The Second Amendment protects more than the right to own a firearm. It protects the natural right of every law-abiding American to defend themselves and their family. But it also serves a broader purpose: preserving the liberty of a free people by ensuring that ultimate power remains with the citizens rather than the government.
The Founders understood that self-defense and liberty are inseparable. Having just fought a war for independence against a government that abused its power, they recognized that a free people must never become entirely dependent on government for either their safety or the preservation of their liberty. That understanding is woven into the Second Amendment.
That raises an uncomfortable question: Do the people entrusted with government power truly believe in the Second Amendment as it was written? Or do they believe in it only until it conflicts with the policies they want to impose?
Texas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico provides a timely example.
The Second Amendment is only 27 words long, so I’d venture to say most lawmakers have read it.
The problem is many lawmakers read limitations into the Second Amendment that simply aren’t there.
I’ve spent the past several years at the Texas Capitol as the Texas State Director for Gun Owners of America. My job is to read firearm legislation, testify before committees, work with lawmakers, and hold elected officials accountable for their votes. Before that, my family left California for Texas because we wanted to raise our children in a state that respected constitutional rights.
Those experiences have taught me something important. Almost every politician seeking statewide office in Texas says they support the Second Amendment. The important question isn’t whether they say they support it. The question is what they believe it protects.
Their answer isn’t found in campaign rhetoric. It’s found in the legislation they support and the votes they cast.
James Talarico says he supports the Second Amendment. But listen carefully to how he describes that right.
In a 2020 podcast, Talarico argued that the words “well regulated” justify what he calls “commonsense restrictions” on the right to keep and bear arms.
Like many politicians, Talarico frequently points to the phrase “well regulated” as though it authorizes modern government regulation of a constitutional right.
It doesn’t.
At the time the Second Amendment was written, “well regulated” commonly meant properly functioning, well-trained, and in good working order – not regulated by the government.
Talarico is correct that constitutional rights are not unlimited. The real question is who decides where those limits are. Our constitutional system doesn’t allow elected officials to invent new restrictions simply because they believe they’re “common sense.”
Any restriction must be consistent with the Constitution’s text, history, and tradition.
Even historical analogs – of which there are few – used by anti-gun politicians to justify modern gun control laws, were focused entirely on violent crime during the founding-era and purposefully did not restrict law-abiding citizens.
The Second Amendment deserves the same respect afforded by every other constitutional guarantee.
That same philosophy appears in Talarico’s legislative record.
In 2021, he voted against HB 1927, Texas’ Constitutional Carry law. There is no clearer vote demonstrating whether a lawmaker believes law-abiding citizens should be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights without first obtaining government permission.
Then in 2023, he voted against HB 2837, legislation prohibiting firearm-specific merchant category codes that could be used to track gun purchases.
The government has no legitimate business tracking the lawful purchases of peaceable Americans, and financial institutions should never become a backdoor registry for firearm ownership.
During the 2025 legislative session, he also voted against SB 706, legislation requiring Texas to recognize valid handgun licenses issued by every other state. That wasn’t simply a vote affecting Texans. It was a vote against recognizing the rights of law-abiding Americans traveling through Texas.
None of those votes were about violent criminals. They were votes affecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans.
This debate isn’t about James Talarico alone. It is about a governing philosophy that says constitutional rights exist, but only to the extent government approves of how citizens exercise them.
I’ve heard politicians tell me they support the Second Amendment countless times at the Texas Capitol. Then, they turn around and vote for greater government control over how law-abiding Texans exercise that right. Nearly every proposal is offered in the name of safety.
The problem is that constitutional rights were never intended to depend upon whether government believes restricting them serves a worthy purpose.
The Second Amendment was written precisely because the Founders distrusted concentrated government power – not because they expected future politicians to exercise it perfectly.
Reasonable people can disagree about public policy. They can debate crime prevention, criminal penalties, and law enforcement. But they should also be honest about what they believe.
If someone believes government should determine who may fully exercise the right to keep and bear arms, under what circumstances, and only after satisfying additional government requirements, then they don’t believe in the Second Amendment as it was originally understood.
They believe in a government-managed privilege.
For voters who genuinely value the Constitution, the next time a politician says, “I support the Second Amendment, but...,” don’t focus on the words that come before the comma. Listen carefully to what comes after it. That’s where you’ll usually discover what they truly believe – and how they’ll govern.
Iranian Retaliation: Air Defenses Active Over Bahrain, Kuwait
Nearing 5am Tehran time, and there are incoming reports of Iranian retaliation against Gulf states, which it seems is set to become a predictable pattern – after hours ago the US launched fresh airstrikes on Iranian island and coastal areas near the Hormuz Strait. According to developing reports via AFP and other sources:
Explosions heard in Bahrain after air raid sirens: AFP
Kuwait says responding to ‘hostile’ missile, drone attacks
U.S. forces struck two railway bridges in northern Iran with cruise missiles—the first U.S. attack on Iranian infrastructure since the April 8 ceasefire.
Reports (unconfirmed) also suggest that missiles are being fired on Qatar – which hasn’t happened in quite a while. Iran has reportedly launched ballistic missiles at the US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, in a first since early March.
🇮🇷🇶🇦⚡️BREAKING: Iran has also launched ballistic missiles towards Qatar, for the first time in months. pic.twitter.com/h73hDqc6Ef
“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!”
His post also included the following image of an alleged explosion in Chabahar (though it is unclear if this is a current photo)…
We suspect this will only serve to further bolster whatever group is actually attacking the tankers.
