platner story, willing to overlook a Nazi tattoo, anger management issues, credible rape allegations, public airing of sex fetishes, admissions to joining the military just so he could kill people, and more. All because they thought they finally had a workingman candidate who could beat Collins.Now Platner is haggling over the price of his withdrawal, and he has until Sunday night to bleed his party nearly dry.
Platner and his team are using their leverage to force the Maine Democratic Party to allow him to hand-pick his successor, as the New York Post reported yesterday based on anonymous sourcing.The Maine Democratic Party confirmed it last night in a video statement from its executive director. In a declaration drenched in irony, Devon Murphy-Anderson pledged "integrity" in the process to dump the violent Nazi-tatted Kik creeper its voters elected. She then huffed about how Platner was forcing himself on the party's processes, apparently clueless to the parallels that created the crisis:
She added: "The integrity of this process is just as important as the outcome, and we are committed to ensuring that Democrats across our state can have confidence in both."As Murphy-Anderson went on, she accused Platner's team of "repeatedly" reaching out to them "in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale" to influence what the process looks like.
"We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like," she noted. "We have also reiterated that Graham Platner must drop out of this race so that Democrats in Maine can focus on defeating Susan Collins this November."
Platner, forcing himself on unwilling partners? Gee, what a shock!Unfortunately for Maine Democrats, Platner has all the leverage in this situation, as I explained yesterday and David will discuss next. Maine does not allow a political party to remove a nominee once he or she has won the primary. The only way that Murphy-Anderson and her organization can have a "process," let alone one with "integrity," is for Platner to voluntarily withdraw before the July 13 deadline. Maine Democrats had months to get Platner out of the primary after the news of his Nazi SS Totenkopf tattoo went public in October, along with his posts on Reddit and other platforms suggesting that women bore responsibility for being raped.
Why does the Nazi Communist we elected to be our candidate knowing he was a Nazi Communist believe he has any power to determine who the candidate is?! Who's responsible for electing this Nazi Communist?!
Democrats are doing everything to find out who drove this Hot Dog Car through the window!
Plan A was to elect a Nazi communist. That Plan is failing.
Plan B, which was to force out Platner in favor of a Communist to be Named Later, is also failing.
So Democrats are switching to Plan C: Cover up for Platner, defend him, and just put the rapist Nazi in the Senate.
That's just Plan A again, but Plan A has a stink on it.
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Trump Renews Strikes on Iran After Iran Attacks Three Tankers in the Strait; Announces the Ceasefire Is Over, and He's Not Interested in Talking Any Further to Iranian "Scum"
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Of course I understand why Trump wants a "deal" -- the midterms are approaching and the never-ending pseudowar with Iran hurts the economy and his chances.
Also, the war with Iran can be postponed and rescheduled for a more convenient time. The midterms can't be.
But here's the trouble, as I've said over and over: Iran knows Trump is desperate for a "deal" -- pathetically desperate, I'd say -- and so they believe he will ignore any and all the violations of the "deal" they never really agreed to. And barely even pretended to agree to.
In other words, they are counting on Trump to just let them go back to war with the world, as long as he can pretend to the public he's got a "deal."
Well, Trump was downplaying Iran's serious, serial violations of the fake "deal."
But then they want too far, and attacked ships again, and Trump could no longer cover up for them. He could not longer pretend he had a "deal."
Iran flouted the MOU -- the memorandum of understanding that the ceasefire is predicated upon-- from the beginning. They were to keep the strait open, and stop extorting "tolls" from ships passing through. (Which they immediately used to buy weapons.)
Trump and the allies attempted to softly tiptoe around Iran's clear violation of the terms of the ceasefire by creating a safe route through the strait without paying the illegal "tolls."
Iran shot up three ships using this route, determined to force them into paying "tolls," and absolutely violating the most basic provisions of the MOU.
Amit Segal @AmitSegalIt seems we'll have to slip a page and a half into Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's coffin on its funeral procession, after Trump declared in a press conference this morning that, in his opinion, "the memorandum of understanding...is dead." RIP. It was only 21 days old.
The causes of death of the two are the same: Iranian hubris. The supreme leader believed the Israeli and American threats were empty and was buried, and his successor believed the U.S. was so desperate that the MoU could survive Iran's numerous violations. Until they pushed too far.
The fatal sequence began on Monday, when Iranian missiles struck two tankers--one carrying Qatari gas off the Omani coast, the other a Saudi-flagged oil carrier inside the Strait of Hormuz itself. On Tuesday, a drone went after a third. The vessels' offense: transiting the strait without Tehran's blessing. The U.S. answered last night, first revoking the waiver that allowed Iranian oil to be sold around the world, then striking more than 70 military targets around the strait. By this morning, Iran's armed forces claimed to have hit 85 U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Despite the dramatic declaration, don't expect the status quo to change significantly. The midterms have not been rescheduled, the global economy has not outgrown the strait, and Trump does not believe returning to war will net him the results he wants in the time he wants it.
