California GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton expresses confidence in his bid for governor and criticizes Democratic one-party rule

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRdxcQqRw70

Russia greets generously Andrew Tate and Candace Owens to their economic conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMYegn3isLE

MAGA Voice

@MAGAVoice

🚨 JUST IN: SecWar Pete Hegseth and NASA Chief Jared Isaacman honor our true Heroes at the 82nd anniversary of D-Day in France

Gives me absolute CHILLS

Such a beautiful moment ❤️

https://x.com/MAGAVoice/status/2063208204461539588

Andrew Tate’s bizarre trip to Russia shows how ridiculous Putin has become

What is the difference between a useful idiot and a fellow traveller? For the record, "useful idiots" (a term coined not by Vladimir Lenin but first used mockingly in Britain against Russian nihilists of the 1860s) are unaware that they are being used for propaganda purposes by sinister regimes. Fellow travellers, on the other hand, are well aware but don't care.

In Soviet times, world-class celebrities such as Pablo Picasso, George Bernard Shaw, John Steinbeck, André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre and John Dos Passos all made carefully orchestrated trips to admire the achievements of the mighty USSR.

Most of these Commie-curious pilgrims were deeply impressed. "Tomorrow I leave this land of hope," wrote Shaw in 1931 after a luxury river cruise and a visit to Stalin in the Kremlin, "and return to our Western countries – the countries of despair." Others later became disillusioned. But for 70 years Kremlin propagandists were able to enlist a sizeable chunk of the West's intellectuals to their cause.

Compare and contrast to the kind of fellow travellers that Russia attracts today. Like a failing music hall in a blighted British seaside town, the Kremlin is reduced to desperately booking its panto acts exclusively from a Z-list of malcontents, grifters, provocateurs and convicted sex criminals.

This week, a motley crew of Westerners, all self-professed Putin fanboys and girls, appeared at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) to express their solidarity with Holy Russia. Among them were manosphere influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who face charges in Romania and Britain for alleged rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain.

The brothers, who deny any wrongdoing, were welcomed at the airport by a posse of beautiful young girls in traditional Russian dress bearing bread and salt while a patriotic anthem played, suggesting that the Kremlin's PR managers are not only boomers stuck in the 1980s but are also deaf to irony.

American Right-wing influencer Candace Owens was at the forum too, as was the Kremlin's favourite action hero Steven Seagal, beloved among pensioners as the star of history's cheesiest karate movies. Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector and convicted paedophile, attended in his capacity as a prominent pro-Kremlin voice.

Former German chancellor and Gazprom board member Gerhard Schröder was the most senior European while the top American was Rodney Mims Cook Jr, Trump's Chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts, best known as the impresario of the new White House ballroom. Cook attended, insisted the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, in an unofficial capacity.

Sadly for Putin, the grand opening of the forum was disrupted by a squadron of Ukrainian long-range bomber drones which buzzed low over the city before slamming into an oil and gas export terminal. Vast plumes of black smoke billowed into the skies, clearly visible from the conference venue – though the usual air raid sirens were switched off so as not to alarm the guests. An official delegation from the Taliban, all in traditional robes, must have been disconcerted to find St Petersburg more dangerous than Kabul.

Once, Putin's pet forum attracted Wall Street banks and European leaders hoping to integrate Russia into the global economic order. This year the heads of state to attend were the presidents of Uzbekistan, Tanzania and Abkhazia – a breakaway region of Georgia recognised as a state only by Russia, Venezuela, Syria, Nauru, and Nicaragua (Tuvalu and Vanuatu withdrew their support).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/andrew-tate-bizarre-trip-russia-154249703.html

Ukrainian drones target St Petersburg in attack Russia calls 'unprecedented'

Russian authorities say Ukraine has launched an "unprecedented attack" on and around St Petersburg, as the city hosts the final day of Russia's annual economic forum.

More than 140 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region, governor Aleksandr Drozdenko said, while the city's governor, Alexander Beglov, urged residents to remain indoors for the first time since the war began more than four years ago.

Ukraine's president said his forces had hit Russia's arsenals and a naval base in what he called a just response to Russian attacks.

It comes a day after Vladimir Putin told the forum there was no point in meeting Volodymyr Zelensky, who had called for direct talks on ending the war.