Another US Strike Wave On Iran Commences
After 11pm Tehran time, there are fresh reports of explosions across multiple locations along Iran’s coast, coming from several regional sources:
Explosions heard in Bandar Abbas and Sirik in the south of the country
Explosions heard in several areas of Hormozgan, Al Jazeera reports;
Air defenses activated on Sirik Island
Explosions reported in Bandar Abbas, Iran, Jerusalem post reports
This has come within hours of Iran having announced the suspension of talks on a final settlement with the United States. Also, President Trump earlier during the NATO summit warned that more US strikes would be forthcoming tonight – it appears he’s making good on this threat. “I’ll give a little warning: We’re going to hit them hard tonight,” he told reporters just before his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Reports of IRGC base targeted & struck:
U.S. strikes targeted a base operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Southern Iranian city of Bushehr, on the coast of the Persian Gulf. pic.twitter.com/Lt7wW6JAuL
Like last night, Iran’s military is expected to respond, after the following warning: Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister says recent actions by US won’t stay without response, IRIB reports. Below is confirmation that the attacks are indeed underway:
The US has informed Tel Aviv that it will launch powerful strikes against Iran tonight, Al Arabiya reports citing an Israeli source
Iranian opposition sources report that maritime industries, shipyards, and the Revolutionary Guards’ naval base in Bandar Abbas were attacked, report Kan News
Wednesday’s strikes were broader in scope than the strikes the day before, targeting IRGC coastal radars, anti-ship missile sites and air defense systems, Axios’ Ravid reports citing a senior US official
Trump Tells NATO Summit Iranians Want To Assassinate Him
President Trump while giving a closing address at the end of the NATO summit in Ankara repeatedly claimed that Iran was plotting to assassinate him, saying he was “on every single one of their list.” He claimed: “They want to take out the US Leader. I’m on every single one of their list. So far, I’ve had a bit of luck, but maybe it won’t last. They’re evil and sick people, and we must get rid of this cancer.”
He suggested that it’s time to “finish the job” and yet at other times while fielding questions from reporters shied away from laying out anything that sounds like regime change. Instead he opted to again talk about how the US can never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. He again stressed that “lunatics” can never have a nuclear weapon.
On the claimed assassination plot, it’s unclear whether he has something specific in mind, in terms of a recent statement from the Iranian government. He could be referencing media reports from earlier this week quoting mourners and speakers at Khamenei’s funeral. For example the following was in a Tuesday Reutersreport:
As they passed under a bridge, mourners hurled stones at a billboard hung from above showing U.S. President Donald Trump with a bullet aimed at his head.
“The U.S. killed our father,” it read. “We won’t let you go!”
As demonstrators set fire to U.S. and British flags, women in black chadors held aloft red placards with the English words “KILL TRUMP” in black letters.
Others held aloft posters with the faces of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, each depicted in the crosshairs of a gunsight, with the words “There will be blood”.
Ahead of more potential renewed strikes on Iran tonight, CENTCOM is saying its forces are at the ready:
Today, more than 20 U.S. Navy warships are patrolling waters across the Middle East as CENTCOM forces continue promoting regional security and stability. Last month, U.S. naval warships and aircraft transited the Arabian Sea in close formation, demonstrating unmatched American… pic.twitter.com/gnfRIKAYJl
Iran Threatens To Reclose Strait, as US Military ‘Ready’ to Restart Blockade
Iran has once again threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, according to state broadcaster Press TV on Wednesday, citing an Iranian official. Iran is of course planning strait only under its own arrangements, or a protocol involving collection of fees and utilizing a designated route close to its coast, “as per the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).”
The Iranian official further warned the military stands ready to “strike at least twice the number of targets hit” in response to any strikes by the United States. “The developments of the past 48 hours show Iran won’t back down from managing the Hormuz,” the source noted.
“The U.S. military stands ready to restart the blockade of ships to and from Iranian ports if ordered to do so, a U.S. official tells Fox News”, Fox’s Friden reports.
“Iran suspends talks on a final settlement with the United States”, TASS reports citing an Iranian source.
“Any threat will receive a powerful response,” the official was quoted in Press TV as saying, and warned further that the Islamic Republic’s armed forces do “not distinguish between the United States and its partners in the region.” The official warned Trump that the US “will gain nothing” from making such threats.
“He (Trump) will certainly lose both the Strait of Hormuz and the negotiations over a final agreement,” said the source. “The choice is now his.” Meanwhile…
OIL EXTENDS GAINS, BRENT CRUDE RISES ABOVE $80 A BARREL
And WTI…
Trump: “Probably Hit Iran Tonight”
After earlier saying from the NATO summit in Ankara that the Iran ceasefire is “over” – and amid fears of renewal of full-scale war given that Tehran has launched drone and missile attacks on nearby American allies Kuwait and Bahrain once again, President Trump said on Wednesday that he would “probably hit Iran tonight”.
He issued the major threat and warning during a press conference at the NATO summit: “I’ll give a little warning: We’re going to hit them hard tonight,” he told reporters just before his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He later lambasted Iran for “killing soldiers, killing people for 47 years,” and that because of that, the US has “a score to settle.” He added: “We may just do it without a deal.” He also sought to once again explain his view that it’s not about regime change, but about the nuclear issue.
Geopolitical news source DropSite is pushing back against some of Trump’s newest claims, particularly that Iranians security services gunned down “54,000 protesters” during the January economic protests, commenting:
Trump today claimed Iran’s revolutionary regime killed 54,000 protesters at the start of the year, inflating the 40,000 figure he repeated through much of the US-Israeli war to justify and build support for U.S. action. There is no evidence for either figure.
HRANA, which has received U.S. funding, documented about 7,000 deaths, including many Iranian security and police. Iran puts the death toll just above 3,100 and says rioters killed civilians during protests that were overtaken by Israel- and U.S.-backed armed elements. Scores of videos from the January 2026 riots show armed men destroying mosques and government buildings and carrying out vigilante killings of security personnel.