The statement was less a policy shift than a confirmation that the contemporary Middle East is defined by a single word: uncertainty. It joins a long list of such confirmations--the sudden end of the war, the sudden announcement of the MoU, the sudden outbreak of the war in the first place. Even as I write this, a miraculous resurrection of the agreement is only one Truth Social post away. One can hardly stay aloof while watching the fate of a region swing this violently, but at this point, "surprise" is no longer the accurate word.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a return to April's status quo: no peace and no war. For Israel, that is the second-favorite position on the board--the favorite, a war actively grinding the regime down, is over for now. But a pause is not a rewind. With the oil waiver revoked and the sanctions back on, Tehran is frozen in its beaten position, with no hope of unfrozen assets bridging its fatal liquidity gap. Jerusalem can wait, hoping the regime buckles under its own internal pressures. And while it waits, it can keep dismembering the proxies, whose patron is in no condition to come to their aid.
As for the strait, during the war, Iran set up a toll booth. In response, the Gulf states and the Americans quietly paved a bypass, routing traffic along the Omani side of the waterway and slipping millions of barrels of oil past the barrier. If the diplomacy is dead, expect the U.S. to double down on the Omani lane--and Iran to do everything it can to force traffic back through the booth.
This week, Iranian media reported that the UAE had proposed a plan to the International Maritime Organization to manage the strait--a plan backed by eight unnamed Emirati "allies" and promptly rejected by Tehran, which claimed it lacked "legal basis" and exceeded the IMO Council's technical mandate. No details of the plan have surfaced, and no regional or Western outlet has confirmed it exists. But the same regime-affiliated outlets followed up with a statement from an "informed" source: all transit through the strait must be in accordance with Iranian arrangements. Tehran has likewise objected to a recent Omani proposal under which shipping companies would voluntarily pay fees to use the strait.
Now that Iran no longer has to pretend to abide by the MoU, expect no more empty overtures toward joint management. Expect declarations to the effect that sailing the strait will be like driving through Tehran: on Iranian roads, under Iranian rules.
The U.S. will respond to this morning's attacks, but Iran priced that in the moment it launched. This isn't brinkmanship built on a bet that Washington won't shoot back. It's Tehran's strategy from the war: pit America's economic tolerance against Iran's pain tolerance, and wait for Washington to conclude that paying the toll is cheaper than the drama of collecting it. To Tehran's credit, that bet has paid off before, but this time they may have overplayed their hand.
Mark Halperin
@MarkHalperinDonald Trump in Turkey about the Iranians: "They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent people. Far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars ... there's something wrong with them. They're cuckoo. As far as I'm concerned, it's over."
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Wednesday Morning Rant
—Joe Mannix
The United States, Canada and Mexico ratified the trilateral free trade agreement NAFTA in 1992. Ross Perot decried the development, famously describing the "giant sucking sound" that would be heard as the American economy was hollowed out in favor of outsourcing to Mexico. He was partially correct. I think there is a strong argument that giving Red China most-favored-nation status in 1998 and elevating her into the WTO was more important, but NAFTA was not great agreement. During his first term, Trump ended it, replacing it with a new trilateral agreement - the USMCA.
Unlike NAFTA, the USMCA has various additional provisions but perhaps the most important distinction is its transience. USMCA is not a permanent treaty as it has a sunset provision. Valid for 16 years, it must be reviewed after six years and all parties must mutually agree to renewal to push it another 16 years. Failing that, the parties must attempt renegotiation every year for the balance of the 16 years. If they cannot reach an agreement, the treaty is not renewed. After that first six years, the treaty can be terminated by any party with six months' notice. It went into effect in 2020. Thanks to Trump's non-consecutive terms, his administration is also handling the first extension checkpoint. The United States did not renew the agreement, and is moving toward bilateral negotiations with each of Mexico and Canada.
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The Morning Report — 7/ 8 /26
—J.J. Sefton
The Midtown high-rise that dangerously buckled Tuesday will need to be partially demolished — although stabilizing it to even attempt the risky move could prove extremely harrowing, experts told The Post. The 37-story former Pfizer headquarters at 235 E. 42nd St. near Second Avenue will first need to be stabilized as soon as possible to prevent a possible localized collapse, they said. Without intervention, it poses a “significant danger” and “could collapse,” said Ronald Hamburger, a structural engineer with five decades of experience and who served on the federal team that investigated the World Trade Center catastrophe.
