Month: June 2026

Graham Platner: The New Democrat

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In search of a populist communist, the Democrats have embraced Graham Platner the former combat Marine, oyster farmer, misogynist and philosopher king.  Platner is embroiled in a scandal that just keeps getting weirder with every passing day but his poll numbers have been so strong up till now that the powers that be in the party have everyone from Sunny Hostin of the View to Chris Hayes of MS NOW playing along with Platner being what the party needs in Maine.  Now all of this is very interesting because Platner has a history of making disparaging statements about women and gays.  He also has a Nazi SS death’s head tattoo on his chest (although he has now tattooed over it).  Several of his girlfriends have described violent and controlling behavior toward them.  His wife has reported that he also has a history of “sexting” women on a service called Kik that is much frequented by Gen Z users.

But my all-time favorite detail about Mr. Platner is a remark he made to one of his girlfriends when describing what he would do if a man broke into his house.  He said he would the rape the man (but not in a “gay” way) to show his dominance.

Well, what can we say.  Graham Platner sounds like a certifiable mental case.  He has serious anger management problems and by his own admissions he’s a heavy drinker and drug user.  Sounds like the perfect Democrat Senate candidate for Maine.  As I mentioned above, Platner has been ahead of his Democrat rivals from the start so that the establishment candidate, the current Governor, Janet Mills, suspended her campaign.  And Platner is still higher in the polls than the Republican incumbent Susan Collins though that lead has lessened significantly.  But all of this negative publicity has rattled a lot of the Democrat establishment and Mills has reminded voters that she still appears on the primary ballot so if Platner is further damaged by scandal they can vote for her.  Also, even if Platner wins the primary on June 9th he can drop out of the race and the Democrats can pick another candidate for the regular election in November.  So right now, there is an enormous unsettled cloud over Platner’s status.  The Democrats are convinced that they must win in Maine in order to retake the Senate from the Republicans.

Well, this is wonderful.  Listening to feminists bending over backwards to explain how they can vote for a caveman misogynist against a woman is just too delicious to ignore.  And the best part is that the Democrats are frightened to death that there is still more dirty laundry waiting for after the drop-dead date on July 13th after which Platner’s name must stay on the ballot.

Now let me be clear.  I think of Susan Collins as a Democrat.  There is absolutely nothing conservative about her.  So, if Platner were to win in November I wouldn’t be too upset.  New England does not have a conservative constituency.  It should have the lousy communist politicians it deserves.  But it would be nice if we could squeak by without losing the House or the Senate in this midterm election.

Anyway, watching Chris Hayes making nice with a guy who claims he would rape a male home intruder in a non-gay way has to be an important milestone.  We’ve reached terminal Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) fallout.  At this point, I believe the Democrats would vote for Hitler himself if he promised to unseat Trump.  So good luck Mr. Platner.  And good luck to any burglars who may be working up there in Sullivan, Maine.  It sounds like a tricky proposition.

06JUN2026 – Quote of the Day

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It is my persuasion, that the liberties of Englishmen, being founded upon the general consent of all, must remain upon that basis, or must altogether cease to have any existence. We cannot confine liberty in this country to one class of men: we cannot erect here a senate of Venice, by which a small part of the community is enabled to lord it over the majority; we cannot in this land, and at this time make liberty the inheritance of a caste.

John Russell

What Would an Honest 60 Minutes Look Like?

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You know all this Scott Pelley comedy got me thinking.  What if 60 Minutes became a real honest to goodness investigative reporting show?  You know, like it’s claimed to be.  Watching the legacy media reporting on Pelley was hilarious because they all used exactly the same wording to describe just how venerable 60 Minutes is; “the gold standard of journalism,” “unbiased and non-partisan,” “acclaimed by both political parties.”  Of course, if anyone objective was within hearing of these claims, the eye-rolling was epic.

But imagine it for a moment.  What if 60 Minutes did an expose about Somalians in Minnesota running daycare scams to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars?  Or suppose they did an undercover investigation to find out which NGOs provide money, equipment and legal aid to Antifa?  Then they would really be doing something useful.  Even I would watch things like that.  Or could you imagine a detailed investigation into Gavin Newsom’s spending on high-speed rail and other boondoggles.  Or how about someone doing an audit on the “massaging” of the data used for the global warming studies?