Meanwhile, it’s not a war, Trump has repeated… but what’s next and what is the ultimate endgame here? Is there a coherent strategy yet? Trump further on Wednesday, while speaking alongside Zelensky and fielding questions, floated that “if we have to we will take out higher level targets” – and that “we may take over Kharg Island”. He again admitted the Iran deal may not stick, after the US “knocked out 28 boats last night”. He further warned that US forces will probably take out more boats tonight.
TRUMP, ON ATTACKS TONIGHT: NOT A THING IRAN CAN DO ABOUT IT
TRUMP:WOULD HATE TO STRIKE DESALINATION PLANTS, BUT MAY HAVE TO
Brent crude futures jumped more than 6% in London after President Trump told reporters at a press conference in Ankara that the tentative ceasefire with Iran is over.
“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore; they’re scum,” Trump told reporters.
Trump says the ceasefire between U.S. and Iran is over.
“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore; they’re scum”, the U.S. president says.
Trump’s remarks came after Iran launched missiles and kamikaze drones at several merchant vessels in the Hormuz chokepoint on Tuesday. This was countered by overnight US strikes, as fears of conflict erupting once more are on the rise.
However, Trump stopped short of saying the U.S. would restart the war and said he would let talks continue if the parties were willing.
Crude Update
In European trade, front-month Brent crude futures jumped 6% to $78.63 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose 6.2% to $74.85 a barrel. Natural gas prices rose as well, with the benchmark Dutch TTF contract up 4.8% to 49.04 euros per megawatt-hour.
Hours before the strikes, the US Treasury revoked a sanctions waiver that had allowed Tehran to sell oil, reversing a key element of the interim deal.
Trump also told reporters that he would continue to let his negotiators talk to Tehran, though he thought “they’re wasting their time.”
Eroding Confidence in Strait’s Reopening
On Tuesday afternoon, the Joint Maritime Information Center upgraded the Hormuz risk rating to “Severe” after three tankers were targeted by Iran. This renewed uncertainty in the critical waterway will only pressure the normalization of vessel flows.
“Every renewed attack on commercial shipping further erodes confidence in the Strait’s reopening, making each future recovery more fragile than the last,” said Michelle Brouhard, head of policy and geopolitical risk at Kpler. “If every reopening is assumed to be temporary, freight rates remain elevated, insurance costs remain high and fewer vessels are willing to re-enter the Gulf.”
Dominic Ellis, UBS equity analyst covering oil and gas, wrote in a note:
The US carried out a new round of strikes against Iran in response to recent Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran in turn launched missile and drone attacks on US assets in Kuwait and Bahrain. While this latest escalation does not mean an end to the diplomatic progress made in recent weeks, it underscores the challenges of diplomacy when both sides believe they have the upper hand.
Markets were too quick to buy into the de-escalation narrative in my view, and while there has been evidence of progress and of a rebound in vessel flows via the Strait of Hormuz, the latest developments may lead to more realistic expectations on the return to normalcy and a slightly higher range for oil in the near term.
The likelihood of a spike above $100/b remains low, however, even in the event of further tit-for-tat strikes in the Middle East, given the surprise sustained drop in Chinese crude imports.
Latest Bloomberg data tracking ships transiting the Hormuz chokepoint with transponders on remain elevated, but the number of vessels making the East-West route has fallen dramatically, while West-East remains steady.
Also, note that the oil market’s forward curve has shifted into backwardation. This occurs when near-term futures trade at a premium to longer-dated contracts. The shift shows traders are once again willing to pay up for immediate crude supplies.
More Geopolitical Headlines
via Newsquawk…
Iran Commentary
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf said the US has violated major parts of the MoU, citing US attacks on southern Iran, reinstating oil sanctions and threats of further strikes as MoU violations.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry states that the US activity overnight has “rendered important and fundamental parts of the Memorandum of Understanding on the End of the War ineffective”.
Iranian President Pezeshkian said the US, whether as World Cup host or in its foreign policy, manipulates the rules and resorts to deception, and that Iran rejects such tactics.
Iran’s top joint miliary command said Iran will give a crushing response to America’s aggression and terrorist action, and under no circumstances will they allow them to interfere in the affairs of the Strait of Hormuz and its management.
Advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader said US President Trump intends to attack again and we are fully prepared.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemns the US Treasury’s move to revoke the temporary suspension of sanctions on Iranian oil sales, will take any measure it deems necessary to safeguard its interests and national security. Iran holds the US government responsible for the consequences of the breach of the Memorandum of Understanding.
Overnight Attacks
Several explosions have been heard in Bushehr, Iran, according to Mehr news; Mehr’s journalist on Kharg Island denies reported of an attack on Kharg, despite some reported of an incident being published. Elsewhere, sirens were reported in Bahrain once again.
Renewed explosions sounds heard around Iran’s Qeshm and Sirik, Mehr reported.
Iran’s army said it targeted the Sheikh Isa Base in Bahrain and warns of more attacks if the US repeats strikes on Iran, Mehr reported.
Iran’s IRGC said that, in response to the US aggression, they hit 85 important US military installations in Port Salman, Bahrain’s 5th Maritime Zone and Kuwait’s Ali Salem Air Base.
Iran’s IRGC said they downed a US Mq9 drone in the south of Iran, Press TV reported.
Iran fires several anti-ship missiles and drones towards US Navy warships in the Sea of Oman, Fars reported citing the Middle East Spectator.
A US official said the strike on Iran was a punitive action, not a proportional response, and that the operation will not end in the short term, CNN reported.
US Commentary
US President Trump said the Iran ceasefire is over “I think”; as far as I am concerned, it is a waste of time dealing with Iran. On the MoU, “think it is over”. Adds, “I do not want to deal with Iran”, they are a “bunch of liars”.