From what I understand, were it not for the fact that the building was undergoing renovation/conversion the buckling beam might very well have gone undiscovered and then might well have ultimately snapped and potentially catastrophically collapsed the structure. Reminds me of the potential catastrophe that could have collapsed the then new in 1977 nearby Citicorp Center tower, had it not been for the fact that an engineering student IIRC by accident discovered that the design was never tested for wind loads hitting the tower obliquely. And this was right before that year's hurricane season and so a massive retrofit program was begun just as a major hurricane was barreling up the east coast, and it was a race against time. Given who and what is running NYC, there couldn't be a more perfect metaphor than a collapsing skyscraper, which could have been avoided were it not for competence and common sense at the outset. And yet we have Hurricane Mamdani already cutting a swathe of destruction there as well as primed to sweep across the rest of the land, as both CBD and I discussed on the newest episode of the podcast linked here and on the usual outlets listed below.
Of course the fallout over Nazi-loving Jew-hating rapist Graham Platner continues to eat up the Democrats. But his revolting predilections and accusations as we all know too well is not why the Democrats are desperate to have him disappear.
"It's because the recent polling shows that Graham Platner was going to lose to Susan Collins," Perino said. "And they thought, wow, we only have two weeks to figure this out." . . . "If they pull a Biden switcheroo, the Democratic brand is just so damaged in the state," Perino said. "And Susan Collins, what is the knock against her? She's so steady. There's no drama. Okay, well, maybe the state will be looking for that." . . . The bigger picture is even uglier for Democrats. The base wanted Platner or somebody like him. The establishment wanted a safe pick like Gov. Janet Mills. That civil war didn't end this week, and Perino identified exactly who keeps losing it.
And speaking of the base, which is indeed Base, this vile garbage is the sine qua non of who and what the Democrats are:
Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) said a fellow House Democrat dismissed concerns about antisemitism by claiming it is no longer a problem because “all the Jews are rich.” Speaking to CNN, Balint said the unnamed lawmaker made the remark during a bipartisan House antisemitism task force meeting. She recalled the incident after watching footage of California state Sen. Scott Wiener being forced out of a transgender rights event by protesters angry over his support for Israel, saying it reminded her of other examples of antisemitism she has encountered. . . “I know at some point there will be a day of reckoning, because I still believe that Jews should have a homeland,” Balint told CNN. “There will be people, I think some of my own supporters, who will turn on me, because I still believe in a two-state solution. I still do. I still believe that Israel should be safe and secure. I believe that the Palestinians have been so ill-treated for so long and deserve a safe and secure homeland. I do not believe Israel should be dismantled.”
At some point and I believe we've reached that point, it's no longer going to be about Israel.
It's just plain old Jew-hate straight up same as it's always been.
In an interview with ABC News’s This Week, Mamdani offered his short tenure as proof of concept for socialism. “We don’t have to ask ourselves what life looks like if a socialist wins,” he said. “I won last November, and over the course of these last six months, what we’ve delivered for working people are the very things we were told were impossible.”After finally passing the largest budget in New York City history, Mamdani claimed that “if these past months have shown us anything, it is that socialists not only understand economics as well as the capitalists who came before but that we can solve their years of mismanagement through an embrace of our principles.”
On the contrary, Mamdani’s first six months in office indicate the success of capitalism and the regular machinations of municipal government, not democratic socialism.
To a Muslim Communist, Capitalist is just another word for JEW. Of course one doesn't actually have to be Jewish to be a target, just an honest, hard-working, successful tax-paying law-abiding citizen. And the Mamdani pestilence is not confined to New York as can be seen from sea to shining sea, especially in California from whence the ever-popular billionaires' taxes sprang,
and will not be limited to billionaires. Anyone with two nickels to rub together will ultimately be targeted because having two is racist, homophobic and unfair. Since that second nickel of course came about because of slavery and white supemacy inflicted on the downtrodden by white interlopers, colonists and diamond merchants, doncha-know?!!!
Elsewhere in the world, things are heating up in and around Iran. Meh, when did they cool off.
Trump says Iran cease-fire is ‘over,’ vows to no longer deal with ‘sick people’ The revocation of oil sanctions waivers signals a hardening U.S. stance and raises questions about the viability of the Trump administration’s ongoing negotiations with Tehran. Further disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz could have significant implications for global energy markets and U.S. strategic interests in the region.
If the President no longer wants to deal with "sick people" when do we go after Leftists?! Because it's a miracle what's left of the Republic made it to 250 and if these vermin have their way, we're not making it to 275, let alone 500!
