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Happy Friday, Wake Up Right fam! I’m a lifelong Knicks fan. One of my earliest sports memories is sitting with my dad, watching them get beat by the Rockets in the 1994 Finals.
I promise it’s not my bias speaking here… But if you don’t have a dog in the race, allow me to make the patriotic case for jumping on the Knicks bandwagon:
During the National Anthem in Game 1, Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama stood with his arms folded.
Now, to be fair to the kid... he is French, not American. But do you really wanna root for the team with the crossed-arm frog?
Support the Knicks. Support America. 🇺🇸
🚀 SpaceX targets a $135 share price for its IPO
🗓 On this day in 1968, RFK was assassinated
💣 Defense manufacturing orders are up 53% from 2025
📈 Trump approval avg: 40.3% approve, 57.1% disapprove
New York replaces ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’
New York Democrats just passed a bill stripping "mother" and "father" out of state family law – replacing them with gender-neutral terms like "gestating parent" – and it's one Kathy Hochul signature away from the books.
The details: The 15,000-word bill cleared the Assembly in March and the state Senate this week, and now sits on the governor's desk. It rewrites terminology across family court, domestic relations, and education law.
"Mother" becomes "gestating parent."
"Father" becomes "non-gestating parent" or just "parent."
"Paternity" and "filiation" cases get renamed "parentage" proceedings.
A "putative father" [the unconfirmed dad] becomes an "alleged parent."
What the left is saying: Democrats say the rewrite modernizes the law for same-sex couples, adoptive families, and surrogacy.
What the right is saying: GOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman called it a "declaration of war on New York families." Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick blasted the bill, saying, "I am a mother and proud to be called 'mother.'"
What's next: Hochul – who brands herself New York's "first mom governor" – has 10 days to sign or veto, and dodged when asked, saying she wasn't "familiar" with it. If signed, the changes take effect Nov. 1.
Big picture: This doesn't change a single parental right, obligation, or custody outcome. It's pure vocabulary. So while New Yorkers are squeezed by high taxes and crime, Democrats decided the words "mother" and "father" were the problem worth solving. Priorities….
[Source: NY Post, Washington Examiner]
5 Stocks Redefining the Defense Technology Sector
Defense spending is at its highest point in decades, and the companies capturing those dollars have changed. A new class of contractors is winning Pentagon business with AI-driven systems, satellite infrastructure, and advanced aerospace technology. This free research report profiles five of them. You'll find what each company does, why it's winning contracts, and what the growth case looks like from an investor's perspective. These aren't household names yet. That's the point. Download the free report and see why analysts are paying attention to this corner of the market before the rest of Wall Street catches on.
Meet Graham Planter, the Nazi tattoo creep running for Senate in Maine
Graham Platner was supposed to be the Democrats' best shot at flipping a Republican Senate seat in Maine. Instead, the first-time candidate has buried his own campaign under a scandal pile so deep his party has stopped pretending to keep track.
Who is Planter? He’s a 41-year-old Marin and Army National Guard veteran turned oyster farmer who entered the race as a political unknown before shooting up the polls riding a populist, anti-establishment pitch.
The details: Platner is now the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins, and the party establishment is lining up behind him.
The scandals: Almost every week of his campaign has surfaced a new revelation about him. Here are some of the big ones:
A chest tattoo resembling the Totenkopf, the Nazi SS death's-head symbol. He says he got it drunk in Croatia in 2007 and didn't know its meaning. He's since covered it.
Reports he sent explicit texts to multiple women while married, using Kik – an anonymous app long flagged for child-safety failures. His wife discovered the messages and told a campaign aide last August; she has not denied the infidelity.
Thousands of deleted Reddit posts under the handle "P-Hustle," where he called himself a communist, pushed "all cops are bastards," downplayed military sexual assault, and said a service member who took enemy fire "didn't deserve to live."
A resurfaced video appears to show Planter smear late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, accusing him of inflating his record by shooting civilians.
A 2020 post bragging about buying cocaine while backpacking on military leave – conduct the Marine Corps bans outright.
Jumping ship: Planter's campaign manager, political director, and finance director have all quit. And the campaign is frantically offering NDAs and $15,000 to departing staffers.
