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Seeing the Bronx Bombers in Beantown is prime bucket list material for any baseball fan.

The controversial former San Francisco Giants player has opened up on ex-team's Pride Night debacle.

No, your eyes don't deceive you.

Body camera footage released by the Atlanta Police Department shows former UFC champion Dustin Poirier involved in a chaotic incident during his arrest after being removed from a flight. The 37-year-old can be heard shouting at airport employees and expressing anger as the situation escalated, with officials intervening to escort him away from the area.

Amazon just hatched a deal you won't want to miss.

Fauci, The CIA, And The Unanswered Questions Of COVID

Authored by Cory Franklin via RealClearWire,

Did Anthony Fauci manipulate the intelligence community (IC) investigation of the origin of COVID as outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard claims?

Gabbard recently released previously unseen documents and communications during the COVID pandemic between the IC and the key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Anthony Fauci. She claims they show that Fauci and the IC coordinated the investigation of the origin of the COVID to suggest it was a natural occurrence rather than a laboratory leak. She further charges that the documents reveal Fauci's direct role in influencing and manipulating IC assessments in an attempt to discourage the lab-leak hypothesis.

It is not clear that the released information shows this, and a careful reading suggests a more complicated scenario. But what the messages do show is that an undue emphasis on Fauci's actions risks missing a more important point - the hidden connection between public health officials and the IC during the pandemic.

The two theories on where COVID originated are that the virus evolved naturally from bats to man via an intermediate animal host; or that the virus leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. The first was more widely accepted by scientists and most of the international press early in the pandemic, but the intermediate host has never been discovered so the theory remains speculative. The second theory, which has gained significant traction since initially being disparaged as conspiracy, is only circumstantial since no definitive proof exists. The answer as to how COVID originated remains unknown.

Where does Dr. Fauci, the government's point man in the pandemic, fit in? He acknowledges the possibility of a lab leak, but initially came down firmly on the side of natural origin - aggressively so. He and his colleagues, notably his boss NIH director Francis Collins, attempted to publicly silence proponents of the lab leak theory. The rub is that Fauci was tangentially involved in "gain of function" viral manipulation research done in Wuhan and clearly misled Congress about this involvement.

Because gain-of-function research could have been responsible for the development of the virus in the Wuhan lab, this means Fauci has a conflict of interest on the COVID source: He could bear some responsibility for the entire affair if this was indeed a lab leak. So he has reason other than scientific inquiry to support the animal host theory. He is aware of that and has written in the past about the necessity and the attendant danger of doing gain-of-function research. He now strenuously denies it had anything to do with COVID.

Enter the IC and Gabbard's document release.

There is uncertainty over whether Fauci frequented CIA offices early in the pandemic, something he was less than forthright about in his 2024 congressional testimony. It is unclear whether or how many times he was there, in part because a whistleblower claims the requirement to sign in was waived for Dr. Fauci. What is not in doubt are his contacts with the CIA after President Biden charged the IC with investigating the origin of COVID.

The CIA asked Fauci to provide recommendations for experts to consult in their investigation of the COVID origin; the extent of his influence on the agency's investigation is unclear. At the time, some officials, aware of the potential conflict of interest, questioned in the documents whether relying on recommendations from someone deeply involved in coronavirus research could create the perception of improper influence regarding their findings. Nevertheless, the IC employed the experts Fauci recommended, who were never publicly identified. Their names have been redacted in communications and the information they provided has never been released.

The lack of transparency by the public health community and the CIA caused Republicans, led by Dr. Rand Paul, to suspect Fauci selected his CIA consultants based on their opposition to the lab-leak theory. Further, Paul proposed there was a self-justifying loop of information in which the medical experts put their thumbs on the scale of the IC report supporting natural origin. Public health officials (and some politicians who saw the lab-leak theory as a potential scandal) then turned around and used the "doctored" IC report to support the conclusions they provided to the public.

Neither of these accusations is supported or refuted by the released communications.

Again, despite Gabbard's claims, there is no smoking gun in the released documents, and the IC did not reach a consensus on the origin of COVID. The larger point, however, is one the public knew little about: the incestuous connection between high-level public health officials and the IC during the pandemic. Making Fauci the bête noire does little to advance our knowledge of what actually happened or how to go forward.