What does it take to get arrested for treason around here, anyway? The last person to be arrested for working for the enemy and against the United States was Tomoya Kawakita, an American who switched sides to become a Japanese POW slave labor camp overseer who brutalized American soldiers in World War II. Then there was Tokyo Rose, who served the Imperial Japanese as a radio propagandist. Old Tokyo was arrested, tried, and convicted when she tried to get back into the U.S. after the war. And that gives me an idea. I don't know about you, but I think that's a splendid idea for what I've dubbed the "Tokyo Bros," two American media influencers who went to Tehran to lead cheers with the "Death to America" crowd and fete the dead Iranian ayatollah. They claimed that the dead ayatollah was "fighting for humanity" against "evil" Zionists when he met his 72 old bags in the afterlife.That's no hyperbole. This guy, Jackson Hinkle, a communist and anti-American — but I repeat myself — was on stage and literally led a "Death to America" and "Down with America" chant over the weekend in an IRGC-approved massive crowd in Iran. We know it was an approved propaganda ploy because, were it a collection of thousands of "free" Iranians rising up against the dead-ender Twelvers, the Basij would have mowed them down like they did the estimated 42,000 souls murdered during Iranian street protests last January. Wink, wink. Why would we want that treasonous bastard to come back to our country in anything less than a ball, chain, and leg irons? Then there was Sid Vicious Blumenthal's son (Hillary's boy, Media Matters et al.), Max Blumenthal, who visited Tehran to fanboy over what a great guy the dead ayatollah was and be the hypeman for "these popular mobilization rallies" that have been approved by our sworn enemies in the IRGC. I don't wish to be indelicate or anything, but we're in a hot war with Iran at the moment. We were just dropping bombs and strafing some bad hombres on Tuesday morning.
Hinkle amplified this message about killing the president while he was over in Tehran. We recognize that Americans have free speech rights, but ... pssst ... treason on foreign soil isn't protected free speech. Pass it on.
Max Blumenthal is one of the most heinous examples of what I call the "Self-gassing Jews" anywhere. And is Hinkle related to Adenoid Hinkle?
Line up the two against a wall and let them sandwich Jane Fonda for good measure and have a raffle where the winners get to be in the firing squad.
Have a good day,
- ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
- The evacuation suggests serious safety concerns over the high-rise, located in a built-up and densely populated area of Midtown Manhattan. No injuries have been reported, but a collapse could cause major disruption and possibly damage neighboring buildings.
Former Pfizer High-Rise Evacuated in Manhattan Amid Fears of Imminent Collapse.
- “It should be possible to do the repair within a week, stabilizing it, then going about the structural repair,” a top expert said.
High anxiety Buckling building in Midtown NYC will face partial demolition — but even stabilizing it beforehand will be highly risky: experts
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Daily Tech News 8 July 2026
—Pixy Misa
Top Story- Samung has posted an 1800% increase in quarterly profits, catapulting the company past Nvidia to become most profitable company in the world. (Tom's Hardware)
Expectedly.
- Hold my shorts says Shenzhen Longsys Electronics - more familiar as the brand Lexar - which is expected to post a profit increase of more than 60,000%. (Tom's Hardware)
Admittedly their margins kinda sucked last year.
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Tuesday Overnight Open Thread - July 7, 2026 [Doof]
—Open Blogger
The Tuesday night ONT is here for you. Open thread, as always. Got anything interesting on your mind tonight?
[Top photo: "Its Beach" in Santa Cruz, CA]
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Walrus Birthday Party Cafe
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Japan in bloom
Quan Vu
Referees getting involved in the fight.
When a helicopter's rotors are perfectly synced with a camera's shutter, they appear to not move at all as the chopper flies.
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Breaking: Graham Platner Covered Up His Death Head Tattoo With a Rape Head Tattoo
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Okay that's probably not true but it caught your attention and Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson have taught me that's all that matters.
Here's some catch-up on the Nazi Rapist.
Charles C. W. Cooke @charlescwcooke9h
It's quite funny that the case for Platner, up until about 15 hours ago, was, "well, yes, he has a Nazi tattoo and a history of saying terrible things and treats women abominably, but on the other hand he's a communist."
Clay Travis @ClayTravisDemocrats waited until after the July 4th holiday to code red Platner. They did it with a full week left to force him out of the race. It's diabolical how they are fine with erasing primaries & hand picking new "nominees" all while claiming Republicans will destroy democracy.
Politico notes the damage that Ro Khanna did to himself by acting as Graham Platner's Rape-Wingman, but to be honest he didn't do any damage to himself, because this ugly gigolo (somehow) had no chance of becoming president in any reality.
The cost of Khanna's Platner allianceKhanna, arguably more than any other national Democrat, provided political cover for the Maine Senate candidate before calling for him to drop out.
In the blast radius from the sexual assault allegations against Graham Platner, few politicians are taking a harder hit than Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna.Khanna, arguably more than any other national Democrat, provided political cover for the renegade Maine Senate candidate. He stood by Platner as he was buffeted by a series of controversies and physically stood with him onstage at a campaign rally in Maine, one day after the New York Times reported on the oysterman's toxic behavior toward former girlfriends.