US President Trump said (on Iran) he will allow US negotiators to continue to talk if they want. But, “I think this is a waste of time”.
US President Trump said have had some great meetings; attacked very powerfully against Iran last night. Have wasted a lot of time with Iran. Iran does not know what it is doing. Iran shot rockets at the ships, which is why the US shot back. Iran is a “dirty” player, “are scum”.
US President Trump approved the Iran strike plan and ordered it while in Turkey, a US official tells Axios’ Ravid; the official said it is still unclear how long the strikes are going to continue.
US Secretary of Defence Hegseth has cancelled his visit to Israel, N12/Ynet report.
Others
Turkish President Erdogan said Europe must take more responsibility when it comes to NATO.
US President Trump said China is attempting to takeover the Panama Canal, will not let this happen. China has been treating the US right. Big fan of Chinese President Xi.
Ukrainian Armed Forces said Kyiv is under missile attack.
Israeli fighter jets carried out attacks in Barachit and Beit Yahoun in southern Lebanon.
A Pakistani Boeing (BA) plane flying to Karachi has crashed, with sources stating the plane was mistakenly targeted by the US, IRIB reported.
Chevron’s (CVX) Yasa Polaris oil tanker, used for CPC shipments, was attacked by drones off Russia’s Black Sea coast, according to sources.
Russia’s Gazprom said Ukraine attacked facilities of gas exports to Turkey; supplies not affected.
Ukraine’s Military said it struck two oil refineries, six tankers, bridges and the Borisoglebsk airfield; AIF-NK oil refinery in Nizhny Kamsk was also damaged.
Current State Of Physical AI: Everything You Need To Know
Citi’s Robotics & Physical AI Leadership Conference wrapped up on Tuesday. The annual Citi Research event brings together robotics founders, investors, operators, and industry executives to assess the state of “physical AI.”
Analyst Heath Terry summarized the key takeaways Wednesday morning, painting a picture of the robotics industry moving from proof of concept to commercial deployment, while warning that scaling robots remains challenging.
“Labor shortages, reshoring, and favorable regulatory tailwinds are accelerating enterprise demand, while data scarcity, talent constraints, battery limitations, and high deployment costs remain key friction points,” Terry explained to clients.
Citi said the winners in physical AI will likely be firms that own proprietary real-world data, solve specific labor bottlenecks and use Robotics-as-a-Service models to reduce upfront costs for customers.
Terry highlighted automation-exposed industrial names including Rockwell Automation, Emerson Electric, Honeywell, Symbotic, Ralliant and Belden as potential beneficiaries.
Humanoids are attracting significant investor interest. Last month, we detailed how readers can invest ahead of a major ramp in humanoid production expected in the coming quarters. Read the report.
Over the last two years, about $20 billion has been invested in physical AI, with applications spanning warehouses, logistics, trucking, construction, aviation, and defense.
Last week, carmaker BMW revealed that a new upgraded humanoid is walking its factory floors at the Spartanburg plant in South Carolina.
Here are Citi’s top takeaways from the physical AI conference:
Key AI Takeaways
Physical AI is transitioning from proof-of-concept to commercial deployment, but the path to scale is more operationally intensive than the digital AI analogy suggests. Unlike large language models, where a base model carries a lot of the value, physical AI places the premium on proprietary, task-specific data collected in real-world environments, purpose-built hardware, and safety certification.
Across sessions, participants consistently identified data scarcity as the binding constraint, with Instawork noting that even tens of millions of hours of data being collected in 2026 likely represents only basis points, not percentage points, of what is ultimately needed to achieve high-level robotic performance. Power, battery longevity, and chip architecture are also emerging as critical bottlenecks, with panelists noting that existing semiconductor platforms were designed for datacenter workloads, not real-time edge inference on mobile platforms.
The most commercially advanced companies, whether in humanoids, warehouse AMRs, autonomous trucking, or construction, shared a common profile: they started with a specific, high-pain labor problem, adopted a Robotics-as-a-Service model to lower customer adoption barriers, and prioritized safety and reliability above model sophistication.g significant investment enthusiasm, but near-term ROI is being driven by purpose-built AMRs and specialized systems from companies like Locus Robotics and Dexterity. The conference reinforced our view that physical AI is a decade- long buildout, with durable value accruing to companies that own the data flywheel, solve real deployment problems, and meet the highest safety standards.
Key Industrials Takeaways
After attending Citi’s Robotics & Physical AI Leadership Conference, we came away convinced that automation, robotics, and physical AI continue to make gradual progress toward broader commercialization, creating what we view as a durable long-term growth tailwind for our automation-exposed industrial companies. Our preferred ways to gain exposure to industrial automation are through Buy-rated ROK, EMR, and HON (pure-play automation providers), SYM (warehouse automation), RAL (sensors and T&M), and BDC (industrial networking), as we view these companies as well positioned to benefit from increasing investments in automation (including equipment, software, and AI). Key drivers of automation adoption remain a constrained labor market as well as accelerating domestic manufacturing activity and capacity expansions, with automation supportive of higher throughput, increased uptime, and improved operational efficiency/accuracy that appears supportive of healthy ROIs.
While logistics, warehousing, and autos appear to be important end markets driving automation adoption (higher volume, repetitive tasks), several panelists highlighted AI’s potential to unlock new skills/capabilities for robotics and automation, which could, over time, expand addressable markets for automation solutions (new end markets and new use cases), which we view as a broad positive. Advances in AI/LLMs along with growing availability of data (real-world as well as simulated) are leading to more refined technology through, for instance more integrated hardware and software and more active usage driving increasingly capable deployments (as AI-enabled systems grow “smarter”), which we think could further support accelerating automation adoption over time. In some instances, access to high-quality data remains a bottleneck (where companies are combining simulations with limited real-world data), but we also view this as an opportunity and competitive moat for our companies, given their large installed base and ability to leverage/mine data to further drive autonomy and operational efficiency.