Governor Drozdenko said Ukraine's attacks had caused a fire at an unspecified military facility, and that residents had been evacuated. He also said buildings had sustained "insignificant" damage.

Zelensky said his country's drones had covered a distance of 1,000km (620 miles) to the St Petersburg region, targeting "the enemy navy's arsenals and a base in Kronstadt". The main outpost of the Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet is located in Kronstadt.

According to Zelensky, an oil depot 500km (310 miles) away, in the southern Krasnodar region, was also hit as part of Ukraine's "long-range sanctions" - a euphemism for strikes on Russia.

The commander of one of the Ukrainian units involved in the drone strikes told the BBC that it was very easy to hit targets inside Russia.

"We fly in Russia like it's our own territory. Almost no resistance, not hard to reach a target," Yevhen Karas, commander of the 413th regiment Raid of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said.

These latest attacks follow Ukrainian strikes on the outskirts of St Petersburg as Putin's flagship economic forum was getting under way just days earlier.

The major forum, designed to attract foreign investment into the country, drew thousands of guests from 130 countries, including a low-key US delegation - the first for many years.

In his open letter to Putin on Thursday, Zelensky called for a ceasefire and face-to-face negotiations with the Russian leader to end the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

He wrote that it would be "wrong to simply wait" for the conflict to once again become the focus of US attention. President Donald Trump has been involved in efforts to mediate an end to the conflict, but the war with Iran has recently taken precedence.

Speaking at the economic forum on Friday, Putin refused the request for a meeting with Zelensky and reiterated his position that a truce would only allow Ukraine to regroup.

He said he would only end the war when Russia's goals had been met.

Russia's long-standing position is that Ukraine should withdraw from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions it has largely seized, as well as abandon efforts to join Nato.

Ukraine has refused to give up any territory, arguing that concessions to Moscow would embolden it to invade again in the future.

In his message on Saturday, the Ukrainian president said it was "time to end this war", but accused Russia's leader of wanting to "keep fighting".

Zelensky is expected to visit the UK on Sunday, for talks with some of Ukraine's staunchest European allies - Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

In the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, the Moscow-installed authorities say they have suspended coach services on two motorways following a campaign of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian logistics.

They urged local residents not to use them "for security reasons".

The Russia-backed administration also banned commuter train services and transportation of groups of children within Luhansk.

Putin has said Russia is in full control of the so-called "Luhansk People's Republic".

In recent weeks, Ukraine's drone forces have been hitting occupied parts of Ukraine, with officials saying they are targeting Russian logistics.

An analyst told the BBC that more than 200 lorries and over 30 fuel trucks had been hit since the beginning of May.

In the four years since Russia's invasion began, Ukraine has developed its defence sector.

Kyiv is now able to regularly hit targets within Russia. It has focused its efforts on energy infrastructure and oil facilities, which it sees as fuelling Moscow's war machine.

Russia has accused Kyiv of targeting civilians.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7498kz808o

Eric Daugherty

@EricLDaugh

🚨 JUST IN: Incredible moment as SecWar Pete Hegseth just STEPPED OFF the plane in France to honor WWII Veterans at the Normandy Cemetery ceremony 🙏🏻

They are SO GLAD Pete is there!

He cares. This is why morale is so high 🇺🇸

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2063224598410190989

Eric Daugherty

@EricLDaugh

🚨 IT'S OFFICIAL: The US Supreme Court could be on the verge of STRIKING DOWN California's "election month" and late mail-in ballot shenanigans

A case has ALREADY BEEN HEARD and multiple states' mail-in laws may be null and void soon. MAKE IT HAPPEN 🔥

"There is a Supreme Court case pending. Right now the courts already heard it. We're waiting at this end of the term in June. We get all of these last decisions. The big ones. This one came out of Mississippi and it deals with a state law that says how long you can count ballots after Election Day."

"If they're postmarked what the grace period is there…it's certainly something that could be a big resounding ripple effect across the country based on what they decide Mississippi."

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2062901312631583126

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche discusses the discovery of a sophisticated drug-smuggling tunnel and the FBI’s ongoing efforts to combat fraud

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aOdIqjlF8A