That alliance was severed Monday, after POLITICO reported on allegations that Platner sexually assaulted Jenny Racicot, a woman he once dated. Platner denied the allegation, saying that "any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically untrue."
But Khanna, who had earlier defended Platner as someone deserving of grace, had had enough.
...But Khanna's [retraction of his support] did not spare him the backlash for being such a steadfast supporter of Platner until this point, despite the Senate candidate's tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol or old offensive online posts. Republicans piled on to Khanna's post, accusing him of hypocrisy, and fellow Democrats were also critical.
...
Khanna bet big on Platner as a rising star among progressives,
the wing of the party he has assertively courted in the run-up to a potential 2028 presidential run. For months, he basked in the attention that came with being a prominent surrogate for a buzzy Democrat in a top-tier Senate race. Now, that wager has proven to be a bust."Ro Khanna will always and forever be the Graham Platner defender" said one California Democratic strategist who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about the developing political dynamics. "I don't think damage control is going to fix the damage he's created by getting himself in the middle of this."
Overton @overton_news18h
Scott Jennings just blew up the Democrats' favorite excuse.They're now claiming Graham Platner wasn't properly vetted, but Jennings wasn't buying it for a second.
He reminded the CNN panel that prominent Democrats like Ro Khanna, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Tim Walz all knew about Platner's past -- and backed him anyway.
JENNINGS: "The only thing I disagree with is when she said that he hadn't been vetted."
"No, he had been vetted!"
"All of the things that have been stated, it was all out in the public and people like Ro Khanna, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Walz, the Bulwark, Pod Save America, all these people came together to overlook it all, to explain it all, to rationalize it all."
"He was vetted. People knew all these things and a whole bunch of Democrats in Maine showed up and voted for him anyway. And a bunch of donors from around the country sent him money anyway."
"I agree with Alyssa's question. What changed? Why are you bailing on Graham Platner now?!"
"You already signed off on Nazi tattoo, a self-described communist, somebody who's had rape fantasies, somebody who has been on a social media platform known as a playground for predators."
"And on and on and on and on and on."
"And the difference between this accuser and the previous one is simply this, she's a liberal. It's okay, I guess, for Democrats that their candidate's assault conservatives."
"But he broke into someone's house. And apparently, according to her, raped her. And because her politics are correct, they can now believe it."
"All of this whole thing is disgusting. But to say that they hadn't vetted him, or that they didn't know about all this is totally false."
"They knew it and they signed up for it, and I don't know why they're backing away from this scumbag today when they had already signed off on all that other crazy behavior."
Rep. Debbie Dingell -- the feminist who inherited her permanent House seat from her husband -- still stands by the Humble Oysterfarmer and Part-Time Rapist.
Now It Can Be Told: Chris Hayes (Allahpundit's old favorite) and Rachel Maddow admit that when Graham Platner promised there would be no further scandals coming, he was lying.
Western Lensman @WesternLensmanChris Hayes and Rachel Maddow say that they really didn't buy it when Platner said there wouldn't be more scandals coming.
Now that it's not politically damaging to Democrats to say it.
Leftists extremely vain and insecure fake-intellectuals -- so much so that they will immediately admit to a grave moral sin, like lying in support of a rapist, rather than admit that they didn't know something or were duped.
Though in this case, I do believe them -- they knew he was a rapist. They didn't care.
The Party of #BelieveAllWomen:
RNC Research @RNCResearchVirginia Democrat Elaine Luria says the accusations against Graham Platner are a "shiny new thing to scare people."
This takes balls: Abby Philips, CNN's ludicrous DNC shill, thinks that other leftists have to apologize for their shilling for Platner:
Steve Guest @SteveGuestWatch Abby Phillip on CNN demand "soul searching" from people who trashed Lyndsey Fifield as a GOP operative -- until this accusation of rape emerged against Graham Platner.
Phillip calls out Democrat media figures including Krystal Ball, Matt Stoller, Jack Cocchiarella, and Emma Vigeland for their past full-throated support of Nazi sex pest Graham Platner.
As someone pointed out, Abby Philips and CNN could have interviewed Lyndsey Fifield -- but they didn't. They were part of the cover-up.
Marjorie Taylor Greene went on The View to defend Graham Platner, and to claim that Jews were behind the rape charges.
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YouTuber Joshua Carr: Pudgy Nazi Pussy Tucker Carlson Has Hired a Company to Copyright-Strike Any Channel Using His Clips to Critique Him
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Joshua Carr @Joshua_the_carTucker Carlson hired a company this week to demonetize any political commentator talking about him.
I've had 8 videos claimed so far this week.
Every single one is protected under fair use.
Make no mistake, Tucker won't win a single copyright dispute. He's doing this to discourage future commentators from talking about him.