Select companies also highlighted robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) business models that potentially lower the barriers to adoption for small and medium sized enterprises given lower or minimal upfront capital costs, which we view as supportive of our constructive view on SYM’s warehouse-as-a-service offering (GreenBox/Exol), which we think could help drive increasing adoption of SYM’ warehouse automation solutions amongst a broader range of customers.
The most important takeaway is that Physical AI is emerging and deployments will be ramped up as Robotics-as-a-Service models reduce upfront customer costs. Physical AI may eventually benefit from scaling laws, but the path will be much slower and more operationally intensive than the chatbot boom.
“We’re Gonna Win Someday”: Graham Platner Suspends His Senate Campaign
Update: Graham Platner, the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, announced Wednesday that he’s suspending his campaign. The move comes two days after Politico reported allegations of rape against him by a former girlfriend. He posted an emotional video explaining his decision.
“And I just want to make it clear this is all false,” Platner said.
“The things that have been claimed did not happen; it’s not real.”
He described the past few days as an ordeal no regular person should have to survive, a normal guy suddenly thrust into a spotlight he says he never wanted. He accused the media and the political establishment of skipping the investigation entirely and jumping straight to a verdict.
“I learned about this through press inquiries with no time to truly respond, no time for investigations before a corporate media system and the political establishment got to act as judge, jury and executioner,” he said.
“Accusations are supposed to be the beginning of things, not the end.”
Platner claimed the allegations surfaced now for a specific reason. His official nomination locks in on July 13, and he says this was the last window anyone had to knock him off the ballot before that happened.
“I only have until July 13th until I am officially the nominee. This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot, and that’s why this is occurring,” he said.
He argued the real threat was never the allegations themselves, but what the political establishment plans to do with them. Cut off his fundraising. Cut off his voter data. Starve the campaign of everything it needs simply to function. He made his read on their real preference painfully clear.
“They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine,” he said.
He leaned heavily on his June 9 primary win, in which he pulled in more votes than any primary candidate in Maine’s history, to argue that whatever happens next should be decided by voters, not party insiders in Washington.
“It needs to be open, transparent, and Democratic,” he said.
“Party apparatchiks are not the ones to make these decisions.”
Then, the announcement itself.
“We are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said, adding that he intends to file paperwork to formally withdraw from the race.
He framed the decision as anything but an admission of guilt; instead, he blamed outside forces for making it impossible for the campaign to continue functioning, even after beating what he called one of the most entrenched political systems in the world just weeks earlier.
“We went toe-to-toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world, and we won,” Platner said.
“We beat them on June 9th in overwhelming numbers.”
Before signing off, he insisted the movement, and the ballot line his name currently occupies, still belongs to the voters who built it, not to party leadership in Washington.
“But now the ball is in the court of the democratic establishment,” Platner said.
“My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine.”
Platner closed by thanking his supporters.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Platner said. “Thank all of you and keep fighting. We’re gonna win someday.”
My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine. pic.twitter.com/RKVyLU76tm
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 9, 2026
* * *
As we detailed earlier, Graham Platner is supposed to be finished. The Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine faces a rape allegation, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have pulled their endorsements, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has told him they won’t spend any money on his campaign if he stays on the ballot. He has until Monday to withdraw before Maine law locks Democrats into running him in November, whether they like it or not.
By every conventional measure, Platner should be packing his bags.
Instead, he is negotiating. Platner has reportedly told the Maine Democratic Party that any replacement must match his own ideological commitments, a demand that has left party strategists sputtering. So far, Rep. Valli Geiger (D-Rockland) says Platner is urging her to try and take his place on the ballot. Dan Pfeiffer, once a senior adviser to Barack Obama, wrote on his Substack that continuing the race is not an option for Platner and predicted a “zombie campaign marching on to certain defeat with no support and no resources.” Chris Cillizza was blunter on X, telling Platner he has “zero leverage.”
Platner trying to negotiate who will replace him suggests he has a deep misunderstanding of his current situation.
Pfeiffer and Cillizza are wrong, and the reason exposes something uncomfortable about the position Democrats have put themselves in.
Platner does not have to withdraw, and the reason he holds most of the cards is simple: the party has nothing it can offer him to leave quietly. The traditional exit ramp for a troubled nominee involves some quiet exchange, a future appointment, a promise of support down the road, and a graceful landing somewhere else. None of that works for Platner because dropping out after winning the nomination, with his baggage, makes him too damaged.
His campaign has also functioned as a vehicle for the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization working methodically to take over the Democratic Party from the inside rather than build a third option outside it.
The other detail Pfeiffer and Cillizza skip past is that Platner won his primary fair and square, and voters knew what they were getting. The Nazi tattoo, the self-described communism, the sexting with multiple women, his old presence on a site associated with child predators, a credible accusation that he abused a former girlfriend: all of it was public before the primary.
When the first abuse allegation surfaced during the campaign, Democratic officials rallied around him, and his campaign posted its best single fundraising day of the race. Sanders campaigned with him at “Fight Oligarchy” rallies. Rep. Ro Khanna flew to Portland to stand beside him. The New York Times even sat on a rape accusation against Platner despite believing the allegation was credible. None of that was a secret to the people now demanding his exit. What changed was the polling.