This hardly exonerates Fauci: His actions bear scrutiny because of his disturbing pattern of behavior. (Criminal charges may be a bridge too far, and in any event he has a blanket presidential pardon). Besides misleading Congress about his involvement with gain-of-function research and his attempt to suppress the views of lab leak proponents, he obscured his connection with the IC investigation. When asked, he mocked it with a snide deflection as "a conspiracy that I parachuted in like Jason Bourne." In addition, and almost forgotten today, he confessed to deliberately lying to the American public in the New York Times about "herd immunity" to COVID. This was not, as some claim, the result of incomplete information; he admitted consciously dissembling.

There is still much to be learned about Fauci's IC connection. At the same time, the released documents reveal that the IC responded with its traditional "business as usual" secrecy, the pattern they have used since the JFK assassination and before. There is absolutely no national security or legal reason to withhold the names of the expert consultants referred by Fauci, those names which are still redacted today. Those consultants are not spies, their lives are not in danger, and the public deserves to know who they are and what opinions they shared with the CIA - it is, in the final analysis, a public health question.

Also, why has there been no disapproval registered by the public health community about secret engagements with the CIA? Do they approve of this secretive collusion rather than demanding transparency? After all, the larger point here isn't to spread blame for COVID. It's to better intercept the next pandemic.

This furtive cooperation, and not Fauci, is the crux of the issue generated by the released documents. The public has a right to know about clandestine meetings between public health officials and the CIA. And if true, it is not out of the realm of possibility that there was self-serving connivance between Fauci and the agency, or that a self-justifying information loop kept the American public at bay. What would the public reaction be to that? Especially if the COVID origin turned out to be a preventable occurrence.

To paraphrase Hillary Clinton's provocative question, "At this late date, what does it matter?" The origin of COVID is still uncertain. Yet what these documents reinforce is that, despite the fact COVID killed 1.2 million Americans and caused untold economic, physical, and emotional damage, there has still been no official national reckoning. Doesn't the public deserve better? It is inconceivable that there has been no national fact-finding commission on the order of the Warren Commission (where both the CIA and FBI did lie to investigators), the Challenger Commission, and the 9/11 Commission. Why have the medical community, the press, and leading politicians stopped asking questions about the most significant event of the first quarter of the 21st century, including the nexus between public health and the IC? This is a national embarrassment.

The Roman statesman Cicero explained it best when he said, "To be ignorant of what came before is to remain a child."

And when it comes to COVID, we have been treated like children.

Dr. Cory Franklin is a retired intensive care physician and the author of "The COVID Diaries 2020-2024: Anatomy of a Contagion as It Happened."

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/24/2026 - 16:40

Democratic Socialists of America-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier, the likely next congresswoman from New York's 13th District, was part of the 2024 campus takeover at Columbia University and a key player in a radical anti-Israel group that once declared it was "fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization."

When institutions choose shortcuts to racial diversity, everyone ultimately loses: the students, the profession, and the patients it serves. Nowhere is this clearer than at the UC Davis School of Medicine.  UC Davis has allegedly handed the US Department of Justice a near-perfect exhibit of exactly how this misguided approach plays out in practice. School...

After two potential red cards weren't called in Ghana's 0-0 draw with England Tuesday, Ghana's manager, slammed the VAR review system for the missed calls.

Brazil superstar forward Neymar is back in action for the 2026 World Cup. But before he returns, Neymar's model girlfriend, Bruna Biancardi, is causing a stir in a bikini.

"Love Island USA" execs reportedly sent the USC student packing after the offensive videos resurfaced.

"Love Island USA" execs reportedly sent the USC student packing after the offensive videos resurfaced.

Austin Reaves was near the green when he got the green.

He spent five seasons in Buffalo and served as an alternate captain.

This is a certified smokeshow.

The one-of-a-kind vocalist will harmonize with fans at Carnegie Hall on Sept. 30.

GOP Civil War Erupts On Two Fronts: Luna Freezes The House Floor, Trump Gets "Brother'd" By Cassidy In Senate Over SAVE Act

The Republican Party's long-simmering tensions over election integrity exploded into open warfare on Wednesday, with chaos breaking out simultaneously in the House and Senate - and President Trump caught in the middle of both.

It started, as these things often do, with a procedural knife fight.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and a band of House conservatives declared they would refuse to support any rule votes this week unless Senate Republicans finally moved the SAVE America Act - the proof-of-citizenship and voter ID bill that has passed the House multiple times but remains stuck in the upper chamber. Without a rule, the House can't conduct normal business. Leadership blinked. The scheduled rule vote was pulled. The floor froze.

