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The singer was one of 1,000 guests at the star-studded event at MSG Friday night.

The singer was one of 1,000 guests at the star-studded event at MSG Friday night.

Logan Gilbert will help lead the host Mariners past the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon, Stitches predicts.

The search for the Ark of the Covenant continues.

FBI Mole Wore Wire Inside Newsom's Inner Circle: Lawyer

A mole working for the Biden FBI was secretly recording Gavin Newsom's inner circle before the agency expanded its corruption probe into the California governor and his wife, according to a bombshell report by the NY Post. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom, Alexis Podesta

Democrat insider Alexis Podesta, a 45-year-old Sacramento consultant and Newsom appointee - no known relation to John Podesta - secretly taped conversations for the FBI as early as June 2024, while Joe Biden was still in the White House, according to McGregor Scott, the former US attorney now representing Dana Williamson. Williamson, 53, ran Newsom's office as chief of staff until late 2024; in May she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and lying to federal agents.

Federal prosecutors accused Williamson and others of orchestrating a scheme to siphon roughly $225,000 from a dormant campaign account which belonged to former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra -disguising the payments as legitimate consulting fees while routing the money to benefit Becerra's former chief of staff, Sean McCluskie. According to Podesta's attorney, she was placed in charge of overseeing the account in question - but did not know the payments were improper.

Becerra is now the Democratic nominee to succeed Newsom as governor. 

"Alexis wore a wire, and Dana did not," said Williamson's lawyer and former US attorney for the Eastern District of California, McGregor Scott. 

"A lot of people received letters essentially informing us that there were certain periods of time where the FBI was given access to follow phone calls," said assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), who said he was among those who received a letter even though he had never spoken with either Podesta or Williamson. 

"I don’t know how these investigations work, but it sounds like they cast a pretty broad net across the Capitol community to see what they could find." 

A separate source with knowledge of the matter said they knew of four Sacramento insiders who also received FBI notifications confirming they had been recorded.

One recipient told the source: “Dude, I got this f—ing letter. I never even met with Dana Williamson!”

“Their curiosity was that they never even met with Dana Williamson, so they were wondering what this is all about,” the source said.

“And now you have the answer.” -NY Post

News of the wire comes just over two weeks after Newsom claimed that the Trump administration is punishing him because he may run for president in 2028. 

"They're demanding records, they're abusing the grand jury process, digging through years and years of random documents. Donald Trump isn't just coming after me because of my mean tweets, he's coming after me because I'm considering running for president, because he hates that I've consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit," Newsom said, before sending a mass email asking for political donations. 

Sources close to the investigation, however, told The Post that the feds have spent the past year digging into Newsom, his staff, and his wife's taxes after whistleblowers reportedly dropped the dime that led to the probe. Williamson's attorney told the outlet that his client declined to cooperate because she didn't have anything on Newsom. 

Podesta - a former staffer for the late Dianne Feinstein, is a longtime Democratic power broker who remains on California's State Compensation Insurance Fund board - to which Newsom appointed her in January 2020. She also held senior positions in Gov. Jerry Brown's administration, and served as secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. While she hasn't been charged with a crime, her attorney identified her as an uncharged co-conspirator in the Williamson indictment.

Of note, Podesta is still getting paid $60,797 by the state while cooperating with the FBI, while she sits on the Insurance Fund Board. 

Campaign finance records show Becerra's committee making $10,000 monthly payments to 'Podesta Company' during 2023 and 2024. During this period, Williamson - while Newsom's CoS - shared confidential info with Podesta regarding a corporate client that has now been identified as Activision Blizzard.

Williamson’s plea agreement states that she was captured in a June 2024 wiretap strategizing with the co-conspirator about how to respond to a Public Records Act request involving the state’s litigation against the company. Williamson and Podesta exchanged text messages on the issue, according to court records. Podesta has not publicly commented on the matter. -NY Post

Hoover, the Republican assemblymember, told The Post: "All of this stuff just raises so many questions ... "What is going on in this administration? What types of conversations are being had? I think the entire case should be really concerning for the general public. It’s really raising a lot of mistrust."

"I think it underlines how problematic this current administration is. [Newsom] is someone who wants to run for president of the United States. It’s really disappointing to see that this is the level of our politics."

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 11:55

It's a star-spangled playlist.

Dave Chappelle certainly kept things real Friday night about Travis Kelce's bachelor party and this may have provided a wrong moment for CNN on Friday.

Iga Swiatek's Wimbledon defense is already over.

The 1883 actor explains why this role felt inevitable.

The 'God Bless the USA' singer was on USO duty during Operation Just Cause when hit by enemy fire

Vice President JD Vance thanked President Trump for "reviving this proud Naval tradition," as he addressed patriotic sailors aboard USS Kearsarge in New York City during Sail4th 250.

“We knocked the hell out of Iran and they’re dying to settle,” Trump said during a speech at Mount Rushmore Friday night. “We gave them a week off for a funeral, isn’t that nice.”

New York City Appropriates $7 Million For 'Trans Equity', Drag Queen Story Hours

Authored by Bryan Hyde via American Greatness,

A massive $126 billion spending plan approved by the New York City Council earlier this week includes nearly $7 million for so-called ‘trans equity’ programs and drag queen story hours.