Platner had already gone from +6 in the polls to +1 after the sexting allocations. And today’s allegations are a magnitude of order more serious. pic.twitter.com/MAxGoSuslc
Democrats spent months rationalizing their support for a candidate they now describe in private as a liability, largely because he looked like their best shot at unseating Sen. Susan Collins, a race the party repeatedly said was central to retaking the Senate majority. For Platner, as long as the numbers held, concerns about his character were excused. Now that the race has tightened, the establishment wants him gone, and it is dressing up a polling problem as a moral awakening.
The Maine Democratic Party is even starting to develop a process to replace Platner, if he withdraws.
“While the Platner campaign remains focused on distracting from the job of defeating Susan Collins in November with false accusations against us, the Maine Democratic Party remains hyper focused on developing a representative, transparent and inclusive process to select a new nominee when he chooses to withdraw from the race,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, Executive Director of the Maine Democratic Party, said in a statement. “While we may be frustrated with Graham Platner’s continued efforts to manipulate this process, we are so thankful for his supporters and all of their efforts to defeat Susan Collins – they are a vital part of our Party and deserve to participate in an open process to select Platner’s replacement.”
Congratulations to national media on politically assassinating Graham Platner. If he drops out and Democratic Party tries to give us two candidates who are both for Israel and corporate pacs, they’ll face a revolt like they’ve never seen. Days of bullshit false choices are over.
But, Platner understands the mechanics of his own situation better than his critics do. He has every reason to believe he can either insist on the candidate of his choice to replace him (he’s reportedly urging Maine State Representative Valli Geiger, (D-Rockland) to take his place, but there’s no guarantee the party will back her) or stay in and carry on by simply denying the allegations, and his DSA-aligned supporters are already framing the pressure campaign as a hit job
If Platner drops out, his political career ends with him.
He knows that.
If he stays, national Democrats face an unpleasant choice: abandon a Senate seat they have spent a year calling essential, or hold their noses and back a nominee they cannot control and increasingly cannot defend.
Maine primary voters already absorbed most of what is now scandalizing Washington, and forcing Platner off the ballot risks convincing his base that the accusations are simply the latest excuse from a party establishment that never wanted him in the first place. Platner’s defiance is a clear sign that he knows he has all the leverage here, and the establishment must decide what to do about it.
The Canadian government drew up a plan to take individual citizens to court over what they post online. That plan sat inside a 35-page internal memo from the Department of Industry, most of it blacked out before the public could see it.
Blacklock’s Reporter pried the document loose through an Access to Information request. Dated March 31 and titled “Misinformation And Disinformation Strategy,” it belongs to the department run by Minister Melanie Joly, known as ISED. The memo weighs “legal action” against people who post what the government calls “false and misleading information” on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
What kind of legal action? The redactions hide that. What survives the black ink is the logic. “This strategy seeks to uphold the integrity of and public trust in government information,” the memo says. The department is appointing itself guardian of its own reputation, with lawsuits as one available tool.
Here is who would decide. ISED itself would judge whether a post is “factually incorrect, misleading or out of context.” The same department that dislikes a post gets to rule on whether the post is true. No court makes that call first and no independent reviewer checks the work. The government writes the definition of misinformation and then enforces it against the people it defines.
The department @ISED_CA itself would determine whether social media posts were “factually incorrect, misleading or out of context.” Any punitive measures against individuals would be “proportionate and subject to senior level approval.” https://t.co/lIFVBUVxvJpic.twitter.com/6tRaRqNNRI
— Blacklock’s Reporter (@mindingottawa) July 4, 2026
The memo describes any punishment as “proportionate and subject to senior level approval.” That language reassures no one. Proportion gets measured by the same officials pushing the complaint, and senior approval means a manager signs off, not a judge.
Officials already watch. Managers “already monitor the department’s official social media channels and media outlets on a daily basis for comments and recurring inaccuracies,” the memo says. The strategy would push that surveillance from reaction toward “prevention and early detection,” catching disfavored speech earlier in its life.
The plan has drawn sharp opposition reaction. Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis, in a post on X, asked who defines misinformation in the first place: “Will government become the arbiter of truth? That is a dangerous path for a free society.” Conservative MP Roman Baber argued the direction of fear runs the wrong way, writing that government “should fear citizens at the free press and the ballot box,” and that “the reverse, citizens fearing government, gives rise to authoritarianism.”
The chilling effect writes itself. A citizen who knows a federal department is reading posts, grading them for accuracy, and holding a lawsuit in reserve thinks twice before typing. The threat does the work a courtroom never has to.
The government’s own files admit the problem. Its research found Canadians feel capable of spotting fake news and do not want Ottawa “declaring what is true or not.” The memo concedes that answering misinformation can amplify it, and that going after individuals risks “further backlash.” The department understood the public would object and mapped the plan anyway.
Compare the tune from four years back. This same Liberal government declared that “the rights and freedoms that individuals have offline must also be protected online.” That promise reads differently next to a memo about suing people for their posts. It also sits oddly against the government’s own recent history: Canada repealed Section 181 of the Criminal Code, the “false news” offence, in 2019, after the Supreme Court found the provision violated freedom of expression.
The non-profit Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has since begun asking publicly whether any Canadians have already received notices from the federal government demanding they take down online posts.
Ottawa has not explained how the monitoring runs, how often lawsuits were floated, or what a post must do to land on the department’s radar. The memo sets no threshold. It names no outside check. It leaves a federal department free to decide which citizens spoke falsely and what the price should be.
A government sure of its facts answers speech with more speech. This one drafted a plan to answer speech with lawyers.
“It’s Some Bullsh*t”: Green River, Wyoming Considered License Plate Readers To “Protect Against Terrorist Attacks”
Green River officials are weighing whether to accept a $111,956 federal grant to install automatic license plate readers at key entrances to the city, a proposal that has sparked backlash from some residents over privacy and government surveillance, according to Cowboy State Daily.
