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A beloved Fourth of July tradition that has brought families together for more than 50 years is being canceled, and furious residents are pointing the finger at City Hall.

The Latest Graham Platner Scandal Could Be His Undoing

Graham Platner built his Senate campaign on a carefully curated image: the decorated veteran, the Maine oyster farmer, the working-class progressive who talks straight and fights for the little guy.

Despite a slew of scandals, including a Nazi-linked tattoo and many extremely problematic Reddit posts, Maine Democrats handed him the keys to one of their most coveted 2026 targets: the Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. 

Gov. Janet Mills, who ran against Platner in the Democratic primary, launched attack ads targeting his Reddit comments before suspending her campaign ahead of the June 9 primary and clearing the field for him. That left Platner as the consensus Democratic standard-bearer in a race the party views as essential to reclaiming the Senate majority. 

Now, a cascade of new revelations about his past is forcing an uncomfortable reckoning for the Democratic Party, as some Democrats are now asking, in public and in private, whether the party rushed to embrace a candidate who was never fully vetted.

A new report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that days after Platner formally announced his Maine Senate bid last year, his wife, Amy Gertner, quietly pulled a campaign aide aside to disclose that she had previously discovered sexually explicit text messages between her husband and multiple women on a private messaging app called Kik. She had found them in the spring of 2025, early in their marriage. She raised them again with campaign staff in late August as part of the campaign’s internal opposition research on him, out of concern that the messages could blindside the operation as momentum was building.

Campaign aides weighed the disclosure, then decided the texts were a private marital matter. In a statement released through the campaign, Gertner framed the episode as a test the marriage passed. "We did the hard work that marriage requires. We went to counseling. We were honest with each other in ways that weren't easy," she said. "And we came through it, not in spite of how much we've been through, but because of how much we love each other and the life we've built. Our marriage today is stronger than ever before." 

However, the text messages are more problematic than just a mere marital issue, because the platform itself carries serious baggage. Anti-exploitation groups have described Kik as a haven for online predators.

The app has appeared in multiple prosecutions in Maine alone in recent years, and the Center on Sexual Exploitation called it a "predator's paradise" and warned that it has a "huge child exploitation problem."

One law enforcement professional told The Maine Wire, "only pedos use Kik." 

Following these latest allegations, we learned on Sunday that Platner’s campaign manager, Morris Katz, attempted to prevent Genevieve McDonald from publicly discussing information she had about Platner’s alleged infidelities.

From @bangordailynews, Platner’s campaign manager Morris Katz tried to stop Genevieve McDonald from sharing information about Platner’s infidelities (which he had since the beginning of the campaign) with threats of defaming her. pic.twitter.com/LTUbROD0Ja

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) May 31, 2026

 According to McDonald, the campaign offered her $15,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement, which she refused. She claims that after declining the offer, the campaign worked to discredit her through local media outlets. 

That story. Genevieve McDonald said the campaign offered to pay her $15,000 to sign an NDA. She declined. Platner's campaign then smeared her in local outlets https://t.co/lMk8ryylqk pic.twitter.com/Al5VisaOC9

— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) May 31, 2026

McDonald also shared a message from Katz warning that if the story became public, the campaign would state “on the record, and by name” that she had “violated the personal trust of Amy and Graham” and spread “explicit falsehoods to sabotage the campaign.”

Platner campaign advisor Morris Katz to Genevieve McDonald: “If the story goes in its current iteration, we’ll communicate directly on the record, and by name, that Genevieve violated the personal trust of Amy and Graham and shared explicit falsehoods to sabotage the campaign.” pic.twitter.com/O1F1FlBOZz

— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) May 31, 2026

Platner’s use of the app comes on top of a growing pile of damaging information that has been accumulating for weeks, but the sexting revelations and the NDA threats are structurally different from every prior scandal: they don’t just describe a flawed man; they describe an active cover-up by his own campaign.

Every scandal that surfaces makes the carefully curated version of Graham Platner harder to believe, and harder to see how his campaign can survive.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/01/2026 - 16:40

A notorious “squatter from hell” has  finally been banned from the pricey Greenwich Village building he’s been terrorizing for nearly a year.

Californians were treated to a celestial spectacle this weekend as a rare blue moon rose dramatically over the Golden State.

As the rap legend publicly rallies for the project, Waters appears on a campaign mailer urging voters to oppose it.

A leading Democratic congressional candidate misled a federal court when he acted as a witness for Omar Abdul-Rahman, who inspired the World Trade Center bombing in 1993

'The Mad & The Free': Can American Society Debate Its Way Out Of Psychosis?