He's been independent for years and he's never done this before. Why now?
Because he sees the power independent voices have, and that we are showing Americans the truth of who he is. As he tries to take over the GOP he knows better than anyone that controlling the narrative is paramount.
@ArtyTrolls @paramounttactcl @LauraLoomer
Is this true? I don't know yet. I suspect it is.
Carr does provide a notice of a copyright claim from "SuperBam," who would be acting on their client's behalf. He also says that there are "dozens" of reports from other people making the same complaint.
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Where Is Mitch McConnell? Some Demand "Proof of Life"
—Disinformation Expert Ace
He's as publicly visible as Ayatollah Khamenei's gay dead son.
Donald Trump's most vocal supporters are demanding that Mitch McConnell's office provide proof that the Kentucky lawmaker is still alive after he disappeared amid a three-week hospitalization.McConnell, 84, was admitted to a hospital on the morning of June 14 following a medical emergency at his Washington, DC home. Paramedics responded to a report of an unconscious person believed to have suffered a 'cardiac arrest,' with a medic reporting 'CPR in progress' at the address.
The senator was not named on the call, and his office has never confirmed what sent him to the hospital, saying only that he is receiving 'excellent care.'
The speculation surrounding McConnell has intensified in recent days because his aides have refused to release new information regarding his condition or whether he will return to work as the GOP fights to maintain their razor thin majority.
Trump conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer claimed that an unnamed White House source told her that McConnell is in a 'vegetative state' or 'brain dead' and is 'not coming back' to work.
DC outlet The Hill even accidentally published an obituary of the senator which was swiftly deleted. A screenshot spread on X, and a copy reportedly stayed live on Yahoo News.
Independent journalist Desirée Townsend confirmed Loomer's allegations: 'I have heard the same thing from my sources for days. At this point, I am at the hospital for when they eventually decide to cut him off of life support and move his body.'
As online chatter continued to grow about McConnell's health condition, MAGA activists like Breitbart editor Matthew Boyle wrote on X, 'McConnell's staff should produce proof of the senator's condition one way or another right now.'
Is this true? I don't know.
What makes me think it's false is that this retard thinks it's true:
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Day One of Tyler Robinson Preliminary Hearing: Prosecution Detonates Candace Owens' Lie That Robinson Never Set Foot on the Campus
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Gator Gar @gatorgarIt appears the prosecution has video from UVU showing Tyler Robinson approaching the campus, entering the building, reaching the roof, and taking the shot. We won't know for sure until it goes to trial, but we do know UVU has cameras everywhere and that they provided the footage to investigators.
Going to be hard to refute that folks.
Here's video of Tyler Robinson skulking around the campus of Utah Valley University, including video of him walking stiff-legged because he was concealing a rifle down his pant-leg.
Here's video of Tyler Robinson (or someone who looks a lot like him) taking aim with the rifle shortly before Kirk was shot.
Remember, Cavernous Nostrils and her "Mommysleuths" have insisted for a year that this rifle could not have caused the wound to Charlie Kirk and that the actual murder weapon was either a concealed handgun fired by a TPUSA staffer (under orders from Israel, of course) or an "exploding microphone." And by the way, the microphone plainly did not explode. It was on video, and nothing happens with the microphone.
But Cavernous Nostrils and her Mommysleuths still insist the "exploding microphone" is a possible murder weapon.
Anything but the rifle Tyler Robinson is seen on video preparing for a sniper shot.
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LOL: Narcissist Psychopath Graham Platner Is Refusing to Drop Out of Race Unless He, the Nazi Rapist, Gets to Pick His Successor
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Who wouldn't want to be known as the candidate hand-picked by the Nazi Rapist Stalker?
Maine Democratic candidate Graham Platner appears to be holding the Democratic Party hostage -- refusing to drop out after he was accused of rape unless he gets to approve his successor to run for the Senate, The Post has learned.A source familiar with the campaign discussions said Platner, his campaign and political strategist Morris Katz are deliberating about the Maine Democrat dropping out but only if his replacement has the same anti-Israel, left-wing values that he does.
The communist Nazi wants to make sure that his successor shares his love of communism and anti-Jewish pogroms.
And the clock is ticking for Dems -- there's a deadline of Monday for Platner to withdraw and be replaced on the ballot, according to state election law.
"This vibes to me like a play from Bernie Sanders to slide in Troy Jackson," another source said.