The grant, funded through the United States Department of Homeland Security, is intended to help communities prevent and respond to terrorism. Police Chief Shawn Sturlaugson said the cameras would also help officers quickly identify vehicles tied to criminal investigations, Amber Alerts, missing persons cases, or other law enforcement concerns.
He stressed the system is not intended to enforce expired registrations or serve as a broad crime-fighting dragnet, adding that the department is considering a policy to automatically delete data after 30 days.
The report says that not everyone is convinced. Former Wyoming lawmaker Marshall Burt dismissed the proposal outright, calling it “some bullshit” and questioning the city’s reliance on anti-terrorism funding. “If we have that big a case of terrorism in Green River, I imagine we would have heard about it by now,” he said.
Burt argued the real issue is the long-term expansion of government surveillance. While he acknowledged drivers have little expectation of privacy on public roads, he warned that modern camera systems can compile years of location data, creating opportunities for tracking and profiling that extend far beyond their original purpose. He also said any privacy safeguards adopted today could easily be removed by future city leaders.
Mayor Pete Rust defended the proposal, saying Green River is already one of the nation’s safest cities and that license plate readers are simply another tool for police. Although he said he is unaware of any specific terrorism threats, he noted the city’s location along an interstate, railroad, river, and near major infrastructure makes it strategically important.
If approved, Green River would join several other Wyoming communities, including Cheyenne, Jackson, Glenrock, and the Wind River Indian Reservation, which already use license plate reader technology.
The University of California (Berkeley) has ordered the return of new displays to native American tribes under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). That is hardly news except that the items were not human remains or relics, but corn, corn cobs, peas, beans, and other seeds. The university has decided that even such scientific samples are prohibited items of “cultural patronage.”
The Act requires the return of human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. “Cultural patrimony” is defined as “an object having ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American group or culture itself.”
However, according to a federal notice, these were old corn, corn cobs and seeds, beans, and other items used for research and display by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology.
They will now be returned to the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico, a Native American tribe.
Old corn cobs linked to a Native American tribe are being removed from an anthropology museum at UC Berkeley in accordance with a federal “repatriation” law.
According to a June 4 federal notice, 24 items, including corn, corn cobs, peas, beans, and other seeds, are being removed. They were part of the collection at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. They will be returned to the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico, a Native American tribe, to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
The notice from the school states that “Between 1940 to 1941, George F. Carter collected 24 lots of seeds via `field research with Native American agriculturalists’ across the Southwestern United States, including Pueblo of Isleta in New Mexico.”
I understand how one can read the federal law broadly, but this seems wildly out of sync with the purpose of the law. These are plants and seeds used for field research to better understand the food chain of the early periods of life in the Americas. The use of the federal law so broadly undermines the study of these tribes.
National Park Service
Obviously, corn and other crop staples were key to the culture of these tribes, but so was water, wood, and other sustaining resources. I do not understand why the tribes themselves do not want to encourage such research on their heritage and history.
The university could clearly decide that it no longer needs the items or that the items hold more value to the tribes. However, to say that they are compelled under federal law is a dubious reading of the federal statute.
The College Fix quotes Elizabeth Weiss, professor emeritus of anthropology at San José State University, as objecting to the interpretation:
“Objects of cultural patrimony are defined as objects that cannot be owned by a single person, and, thus, cannot be sold or given from one person to another. It is hard for me to understand how plants and seeds could fall into this category.”
This is something that the Department of the Interior, Justice Department, and Bureau of Indian Affairs should clarify in the interest of continued research and historical work in this area.
For the nuclear energy nerds, last night Erik Townsend joined ZH to host a panel with the founders of modular nuclear reactor startup Aalo Atomics, Matt Loszak and Yasir Arafat.
Townsend is a committed nuclear energy bull and has invested in many nuclear energy startups, his largest allocation being Aalo, a company that hopes to pump out small modular reactors on a mass scale to solve the rising energy costs that AI is rapidly ushering in.
Here were some highlights from the panel for those short on time:
The Data Center Dilemma
AI data centers have become the boogeyman recently, facing opposition on the populist right and left as nobody wants one in their backyard goosing up local energy prices. Loszak said the solution to this dilemma is stand-alone modular reactors that power data centers independent of the grid.
“Our whole thesis is we are really building the ideal product market fit for AI data centers… If you look at how we’re powering data centers today, it is not with gigawatt-scale nuclear plants. It is actually with 15 to 60 megawatt gas turbines… We’re essentially making the nuclear version of that.”
He argued that standardized, factory-built reactors could ultimately outcompete traditional nuclear projects on speed and scale.
“You could build a fleet of smaller reactors and get to many gigawatts per year… way more reliably and predictably with this model than the gigawatt-scale AP1000 model… This is a contrarian view. Not everyone in nuclear believes this… but the reality is the past does not always look like the future.”
— ZeroHedge Debates (@zerohedgeDebate) July 8, 2026
Reactor “Assembly Line”
CTO Arafat said Aalo’s long-term goal is to manufacture reactors the way other industries mass-produce complex products, to scale towards creating the industry’s first nuclear reactor “assembly line”.
“We want to actually build the first nuclear assembly line where you have jigs and equipment and processes where material flows through, and then you can make the same modules over and over and over again.”
This is not something that is currently in development, Aalo said, but perhaps on the horizon as they look to raise $500 million in a series C. The fundraise would then, in theory, go to finance a massive factory to mass produce modular reactors… which could one day power private homes.
We, the truckers who keep America moving, have had enough.
An analysis of crash data and English proficiency violations reveals that drivers from just a handful of states are largely responsible for the epidemic of illegal alien truck and bus drivers terrorizing our highways. These preventable tragedies must end now.