Authored by James Howard Kunstler,

Psychodrama

“A sane society cannot debate its way out of psychosis. It must diagnose the patient with lethal precision and restore the ancient boundary between the mad and the free.”

- LHGrey on X

When you watch video of the shenanigans at the Delaney Hall ICE building in Newark, NJ, you must suspect you’re seeing a hopped-up political vaudeville act. Freaky as the “protesters” may be — with their tatts and piercings, gummi bear hair color, rolls of blubber, perpetually hoisted cell phones, drums, whistles, and pitiful umbrellas — they are no less actors than Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney out in Hollywood.

New Jersey State Police Cavalry to the Rescue!

The Delaney Hall mobbers are allegedly paid by someone or some entity. You’d think the authorities and the news media would be racing to find out who that is. But, so far, no official announcements and, wouldn’t you know, The New York Times did not even report on doings over there in its Monday morning edition.

Independent reporter Nick Sortor, undercover in Antifi garb, discovered their “craft services” tent adjacent to the action in the industrial wasteland where Delaney Hall stands next to the reeking Passaic River.

The tent was full of riot gear, tactical supplies, snacks, energy drinks, hot meals (lasagna!) delivered on the hour, first aid supplies, and other “protester necessities,” as if the siege of Delaney Hall was a major Hollywood production shoot.

Anyway, after days of freaks and geeks playacting “oppression” at Delaney Hall, the New Jersey riot cops showed up, including the mounted cavalry, and stuffed several busloads with arrested “protesters,” many of them from out-of-state. Did they bother to interview the folks manning the craft services tent to inquire what organization was paying for all the merch? Isn’t it about time for whoever is signing those checks to get indicted for fomenting and abetting insurrection?

The Democratic Party is reduced to psychodrama, and the nature of psychodrama is that it’s about nothing — nothing real, at least. It’s all concocted sound-and-fury to give the (false) impression that some injustice is occurring. In the case of Delaney Hall, a holding facility for illegal border-jumpers awaiting deportation, the alleged injustice is “unsanitary conditions, inadequate food, poor medical care, and physical and psychological torture.” In reality, conditions there are arguably better than the average Motel 8. Many of the inmates are murderers and rapists, of course, the worst of the worst.

You might suppose that the objective of the melodrama at Delaney Hall was to create another martyr a la Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti out in Minneapolis this past winter.

Those two unfortunate dupes were induced by the party script to FAFO, leading to their tragic and pointless deaths. Alas, the incidents failed to incite the sort of national uprising that the Lefty-left will not stop seeking.

And now summer is nearly here and (the old song goes) “the time is right for dancing in the streets.” Or, rather, fighting in the streets.

The time is also right for the FBI and the DOJ to shut down the funny money supply line for it, and it’s hard to figure now how they might fail to do that.

The Delaney Hall arrests give them a vast opportunity to debrief the players, find out exactly how these stunts are being organized.

To see exactly how much nothing the Democratic Party stands for, you need only get a load of the California primary campaigns, with the election to be held tomorrow (Tuesday June 2).

For instance, Tom Steyer, the hedge funder running for governor, staged an event Friday to support transgender track star AB Hernandez, who has been dominating in the 2025 and 2026 California state women’s track championships by notable margins.

AB Hernandez is a biological male subject to extreme cosmetic and hormonal procedures to impersonate a female, but it does not alter the fact that he is a biological male and he is engaged in impersonation.

Men in women’s sports is increasingly a losing issue in American politics.

Twenty-seven states have enacted laws against it.

The International Olympic Committee has banned biological men competing in women’s events (and the Olympics are coming to LA in 2028). Yet, there is candidate Tom Steyer on-screen trying to sell himself on the most nakedly reality-optional issue-of-the-day.

Sheer psychodrama.

Steyer’s rival, Xavier Bacerra, is arguably more pathetic and idiotic. As California Attorney General from 2017 to 2021 he allowed massive public services and campaign finance fraud to blossom across the state. Then, as HHS Secretary under “Joe Biden,” he presided over the Covid-19 fraud and let hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant children to go missing during the four-year-long open border operation. We’re talking world-class incompetence.