The elderly Vermont independent -- who was Platner's biggest backer -- reportedly wants former Maine senate president Jackson to get the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Jackson, who appeared with Platner and Sanders at a "Fight the Oligarchy" rally in May, recently came in third in the state's Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Update from Washington Nearsider:
Mark Halpern said he's hearing Platner won't step aside unless his wife is his replacement.Posted by: Washington Nearsider: Gotterdammerung
French Court Lifts Ban on Le Pen Standing for Next Presidential -- But Slaps Her With House Arrest That Will Prevent Her from Campaiging Outside Her Home
NIGEL FARAGE RESIGNS HIS SEAT IN PARLIAMENT
—Disinformation Expert Ace
First: Nigel Farage has resigned over his personal finances scandal, which I naively assumed was a lot of smoke and partisan nonsense.
Revealed: Nigel Farage secretly funded by convicted criminalThe Reform UK leader did not declare benefits including staff, security and housing by crypto-gambler George Cottrell, our investigation reveals
Beege Wellborn writes that Farage could have accepted these payments from "generous friends" if he disclosed them -- but apparently, he did not.
Farage appears to have broken MPs' rules by failing to declare that Cottrell provided funding for his operation in the year before his election.We can also reveal that:
• The Reform leader received "in kind" benefits ranging from his back office to his private security, staff, transport and accommodation.
• Cottrell recruited and paid three staff to transform Farage's social media presence, producing content on immigration, human rights law and political correctness, and that promoted Reform...
Well, this stinks. Though I know a lot of #Based people have been very much against Farage, who they claim is a soft liberal who actively promises to not deport all the migrants. They prefer the Restore movement, led by Rupert Lowe, who led that private inquiry into the grooming gangs.
What happens to Reform now? I don't know.
Meanwhile, in France, the lawfare against Le Pen continues.
The ban on National Rally leader Marine Le Pen running in the 2027 French presidential election was overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal on Tuesday; however, other aspects of the ruling may still derail her campaign.After over a year of waiting, the appeal court finally issued a ruling on the eligibility of three-time candidate Marine Le Pen to stand again in next year's race to replace Emmanuel Macron.
Le Pen faced a five-year ban from standing in any election in Europe over alleged embezzlement of European Union funds intended for her party's use in the EU Parliament, which were claimed to have been used to pay for party operations in France.
On Tuesday, the Paris Court of Appeal reduced her sentence from five years' ineligibility to 45 months, with 30 months suspended. This means that from the initial ban issued in March of last year, her 15 months of ineligibility would expire well before the April 18th vote next year, Le Figaro reported.
However, the court also handed down a €100,000 fine and sentenced her to three years in prison (suspended) and one year of house arrest with an electronic monitoring tag, which would likely severely limit her ability to campaign.
Le Pen had previously stated that she would not run for the presidency if she were subjected to electronic monitoring by the court. She has previously stated that if she is prevented from running, she would back her long-standing deputy, Jordan Bardella, to run in her place.
Below, Farage attempts to rally the faithful.
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The New York Times Knew All About Graham Platner's Rape Allegation But Deliberately Buried It
Update: North American Man-Boy Lincoln Association Grifter Rick Wilson Weighs In
—Disinformation Expert Ace
They also buried the allegations of non-rape abuse by Lyndsey Fifield -- and she says she gave them the names of five friends who would corroborate the story (at least as far as her telling the same story contemporaneously).
Two of those friends, she told them, didn't know about the abuse, but could corroborate the dates of their relationship. The other three could corroborate the abuse.
The New York Times chose to only contact the two friends Fifield expressly told them could not corroborate the abuse. They didn't contact the three who could corroborate the abuse, deliberately.
Then they Times wrote that they contacted two friends "who could not corroborate" Fifield's claims of abuse.
Lyndsey Fifield @lyndseyfifieldI actually understand why Democrat leaders didn't take our stories seriously when the Times reported them in June but are taking them seriously now.
It was by design.
The line most shared from the piece was the claim that the Times "could not corroborate" my story despite talking to two of my friends.
I gave them the contact information for five friends.
They called the two who I clarified would not know about the abuse but would be able to affirm our relationship timeline, events, etc.
They simply did not call the other three.
She also gave the NYT the names of people who could corroborate Platner "stalking" her, and apparently stalking her so menacingly she wrote to her landlord to tell him she was immediately terminating her lease to find a new place to live.
The NYT refused to contact these witnesses, too.
I also gave them the names of all my former roommates who remembered him stalking our row house (which was about 5 houses down from his) and waiting for me to return. I gave them screenshots of messages between these roommates and I discussing it.I gave them the names of other men I dated who might have remembered him following us around the hill and showing up on my stoop after we walked home from dates to confront us. I gave them emails to my landlord urgently ending my lease and moving to an apartment across town and diary entries talking about it - all time marked.
I told them that during pre-marital counseling I had spoken to my ex-fiance about the abuse because I had to explain to him why I reacted with such terror any time he lost his temper. They said oh NO we don't need to bother HIM (or my priest). Besides, I had written about it in my diary in detail, they reassured.