We are formally calling on President Donald J. Trump to immediately deploy ICE and CBP officers to commercial weigh stations across the entire country. No more half-measures. No more looking the other way. American families deserve safe roads.
The Deadly Data Doesn’t Lie
Our review of crash statistics shows that alleged illegal alien truck drivers operating under USDOT numbers domiciled out of California, Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma, Florida, Massachusetts, and New York are responsible for over 29 fatalities nationwide.
Trooper Michael Pahira’s death was 100% preventable.
A Pennsylvania State Trooper — a 20-year veteran — was struck and killed on I-81 while conducting a routine commercial vehicle inspection. The driver? Michael Bon, a Haitian illegal alien who entered under Biden parole, had… pic.twitter.com/XFHWnRl5c1
— American Truckers United (@atutruckers) July 7, 2026
11 people killed by truck drivers operating out of the state of California
6 people killed by truck drivers operating out of the state of Illinois
6 people killed by bus drivers operating out of the state of New York
3 people killed by truck drivers operating out of the state of Ohio
Four people lost their lives at the hands of foreign truck drivers in just the past two weeks.
The loss of these four lives was entirely preventable.
If you are in our country illegally or can’t speak and understand English, you have no business operating an 80K-pound… https://t.co/VaK7dI03TD
— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) July 8, 2026
These numbers represent real Americans — mothers, fathers, children, and law enforcement officers — whose lives were cut short or forever altered.
We think of little Dalilah Coleman, critically injured as a 5-year-old when an illegal alien driving an 18-wheeler slammed into her family’s vehicle in California. We think of Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael Pahira Jr., killed in the line of duty on I-81 by another illegal alien truck driver with a Massachusetts-issued CDL. These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a broken system.
English Proficiency Violations Expose the Scale of the Problem
Since President Trump’s executive order on immigration enforcement went into effect, 22,910 out-of-service orders have been issued for English proficiency violations and related issues. The distribution tells the story:
29% issued to motor carriers operating from Texas
13% from California
10% from Florida
7% from Illinois
These same states repeatedly appear in both crash data and safety violation reports. Sanctuary policies and lax licensing practices are endangering every driver and family sharing the road with these rigs.
Weigh Stations Are the Front Line — And Many Are Wide Open
Our recent investigation into Arkansas weigh stations revealed a disturbing truth: no immigration enforcement is currently taking place. States known for issuing non-domicile CDLs to illegal aliens are allowed to bypass the scales without inspection. This must stop immediately.
🚨Why aren’t we stopping “potential” illegal alien truckers at every weigh station?
American Truckers United was in Arkansas last week filming operations at a West Memphis Weigh Station — and exposed zero enforcement.
— American Truckers United (@atutruckers) July 7, 2026
Truckers who cannot read road signs in English, who lack proper training, or who have no legal right to be operating commercial vehicles in the first place are a clear and present danger. The current patchwork approach is failing.
Our Ask to President Trump
Deploy ICE and CBP officers to weigh stations nationwide. Make immigration status and CDL legitimacy checks part of every routine inspection. Close the loopholes that allow non-domicile CDL holders from problem states to operate unchecked.
We have a duty — as truckers, as Americans, and as patriots — to ensure no more preventable tragedies occur like those that befell Dalilah Coleman and Officer Pahira. These deaths did not have to happen. With decisive action at the scales, they will not happen again.
President Trump, the time for action is now. Put federal officers at the weigh stations. Secure our highways. Protect American lives.
Waymo Robotaxi “Snitches” On Two 15-Year-Olds Drinking & Shooting Orbeez Guns In Bay Area
Two 15-year-old boys were detained in San Mateo Monday afternoon after the Waymo robotaxi they were riding in reported them to police – for drinking alcohol and firing a gel-bead blaster out of the moving car – then pulled itself over so officers could collect them.
Waymo’s remote monitors spotted the behavior on the vehicle’s interior cameras and called the San Mateo Police Department around 2:10 p.m. with the car’s exact location. The company then disabled the vehicle near 20th Avenue and El Camino Real, telling the pair the car was having trouble – a ruse that bought officers time to get into position.
Because the initial report described what looked like a real firearm, police conducted a high-risk stop, approaching with guns drawn and a police dog deployed. No one was hurt. Inside, officers found an Orbeez-style gel blaster – painted over to pass for the real thing – and open alcohol.
The teens cooperated, were detained, and were released to their parents. The case has been forwarded to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s office for review of possible charges, including underage drinking, and police say they plan to pull the Waymo’s interior video.
“Parents do you know where your teens are? @waymo does!” The department wrote on Facebook: “After calling us and stopping the car, we were able to safely remove both subjects and determined they were shooting Orbeez from the car as they sipped on afternoon libations while being chauffeured around town in the driverless vehicle.”
“While there was some ingenuity to this scheme, toy guns, water guns, and BB guns all pose real dangers, especially to an untrained eye… Shooting projectiles at speed can cause real damage. And lest not forget the underage drinking. All bad ideas today for these two. Well, the Waymo might have been the smartest idea yet, because driving impaired would’ve made this so much worse.”
Waymo bars alcohol in its vehicles and doesn’t allow unaccompanied minors in its California markets – so the ride was violating the rules before the first bead flew – and company policy notes that support staff “may access live video during a trip” in urgent circumstances.
“Safety is our highest priority at Waymo,” a company spokesperson said in a statement after the story broke. “This behavior violates our user agreement, and while these sorts of events are rare, we take them extremely seriously and remain committed to improving road safety and mobility in the cities where we operate.”
Online, the reaction split between “snitching” complaints, designated-driver jokes, and the question underneath them: the robotaxi that gets you home safely is also a camera platform that can pull itself over and hand you to the police. For two 15-year-olds, the lesson arrived early – no driver doesn’t mean nobody’s watching.