Well, anyway, I don’t actually expect this level of honesty from legacy media but even if all they do is take a more balanced approach to interviewing political figures it would be a revelation.  Now the question remains whether a more even-handed approach to reporting would increase the market share for CBS.  Well, in my opinion, yes!  I used to watch 60 Minutes back in the ancient days before all of journalism became a leftist monolith.  Let’s say 1985 as a time when some vestigial fairness could still be found in the media.  If Bari Weiss succeeds in convincing the Right that she is willing to give respect to both sides of the country I think she can increase the audience by more than just a few percentage points.  And just as importantly if other networks see something like that it will make an impression.

Okay, that’s enough happy-happy talk.  We haven’t seen anything substantive yet.  Maybe all of this is just a way for Sky Dance to eliminate a lot of high-priced employees from their payroll.  I’m sure Scott Pelley was making eight figures and since they fired him for cause they don’t have to pay off his contract (as long as his lawyers don’t win in court).  But potentially this could be another case of the economics of angering fifty percent of the country leading to the collapse of another corporate dinosaur.  Just as Hollywood can’t both fight off new entertainment technology and also alienate more than half its audience, we may be seeing the breaking point for this crooked industry.  And isn’t it just poetic justice that it’s happening under the Trump administration.  Tonight, I saw a clip where a reporter asked Trump about Pelley and he said, “I think Scott Pelley’s got his own problems, he’s terrible. Look, Scott Pelley’s a stiff and he’s afraid, and he’s part of this, you know, gang of crooked, stupid people that don’t care about our country.”  Well, I think that sums things up admirably.  Hopefully from here it will get even funnier.

Goodbye Scott Pelley, We Hardly Knew Ye

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First Stephen Colbert and now Scott Pelley?  Has the whole of CBS gone topsy turvy?  The insufferable Pelley has been fired for cause from 60 Minutes after verbally assaulting his new boss (Executive Producer Nick Bilton) and the editor-in-chief of CBS News (Bari Weiss) at Bilton’s first staff meeting after taking over the news show.  During the meeting Pelley said to Bilton, “What qualifies you to be in this position?  …  You have slender qualifications for this job.”  He also accused Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes.

And then a day later he got the termination letter from Bilton, “Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” He described Pelley’s behavior in the meeting as a “performative display of hostility — enacted in front of the staff.  …  Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you.”

Pelley has been making accusations that Weiss ordered him “to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story” and “to include assertions that are unverified.”  He stated that “Incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc.”

Alright, suppose Pelley was my favorite journalist.  Would I then think he was right to say those things to his new boss?  Of course not!  Anyone who works for a large corporation knows that you don’t call out your boss and especially not at a staff meeting and you definitely don’t tell him he’s unqualified for the job.  You don’t do it even if he is unqualified for the job.  You can try to make your point of view known in a respectful and convincing way or you can keep quiet and send your resume out to the headhunters right after the meeting.  But calling your new boss and his boss idiots or crooks is a very, very bad strategy.  It will not only get you fired, it will get you black-balled in your industry.  I guess Pelley thought he was bullet proof.  I guess he wasn’t.  Bye Scott.

So, what does all this mean?  It sounds to me that Bari Weiss is making a decent attempt to turn CBS News into a news organization again instead of a propaganda machine for the Democrat party and the Left in general.  I’ve got to say I’m stunned!  What next?  Will Donald Trump get an honest to goodness interview without the usual “Mr. President, are you still beating your wife?” question?

Well, even if nothing more gets done this is a spectacular result.  Personally, I think they’ve been hoping to trigger Pelley into something like this because ending his contract will save them many millions of dollars and their bloated budgets are probably the real focus of Sky Dance and their efforts to make Paramount profitable.  Well, whatever the real reason my hope is it continues and accelerates.  There is no shortage of insufferable journalists at CBS and firing another dozen or two can only make life in these here United States that much better.