As the weeks dragged on I stopped trying to give them evidence because the amount I had already given them seemed to overwhelm them and I thought it meant they clearly had more than enough to verify my every claim.
My friends might not have known the details of the abuse, but they affirmed that yes, I had told them that he was abusive--long before he ran for Senate.
Besides, they assured, my part in their reporting would be small. I thought my details would only serve to affirm Jenny and the other anonymous woman.
Jenny and I - having never met or spoken - both shared with these reporters terrifyingly similar details of intimate partner violence, coercive control, and cycles of abuse/love bombing. The third unnamed woman in the story did as well.
But tell me again how they "could not corroborate."
The New York Times did NOT report these allegations of stalking at all, and instead portrayed the relationship as "emotionally volatile" on both ends.
And there's a reason for that -- women hate three things men do: rape, physical abuse, and stalking. (The Times did admit Fifield's claims of physical abuse but, as noted earlier, refused to contact the friends who could corroborate those claims.)
The Times engaged in the journalistic practice called "Catch and Kill," in which a news outlet rushes to get ahead of a story that damages one of their favorites by getting the story and either completely burying it, or doing a "modified limited hangout," in which the allegations are addressed, but in such a way as to make them less damaging or even non-credible.The Times had been informed of the rape, but because it was shared off the record, they only described the concerns of his victim, Jenny Racicot, in the vaguest possible terms that implied that Platner's behavior was merely ungentlemanly. Here's the one paragraph they printed referring to what they KNEW was a rape:
Jenny Racicot, 41, a Maine Democrat, who said she dated him casually off and on between 2019 and 2021, said the posts deepened her belief that he did not respect women. "When I saw the old comments that he made online," she said, "I recognized a version of him that I had experiences with."Racicot had told them, off the record, that he had sexually assaulted her. They buried it, implied his on-the-record accuser was a political operative slandering him, and gave permission to all Platner's boosters to dismiss her story as a political hit job.
I take Strom's point but there is a wrinkle here: Racicot told the Times about the rape but she refused to make that allegation under her own name. That is, while she's quoted in the story accusing Platner of unspecified past behavior, she didn't want them to use her name in connection with the rape allegation.
So, one might say, the Times used good judgment to not report a claimed rape when the actual victim (or alleged victim) refuses to clearly accuse Platner of rape.
You could say that, except for the fact that the New York Times published completely-anonymous allegations of sexual assault against Bret Kavanaugh.
Google AI's overview of the first anonymous allegations of sexual assault against Bret Kavanaugh:
The New York Times detailed an anonymous accusation of sexual misconduct against Justice Brett Kavanaugh in September 2019. Originally reported by reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, the allegation involved a male classmate who witnessed Kavanaugh with his pants down at a Yale University freshman party, where friends allegedly pushed his hand onto a female student.The female student involved did not speak to The New York Times. The classmate who reported the incident stated he brought it to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and senators during Kavanaugh's confirmation process, but it was not investigated.
The publication faced criticism and scrutiny over its handling of the story, primarily because the article's editors omitted a crucial detail from the initial essay: the female student in question told friends she did not remember the incident. This omission prompted the New York Times to add an editor's note clarifying that the victim did not recall the event, and it renewed broader public debates about media reporting practices during the Supreme Court confirmation process.
So anonymous claims of sexual assault are fair game for reporting, even when the woman allegedly victimized denies the incident ever took place.
And of course the New York Times pushed Chrissy Blowsy Ford's allegations when she was still anonymous, with her "beach friends" pushing the story to media allies.
The entire leftwing propaganda media did.
Letter Claims Attempted Assault by a Teenage Brett KavanaughBy Nicholas Fandos and Michael S. Schmidt
Sept. 14, 2018
WASHINGTON -- A secretive letter shared with senators and federal investigators by the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee charges that a teenage Brett M. Kavanaugh and a male friend trapped a teenage girl in a bedroom during a party and tried to assault her, according to three people familiar with the contents of the letter.
The letter says that Mr. Kavanaugh, then a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in suburban Washington and now President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, had been drinking at a social gathering when he and the male friend took the teenage girl into a bedroom. The door was locked, and she was thrown onto the bed. Mr. Kavanaugh then got on top of the teenager and put a hand over her mouth, as the music was turned up, according to the account.
But the young woman was able to extricate herself and leave the room before anything else occurred, the letter says.
The woman says she considered the episode an assault. She has declined to be publicly identified, and she asked Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, not to publicize the letter.
So the media can and often does report anonymous sexual assault allegations -- but only against Republicans.
Democrats, who claim to #BelieveAllWomen, are protected against such lying whores who lie.
Below: Jodi Kantor, who works at the New York Times and therefore would know all about the rape allegation, spun for Platner a month ago claiming the only charges against Platner concerned him being "a bad boyfriend."
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