The New York Post reports that the budget was approved by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and directs the taxpayer money to programs and services “to help empower the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) community.”

NYC budget funnels $7M to transgender programs, drag story hours

For the record, Drag Queen Story Hour now receives more city funding than the Department of Veterans Services.

Understand where we are.pic.twitter.com/UtvWOfZPod

— The Unredacted (@theunredacted) July 2, 2026

The city council said, “Funding may support education programs, employment services, workforce development, healthcare navigation, legal guidance, community workshops, or academic research, among others.”

According to The National Review, the new budget doesn’t include any spending for the additional 580 police officers Mayor Mamdani promised to hire.

State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar questioned, “Why isn’t there more money for police?”

Kassar added, “There are countless dollars going toward extreme, far-out programs,” Kassar said.

“This goes way beyond recognizing transgender individuals into spending millions of taxpayer dollars to promote transgenderism.”

Key funding initiatives of the nearly $7 million earmark include $1 million for directed to Destiny Tomorrow for the first transitional housing program for transgender individuals in the Bronx as well as $705,000 for community health for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and $600,000 for the Caribbean Equality Project.

The allocation also includes funding for education and tolerance with funds for the Advocates for Trans Equality Education Fund and the Trans Formative Schools program, alongside localized funding from city council members for drag story hours in schools and libraries.

Allen Roskoff, head of the Jim Owles Liberal LGBT Democratic Club, told the New York Post, “Transgender youth need our support. These individuals are the most vulnerable people out there. We will do everything in our power to protect these children from hate orchestrated by far right Republicans. We are going to see to it they get the health care and protection they deserve.”

The approval of the nearly $7 million earmark comes on the heels of Mamdani encouraging New Yorkers to set their thermostats to 78 degrees to conserve energy, with Republicans calling the mayor’s budgeting priorities into question.

Mamdani should use the $7 million to improve the electric grid. https://t.co/MExzjDFawi

— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) July 1, 2026 Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 11:40

The royals secretly linked up with the couple, likely when the Grammy winner and NFL player, both 36, were in London in May.

The royals secretly linked up with the couple, likely when the Grammy winner and NFL player, both 36, were in London in May.

The Minnesota Timberwolves seem convinced they have the perfect recruiting pitch to sign LeBron James in free agency.

Serena Williams was forced to withdraw from her doubles match with her sister Venus on Saturday because of a right knee injury, she announced on Instagram.

The survey, commissioned by CAM’s Antisemitism Research Center, found that 57 percent of Jewish Americans reported experiencing antisemitism in the past year.

She's frankly the best.

Ships Abruptly U-Turn Near Hormuz As Some Shift To Iran-Approved Routes

The reopening of the Hormuz chokepoint has proceeded relatively smoothly for weeks, but an overnight development shows that the process remains fragile. At least eight ships attempting to exit the Persian Gulf abruptly reversed course near the critical waterway.

Bloomberg cites ship-tracking data showing that the vessels, including oil tankers, product carriers, bulk carriers, and vehicle carriers, were moving toward the strait along the Omani coast before abruptly turning back. Several ships later resumed their transits through the strait by shifting northward onto a route closer to the Iranian coast, in line with Tehran's request that ships use authorized Iranian-designated lanes.

via Bloomberg: 

It is unclear why the ships abruptly altered course, though Tehran has repeatedly warned vessels by VHF radio to follow designated routes.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran warned Western powers that the Hormuz waterway is not a "theater for the military display of extra-regional powers."

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran views itself as the responsible power and security guarantor of the strait, adding that Tehran would closely monitor any foreign military movements in the waterway.

Gharibabadi's warning came shortly after the UK and France announced that their navies were ready to support freedom-of-navigation operations in the waterway.

"Iran, as the responsible power and guarantor of the Strait's security, warns with sensitivity to any military movement in this waterway," Gharibabadi said on X.

He added, "The security of Hormuz lies with the coastal states; the crisis-makers will be held accountable for the consequences of their adventurism; this is a serious warning."

While daily commodity vessel crossings have averaged around 34 since Monday, Hormuz vessel traffic remains well below pre-war levels.

Natasha Kaneva, JPMorgan's top commodities strategist, provided clients with more color on Hormuz ship flows and what it means for energy markets:

There is now a rush to move stranded cargoes out of the Strait of Hormuz. Average crude exports from the Persian Gulf plus re-routed volumes over the last ten days have already recovered to about 19 mbd, just 3 mbd below pre-war levels. The backlog is also disappearing quickly: floating storage has fallen to just 20 million barrels, while another 10 million barrels remain in onshore tanks awaiting exports.

Meanwhile, inbound tankers are lining up to enter the Strait, preparing to load barrels that have been sitting in storage tanks for months. More entering vessels will be needed as production across the Gulf gradually returns to normal operating levels. We are already seeing a growing queue of ballast VLCCs moving towards the Gulf.

The line is long and deep—an important signal that the logistical chain is reconnecting and that loadings can continue uninterrupted as the system works its way back toward normal.

Professional subscribers can read more about Hormuz and Gulf energy markets on our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Tyler Durden Sat, 07/04/2026 - 11:05