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Bronx and Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez formally endorsed Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in the three-way bruising Democratic primary for Michigan Senate.

Shop swiftly before they sell out again.

Shop swiftly before they sell out again.

From Grace Kelly's palace lace to Dua Lipa's beaded Chanel, revisit celebrity brides whose looks made history.

From Grace Kelly's palace lace to Dua Lipa's beaded Chanel, revisit celebrity brides whose looks made history.

“I’m giving the town a choice, and they’ll have to deal with the consequences of their decision,” he told The Post about his ultimatum.

How do you teach sex education in a village that tied the last sex ed teacher to a tree?

The singer's SUV was seen driving past the iconic NYC arena, which she has made into her wedding venue, before pulling into one of the entrances.

The singer's SUV was seen driving past the iconic NYC arena, which she has made into her wedding venue, before pulling into one of the entrances.

This Fourth of July, as we celebrate America's 250th, we should also realize that power is still available to us.

Here are our early odds for the full-time Mets manager.

Social media users blasted CNN anchor Elex Michaelson after he argued that Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff “may not read as Jewish” as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro while discussing their odds of becoming the 2028 Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.

Ex-CIA Chief John Brennan Sues Trump, Admin Officials Over Allegedly Vindictive Investigations

Authored by Timothy Frudd via The Epoch Times,

Former CIA Director John Brennan is seeking a court order requiring the Trump administration to retain records related to allegedly vindictive investigations into him and his involvement in probing alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Former Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan testifies before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 23, 2017. Alex Wong/Getty Images

While the Justice Department hadn't formally brought an indictment against Brennan, his lawsuit noted that it had undertaken grand jury investigations in recent months. He accused prosecutors of abusing their authority and said there was reason to believe the administration wasn't preserving records as required under law.

Brennan said the judge's order was necessary to preserve his constitutional rights and evidence that he could use to prove vindictiveness in a would-be prosecution.

"This Administration has adopted a policy of using criminal process and prosecution to punish the President's perceived adversaries," Brennan's legal team wrote in the court filing.

"It is against this backdrop that former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John O. Brennan ... is being vindictively singled out for investigation and prosecution."

The lawsuit filed by Brennan's legal team on Wednesday names President Donald Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and other government officials as defendants.

A Justice Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times, "While we cannot comment on the existence, or lack thereof, of an investigation, it is certainly rich that John Brennan is accusing anyone of a 'retribution campaign.'"

Brennan's lawsuit focused on two investigations. One centered on an alleged conspiracy to deprive Trump of his rights by probing alleged Russian interference. Another was related to statements he made to Congress regarding an intelligence community assessment of Russian influence during the election.

Brennan's legal team said Justice Department officials have "taken steps that clearly violate well-established norms and limitations on prosecutorial conduct" as part of the Trump administration's investigations.

"Those overreaching actions have violated Director Brennan's constitutional rights and will serve as the basis for challenges to any resulting charges, including motions to dismiss any indictment on the grounds that it is the result of selective and vindictive prosecution," they wrote.

The lawsuit noted that the examination of prosecutors' emails, texts, and other communications would allow the courts to determine if decisions were based on legitimate law enforcement concerns or an effort to "selectively" and "vindictively" prosecute the former CIA director.

"There is a very real risk, however, that some of these materials and communications will no longer exist by the time any such challenges are filed and the court hears them," the lawsuit stated.

Brennan's legal team cited technology changes that it said do not ensure the routine preservation of communications and "ample evidence in the public record" of Trump administration officials failing to meet legal obligations to preserve records as the two reasons for its concern.

The lawsuit said the Trump administration is obligated to preserve records and evidence that would be relevant in a potential challenge if Brennan were indicted. Brennan's legal team pointed to both the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act as regulations covering many of the communications and materials involved in the two investigations.

Brennan was previously referred for criminal prosecution by the House Judiciary Committee over his connection with an investigation that was launched in 2016 into suspected Russian influence on Trump's presidential campaign. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in October 2025 that Brennan allegedly "knowingly made false statements during his transcribed interview" in May 2023 and that his testimony on the 2016 investigation into Trump included "numerous willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact."

In the House Judiciary Committee's criminal referral, Jordan wrote, "Brennan falsely denied that the CIA relied on the discredited Steele dossier in drafting the post-election Intelligence Community Assessment."

Brennan previously accused the Trump administration in December of attempting to judge shop, a practice used to file a lawsuit in a court with a judge likely to give a favorable ruling. The former CIA director asked U.S. Chief Judge Cecilia Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida to prevent U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed the classified documents case against Trump in 2024, from being involved in future proceedings.

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 16:20

The Utz Quality Foods ongoing recall of their potato chips has risen to the highest level of recall, due to Salmonella contamination in a seasoning ingredient. 

"I'm just in that mode of, like, let's be social, let's have fun," Bendet told us.

"I'm just in that mode of, like, let's be social, let's have fun," Bendet told us.

New Yorkers' electric bills are shocking!

Eight death row inmates in Idaho will soon face a barrage of fatal bullets – after the state adopted the firing squad as its default method for delivering the death penalty starting this month.

With potentially 2 ½ years remaining on his contract, Muncy is within striking distance of the franchise record for most home runs hit by a Dodgers player in the club’s Los Angeles history.