The House GOP is attempting to move a Senate Bill with NO VOTER ID and NO SAVE AMERICA ACT. I will have to be a NO on rules for this week (and maybe even longer) if they don't stop the games. I am not the only one. Other House Members are frustrated at the games being played. This is a problem. The President agrees that the Senate needs to move Voter ID. Other Frontline Members depend on Voter ID legislation getting passed. Stop catering to a Senate that doesn't do their jobs.

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) June 23, 2026

Limited to suspension votes and with tomorrow already off the table, GOP leaders were left scrambling: send everyone home? Let a rule fail on the floor? Cut a deal? Try again next week? The options were all bad.

And of course, Trump then lit a match... Hours before a planned signing ceremony for the popular bipartisan housing bill (passed 358-32 in the House and 85-5 in the Senate), the president abruptly canceled it on Truth Social, declaring he would not sign the measure "until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency."

The housing bill - a rare bipartisan win on affordability - was suddenly held hostage to a voting bill Democrats have no intention of supporting and that Senate Republicans still can't get to 60 votes.

The Senate Meeting Turns Ugly

While the House was melting down, Trump headed to Capitol Hill for a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans. It did not go smoothly.

According to multiple senators in the room who spoke to Punchbowl's Andrew Desiderio, Trump arrived in a sour mood and used much of the session to vent. He hammered the SAVE Act, the filibuster, and his decision to kill the housing signing. Nobody pushed back.

Then came the moment that will live in infamy.

Lame-duck Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) - whom Trump had effectively primaried earlier this cycle - came in "guns blazing." At one point he stopped using "Mr. President" altogether and simply called Trump "brother."

The temperature in the room reportedly dropped. Trump, already irritated over Iran war powers votes, was further agitated. One senator later described the entire session to Desiderio as "more of a venting session for the president."

Cassidy, freed from re-election concerns, was apparently done pretending otherwise.

The SAVE America Act: The Prize Everyone's Fighting Over

At the center of the storm sits the SAVE America Act - the bill requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and photo ID at the polls. Supporters call it basic election security. Opponents call it a solution in search of a problem that will disenfranchise legitimate voters.

The House has passed it. The Senate has not. And with the filibuster still in place, it's not clear how it gets to 60 without major concessions or rule changes - neither of which Senate leadership appears eager to deliver.

House conservatives have decided they're done waiting politely. Luna and her allies are using the only leverage they have: the ability to make the House floor a dysfunctional mess.

I stand with @repluna and @potus. The Save America Act must pass.

Ilegal foreign voters are electing America-hating communists. Add me to the list, it’s that important. https://t.co/rIwgothPmZ

— Congressman Max Miller (@RepMaxMiller) June 24, 2026

Trump, frustrated with the Senate's math problem, decided to take a popular bipartisan win off the table until they fix it.

And in the Senate lunch, one of the president's former allies decided the deference phase of the relationship was over.

Where Things Stand

As of mid-afternoon Wednesday:

• The House is in procedural limbo, limited to suspension votes.
• The housing bill signing is canceled.
• Senate Republicans just sat through a venting session from an unhappy president.
• A lame-duck senator called the Commander-in-Chief "brother" to his face.

In short - this is a collision of three different Republican power centers - House hardliners, Senate institutionalists, and a president who wants results now - all using the same bill as a weapon against each other.

Earlier...

President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a planned Capitol Hill signing ceremony for a sweeping bipartisan housing affordability bill Wednesday, saying he would not move forward until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, an elections measure he has elevated as a top legislative priority.

In a Truth Social post shortly before the scheduled event, Trump said the housing news conference and signing were "cancelled" until passage of the SAVE America Act, which he described as a "National Emergency."

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act cleared the Senate 85-5, with Republican leaders insisting the CBDC restriction ride along with one of the most bipartisan bills in years. The House passed the bill Tuesday 358-32, putting the measure on a direct path to President Donald Trump's desk for signature.

And so - Trump's cancellation upended what was expected to be a rare bipartisan victory lap for lawmakers, who had sent Trump the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act after months of negotiations. The bill, one of the most significant federal housing packages in decades, passed the House Tuesday evening by a wide margin after clearing the Senate 85-5 a day earlier.

The housing legislation had drawn support from both parties by targeting the nation's housing affordability crisis from several angles. Its provisions seek to speed up construction, reduce regulatory barriers, streamline environmental reviews, expand support for factory-built and manufactured housing, and help local governments convert vacant commercial buildings into affordable homes.