Zoom out: This Maine race will be critical to which party controls the Senate in November.
What are Dems saying? Sen. Bernie Sanders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren are sticking with Platner, casting the scandals as gossip and GOP smears.
Sen. John Fetterman rejects Planter – flatly refusing to "carry water" for him.
The last word goes to Fetterman, who said: "The one good thing you can say about the guy is that he has so many offensive things that it's hard to keep up with it."
[Source: Fox News]
Today’s story comes from Chris.
On the shelf in my office I have two small wooden figurines. One is a small goat. The other is a fjord horse. Both of which were carved by my then eight year-old great grandfather as he traveled on a steam ship from Norway.
Just before the turn of the century in the late 1800’s, he and his parents immigrated LEGALLY, to the frontier of Western Washington to be loggers and boat builders. He worked in the old growth forests felling trees that were often three of his body lengths wide at the base.
When the United States enter World War I, he was drafted by the US Army. When he reported to basic training, they asked him what he did for a living. They put him in an army uniform and sent him right back out to the old growth logging operation. As it happened, the leading edge of World War I by plane, wings were old growth spruce.
He is remembered for his pride of being an American and saying the pledge of allegiance with a thick Norwegian accent.
ICYMI: We’re reclaiming June as American PRIDE Month — a celebration of the country we love, the people who built it, and the stories that remind us why America is worth defending.
Got a story about why you’re proud to be an American? Reply to this email and send it my way. I’ll feature my favorites all month long.
⛏ The Trump administration is investing $700 million to fund coal plants and a new export terminal in California to bring down energy prices and the cost of living. Read more.
🤡 Four Senate Republicans—Collins, Murkowski, McConnell, and Tillis—joined Democrats to block the SAVE Act from reconciliation again, sinking Trump’s voter ID push as the GOP focuses on funding immigration enforcement priorities. Read more.
✅ Senate Republicans passed their $70 billion immigration enforcement bill early Friday, beating back several attempts to rein in the Justice Department’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” Read more.
🆘 A homeless man named Olumuyiwa Akindahunsi followed several female UCLA students into their dormitories and sexually assaulted them in their rooms and hallways. Read more.
🇺🇦 The U.S. House voted to send an $8 billion aid package to Ukraine on the same day it passed a war powers resolution against President Trump over Iran. Read more.
🩻 A coroner will examine whether police actions or delays contributed to the death of 18-year-old White student Henry Nowak, who was stabbed by a Sikh man in England. Read more.
❎ Former Trump National Security Advisor turned anti-Trump activist John Bolton is expected to plead guilty to mishandling classified documents, agreeing to a felony charge and a $2 million fine. Read more.
🚗 Freedom Caucus lawmakers are celebrating the passage of a provision to block Biden-era vehicle surveillance mandates that would have put government-accessible “kill switch” technology into every car. Read more.
📜 The FBI released a "Most Wanted Fraudsters" list as the Trump administration launches a nationwide fraud crackdown. Read more.
🚣 The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a vessel carrying 240 Haitian nationals attempting to reach the United States. They were all sent home. Read more.
Legally access SpaceX before it goes public?
It's possible—if you know the access paths most people don't know exist. Discover what retail investors can legally access before a company goes public and the positioning strategies to use before volatility begins.
🎥 The sister of slain teen Henry Nowak posted this heartbreaking video on TikTok with the caption “Will miss and love you forever.” Watch.
🎥 Little weirdo foreigner, Congressman gets OWNED by Sec. Mullins. Watch.
🎥 Rubio trolls transgender congressman. Watch.
🎥 Marco Rubio explains who controls Cuba. Watch.
🎥 Is this toxic white masculinity? Man carries a trapped baby moose to safety. Watch.
🎥 NYC City Hall throws a massive PRIDE Ball... Watch.
🎥 Democrat lawmaker is left SPEECHLESS by Scott Bessent's basic history question. Watch.
🎥 Trump clashes with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins. Watch.
🎥 Democrat Sen. Fetterman goes SCORCHED EARTH on his party’s Nazi candidate in Maine, Graham Platner. Watch.
🎥 Nancy Pelosi MELTS DOWN when a reporter who works for the “Pillow Man” confronts her with her own words. Watch. This was incredible LMAO.