Iran Runs Into Big Problem: No Buyers For Its Oil, As Full Tankers Pile Up Off China

Iran was euphoric when as part of the Trump MOU, it got permission to flood the world with its oil after Trump effectively eliminate sanctions that had been in place for 40 years. However, it has quickly run into another, potentially far bigger problem: as the armada of Iranian oil tankers exits the Persian Gulf, it is now struggling to find buyers before the expiry of a 60-day window granted by Washington,

According to Vortexa data and Bloomberg calculations, there are more than 58 million barrels of Iranian crude and condensate was on-the-water as of July 1, yet more than 90% has no clear destination. The vessels are either indicating "for orders" or Singapore as their next port of call, a sign they may conduct ship-to-ship transfers in the Malacca Strait.

A failure to quickly sell the crude will not only deprive Tehran of much-needed revenue, but more importantly, will weaken its hand in the ongoing negotiations with Washington. The Islamic Republic has until mid-August to find buyers after the US lifted sanctions on the oil in the middle of June and ended a blockade of Iranian ports, part of an interim peace deal.

And here is the culprit : demand from Chinese independent refiners - Iran's main customers prior to the conflict - has been muted as the sector's run rates crash to a nine-year low. China's state-owned refiners have also stayed on the sidelines, citing concerns over the ability of banks to finance any deals.

Translation: as we suspected a month ago, China's economy is in far worse shape than telegraphed, and as a result it does not need Iranian oil (what oil it does need it just sources from its massive strategic reserves). 

In Early June we said that confirming our recent reporting on China's oil demand collapse, crude oil imports to China in May fell to their lowest since October 2017 because of the price spike resulting from the Persian Gulf tanker traffic disruption, plunging refinery margins (due to price ceilings imposed by Beijing), of a slowing economy and the rapid slowdown in the economy. 

The May total stood at 33 million barrels, or 7.8 million barrels daily, Bloomberg reported, citing Chinese customs data. This is roughly a 30% drop vs the average daily import rate of 11.6 million barrels last year. As previously noted, refinery run rates are down as well, as are fuel exports, with Beijing careful to make sure there is enough diesel and gasoline for the domestic market. All this is happening as the latest batch of Chinese data was "shockingly bad", promptly fears of a China hard landing.

Most of Iran's oil is in and around the Persian Gulf, in the Indian Ocean or the Malacca Strait near Singapore. However, with Indian imports largely coming from Russia, that only leaves China as the biggest export target. Alas, suddenly China does not want Indian oil, not because it disapproves of the Iranian regime, but simply because its economic slowdown means far less oil is needed!

Iran said on Wednesday that it had shipped more than 40 million barrels of oil since the US lifted its naval blockade to signal strength. However, half of this shipment, or more than 20 million barrels of Iranian crude, has been idling in Asian waters for seven days or longer, up almost 18% from a week earlier, according to Kpler Ltd. The reason is the same: China does not need the oil.

Estimates for the overall volume of the country’s oil on water - either in transit or stationary - have ranged from 58 million to 68 million barrels since the US sanctions waiver kicked in last week. 

A week ago, Bloomberg reported that sellers including middlemen and representatives from the National Iranian Oil Co. made contact with refiners in India, Japan, South Korea and elsewhere even before the license was officially granted, traders involved in the discussions told Bloomberg. That urgency has since increased, they said, however so far there is little favorable response.

Tehran faces a number of obstacles in trying to sell the oil. European Union and UK restrictions are still in place, complicating insurance, while some ports may be hesitant to accept the dark-fleet vessels that Tehran uses to carry its crude. There's also a chance the barrels could get stranded mid-deal if President Donald Trump decided to end the window early.

Buyers remain wary that Washington could reimpose sanctions if negotiations collapse, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Tuesday. "No one other than China, who was already buying it when it was sanctioned, has bought it, so it's still trading at a discount." 

The other major barrier to Iran offloading the crude is a lack of demand in major Asian markets, where there's been little interest despite Tehran's efforts to court buyers. As we have extensively reported, the region is well-supplied, both with non-Iranian Persian Gulf oil that can now transit the Strait of Hormuz and crude from farther afield that was bought during the war.

China's imports of Iranian crude - which have never been subject to US sanctions as Beijing simply ignores them - more than halved in June to about 654,000 barrels a day from a month earlier, according to Kpler. Still, at least one tanker has discharged a cargo of the oil in China over the past week, according to Kpler and Vortexa.

Iran oil exports; China oil imports pic.twitter.com/Z5V6vt0QT4

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 5, 2026

Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Puri met his Iranian counterpart in New Delhi last week, but stopped short of committing to imports. The country's state-run processors are avoiding the Iranian oil for now, because they've already secured Russian crude supplies through at least the end of August. They are also still seeking clarity from Washington over US-denominated payments, they added.

India would consider resuming purchases once payment channels are clarified, while a complete withdrawal of sanctions could enable refiners to buy from Iran over the longer term, the people said.

Still, Asian interest in Iranian oil could quickly emerge if the price is right. Refiners that have already secured crude supplies can resell some oil to free up some space, should the shipments be highly discounted, and there's also the option of raising operating rates if raw material costs are cheap. 

Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 15:40