Down in Los Angeles, the current mayor, Karen Bass, is so devoid of accomplishment that she’s reduced to merely smiling like a Cheshire Cat as she goes through the final motions of the contest. Her campaign slogan is “Let’s Do This Together.” Do what? Run Los Angeles further off a cliff? Outsider Spencer Pratt has crept up to about even with Mayor Bass in the polls. His prospects remain pretty dim, though hopes are high for him. Similarly, outsider Steve Hilton in the race for governor. The question to be answered Tuesday: has reality-optional politics finally run out of mojo in California? And will that be “roll credits” for the Democratic Party?

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/01/2026 - 16:20

The star player the Rams are giving up for Myles Garrett is taking the high road on his way to Cleveland.

President Trump is dropping his $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, the Justice Department announced on Monday.

The anti-ICE protester who threatened to kill an agent and his family during a heated clash outside Newark’s Delaney Hall has been arrested and charged, officials said Monday. Nicholas Matthew Scelfo, 27, of Brooklyn, was taken into custody after allegedly hurling threats against an ICE officer, his wife and his children during a protest at...

The newlyweds, who quietly tied the knot in London on Sunday, are planning a lavish three-day celebration in Sicily this weekend, a source exclusively told Page Six.

The newlyweds, who quietly tied the knot in London on Sunday, are planning a lavish three-day celebration in Sicily this weekend, a source exclusively told Page Six.

The TV producer appeared to be criticizing a recent article from the Los Angeles Times.

Move over, Dodgers. Take a seat, Lakers. The Rams want to win another Super Bowl in the worst way, and they are sparing no expense to make it happen.

You can now tell bus drivers to "go to Hel" without insult.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman – alleging the AI giant of stoking violence by putting profit over safety. The civil suit claims OpenAI’s tools, which include the hit ChatGPT chatbot, causes “great danger of addiction, cognitive decline, suicide, violence, and related harms” to users.

May Auto Demand "Stronger Than Expectations", Deutsche Says

In a preview of May U.S. auto sales, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu and his team said industry demand appears to be holding up better than expected. They estimate the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) reached 15.9 million units during the month, modestly above last year's pace of roughly 15.7 million. While total vehicle sales are projected to be slightly lower than a year ago, the comparison is skewed by one fewer selling day in May 2026.

After adjusting for that calendar effect, daily sales rates improved by more than 2%, suggesting underlying consumer demand remains relatively healthy.

We expect May US light vehicle SAAR to come in at 15.9m units. This compares to ~15.7m last year. Absolute sales are expected to be up MoM at ~1.453m units (vs. April at ~1.380m), but down YoY from ~1.475m in 2025. The absolute YoY change doesn't necessarily indicate a significant downgrade in consumers health but is reflective of one less selling day in 2026 resulting in a daily sales rate that actually rose ~2.3%.

The firm's dealer and channel checks indicate that automakers largely maintained pricing discipline throughout the month. Average transaction prices continued to edge higher both sequentially and year over year, reflecting a relatively stable pricing environment. Incentive activity was mixed, however.

Ford increased promotional spending through its employee pricing program, a strategy similar to one used last year, contributing to a notable rise in incentives. Industry-wide incentive levels remained significantly above year-ago levels, driven primarily by Ford and Stellantis, although incentives declined modestly compared with April.

According to Deutsche Bank's conversations with industry participants, geopolitical developments in the Middle East have not yet had a meaningful impact on vehicle demand:

This month, thus far, is stronger than our coming in expectations. Based on our conversations, the Middle East conflict appears to have little impact yet on light vehicle sales. Powertrain mix also appears relatively unchanged despite elevated oil prices. Overall we maintain our full year at 15.9m, still somewhat more conservative than the automaker's latest forecasts.

Higher fuel prices also do not appear to be changing consumer purchasing behavior, as the mix of vehicle powertrains sold has remained largely unchanged.

Looking ahead, Yu and his team left their full-year U.S. light vehicle sales forecast unchanged at 15.9 million units. That outlook remains somewhat below the forecasts recently provided by several automakers, reflecting Deutsche Bank's more cautious stance on the industry's trajectory through the remainder of the year.

On the company level, Ford's aggressive incentive activity continues to stand out, particularly in the full-size pickup segment, where incentives on the F-150 increased materially during the month. General Motors maintained relatively stable pricing and incentive levels, while Stellantis continued to offer some of the highest incentives in the industry despite modest sequential moderation.

Overall, Deutsche Bank views the May sales environment as constructive, with demand trends remaining resilient and pricing conditions generally supportive.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/01/2026 - 15:40

We were up +625 paulsimons on May 1. We begin June down -32 artgarfunkels.

He's even lost "The View."