Just hours before Trump comes to the Capitol for a celebratory bill signing for the housing bill, he says it is of "minor importance" and notes Elizabeth Warren's involvement.

In case you missed it, Trump is pushing for SAVE America Act and to blow up the filibuster -- neither… pic.twitter.com/6HxHFbFk0O

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 24, 2026

One of the most politically prominent pieces of the bill would limit large institutional investors from purchasing certain existing single-family homes. Supporters argue that such restrictions could help reduce competition for individual buyers in markets where corporate ownership is concentrated, while the final version preserves a carveout for new construction.

The measure also contains a major digital-currency provision: a temporary ban, running through the end of 2030, on the Federal Reserve issuing or circulating a central bank digital currency. The language includes protections for private dollar-denominated digital assets, a provision welcomed by crypto advocates who oppose a government-backed digital dollar.

The bill's language is sweeping: the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or any Federal Reserve bank may not issue, create, or circulate a central bank digital currency - directly or through any intermediary - through December 31, 2030.

It explicitly shields private stablecoins, carving out any "open, permissionless, and private" dollar-denominated asset.

The bill's broad coalition had made it a rare point of agreement in a divided Congress. Republicans emphasized deregulation, supply growth and limits on Wall Street homebuying. Democrats pointed to affordability, renter protections and housing access. Lawmakers from both parties had hoped the signing would mark a tangible response to high rents, elevated mortgage costs and a shortage of affordable homes.

Now, the bill in legislative limbo with Trump using the housing package as leverage to force Senate action on election rules. The SAVE America Act has been a priority for Trump and his allies, but it faces strong Democratic opposition and an uncertain path in the Senate.

That said, if Trump continues to withhold his signature - and does nothing, the bill is likely to become law regardless. Under the Constitution, a bill presented to the president becomes law automatically after 10 days if he neither signs nor vetoes it - provided Congress remains in session. With August recess still weeks away and both chambers having passed the measure by margins far exceeding the two-thirds threshold needed to override a veto, the CBDC ban appears headed into law with or without a ceremony.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/24/2026 - 15:47

The five-part docuseries, directed by Brian Knappenberger and produced by Tom Hanks, connects the events of the American Revolution to the current fragility of America's democracy.

72 Ships Transited Hormuz In A Day: US Energy Secretary Says 'Taking Away' Iran's Key Leverage

WTI futures briefly fell below $70 a barrel for the first time since the US-Iran conflict erupted, as tanker flows through the Strait of Hormuz are showing further signs of normalization and physical market tightness continues to ease.

Bloomberg noted that option markets are positioning for ongoing normalization. Put volume is exceeding calls, with some of the heaviest trading in August and September expiries between $60 and $68. The September $60 strike put is one of the most active contracts, along with August $60, $65, and $68 strike puts. This only signals that traders are positioning for more downside as the war risk premium in crude oil evaporates.

This is why:

• Asian Refiners Swamped, Brace For Over 60 Million Barrels Of Oil Ready To Exit Hormuz

Earlier today, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the audience at the Reuters Global Energy Forum that roughly 72 ships carrying about 20 million barrels of crude moved through the strait over the past 24 hours. That figure is roughly one-fifth of global daily consumption.

"I could say roughly 72 ships in the last 24 hours, and 20 million barrels of oil," Wright told the audience in New York. "We have normal flows today."

He noted that even if the interim peace deal between the US and Iran fails, Tehran no longer has the ability to close Hormuz, saying the Trump administration has eroded one of Iran’s key points of leverage. 

"Iran will not have the ability to close the Strait of Hormuz going forward. That's a critical thing, that's their key leverage, and we're taking that leverage away from them," he added.

We pointed this out on Tuesday morning:

• "This May Be Iran's First Misstep - And Proof Leverage Isn't Total"

Wright said some ships are choosing not to transit the narrow waterway due to naval mine risks, instead moving close to Iran’s coast or along the southern route near Oman with military escorts. He said that full navigation could take several more weeks.

"To return to complete normalcy takes a demining of the strait, probably a few weeks' effort," he said.

Tehran’s leverage will all but disappear in the coming years as Gulf producers and oil majors are set to expand a network of pipelines and export routes that bypass the Hormuz chokepoint entirely, building on existing infrastructure designed to neutralize the risk. Read the full report.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/24/2026 - 15:40

Getting there is much easier than it might seem