THE NEWS

Peabo Bryson, the voice behind Disney songs “A Whole New World” and “Beauty and the Beast,” has died. He was 75.According to a family statement shared with the Associated Press, Bryson died on Tuesday after suffering from a stroke.”We are tremendously moved by the outpouring of love, prayers and support from fans, friends, and colleagues around the world,” the statement began.”While our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit. His legacy and music will live on for generations to come,” it concluded.ROBERTA FLACK, ‘KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG’ SINGER, DEAD AT 88In 2019, Bryson suffered from a heart attack, but made a full recovery.Bryson is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter known for his smooth voice, romantic ballads, and award-winning duets.Born Robert Peapo Bryson on April 13, 1951, in Greenville, South Carolina, he began performing professionally as a teenager and went on to become one of the most respected male vocalists in contemporary R&B. He is an eight-time Grammy nominee.In the 80s, Bryson rose to fame after releasing hits such as, “Feel the Fire,” “Reaching for the Sky, “I’m So into You,” “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again” and “Can You Stop the Rain.”LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSBryson is especially famous for these stand-out duets: “Beauty and the Beast” with Céline Dion, “A Whole New World” with Regina Bell and “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” with Roberta Flack.Over a career spanning more than five decades, Bryson recorded more than 20 studio albums and earned a reputation as the “King of Balladeers” because of his powerful, emotional performances and romantic style.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTERBryson was married to Tanya Boniface Bryson, a former member of the British R&B girl group The 411. The couple married in July 2010 and welcomed a son in 2018 when he was 66.He also has a daughter, Linda Bryson, from a previous relationship.

Democratic senators attending a closed-door meeting with Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner on Tuesday brushed off questions about the controversies engulfing his campaign, with some expressing confidence in his chances.Platner made a crisis trip to Washington, D.C. to meet with Democratic senators a week before his primary election on June 9 as his campaign continues to face questions over his alleged sexting scandals and resurfaced online posts.”I’m very confident we are going to win Maine,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told reporters outside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee building when asked if she still supports the progressive candidate.DEM SENATORS DEFLECT QUESTIONS ON PLATNER’S SCANDAL-PLAGUED CAMPAIGN: ‘NOT FOLLOWING THAT RACE CLOSELY’Pressed on whether she had confidence in Platner, Gillibrand replied, “I do. I have confidence that we are going to win Maine and I have no doubt.”Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., defended Platner, pointing to the millions of dollars being spent on advertising in Maine targeting the Democratic candidate.”All I can tell you is that the wealthiest people in this country have now reserved close to $100 million in TV ads in a small state like Maine,” Sanders said. “So what are the billionaires worried about? Why are they spending so much money trying to defeat this guy?””The answer is that he’s going to stand up to the oligarchies,” he concluded ahead of the sit-down with Platner.SANDERS SAYS PLATNER HAS THE ‘GUTS’ TO FIGHT BILLIONAIRES DESPITE GROWING SCANDAL PILEUPMeanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., declined to answer questions from reporters about the controversies surrounding Platner’s campaign as she entered the meeting at DSCC headquarters.Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., for his part, said the decision is “going to be up to voters in Maine.”Asked whether he believes the moderate jurisdiction will back Platner, the Vermont senator replied, “We’ll see.”Among the controversies facing the leading Democratic candidate is a Wall Street Journal report that his wife discovered sexually explicit text exchanges with multiple women just months after they were married in 2024.In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, Platner said, “Amy and I went through something hard — because of me.”SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER SENT EXPLICIT TEXTS TO MULTIPLE WOMEN WHILE MARRIED, WIFE SAYS: REPORT”We did the work, and I’m grateful for her every hour of every day,” he added. “I’ve learned throughout this campaign is that people don’t care about gossip or headlines, they care that you’re fighting for their hospitals, their paycheck, their kids.”A Kik account appearing to belong to Platner featuring a sexually suggestive photo of Platner posing shirtless with only a towel wrapped around his waist was found. However, his campaign told Fox News Digital that the account was created while he was single and “has long been deleted from his phone.”The Marine Corps veteran has also faced criticism over a Nazi-linked tattoo and resurfaced online posts, including a 2019 Reddit post that said Purple Heart veteran Teddy Daniels “didn’t deserve to live.”Platner will face David Costello in Maine’s Democratic Senate primary on June 9. The winner will take on five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the general election.

Montage over Wiki Commons image
Many people have had quite enough of Jeffrey Epstein updates for a lifetime or more.
This new report will perhaps be a bit too much for some.
But the New York Times reported (behind a paywall) that way before Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘suicide’, he took steps to preserve his sperm – yeah, sorry about that.
“Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019, but his genetic material may live on.”
Is Epstein’s genetic material still banked? – Image US DOJ
Newly released US Justice Department files reveal emails and records showing that Epstein was banking his sperm at California Cryobank for several years.
He deposited ‘samples’ sometime before October 2012 and signed a new storage contract in 2016.
“The contract specified that, if he died, his sperm would fall under the control of his estate or of another legal representative. […] It’s unclear whether Mr. Epstein’s sperm is still being preserved — and, if so, where.”
His idea of a date – Epstein forces himself over redacted victim – DOJ
California Cryobank announced that it ‘does not currently store any samples associated with Jeffrey Epstein’.
His ‘banking’ initiative occurred during his 2008 guilty plea to ‘soliciting prostitution from a minor’, but way earlier than his 2019 ‘suicide’ awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Business as usual in Epstein’s house: a redacted woman in a bikini crawls under the table
“Kimberly Mutcherson, a professor at Rutgers Law School who studies reproductive technology and bioethics, said that whether it was ethical for a sperm bank to accept sperm from a sex offender was a matter of debate in the fertility industry.”
Read more:
BOOM: Judge Orders Over 100 of Child Predator Jeffrey Epstein’s High Profile Associates to Be Revealed in Next 14 Days – Several Names Linked to Epstein are Emerging – Will Bill Clinton and Bill Gates Be Mentioned?

The post EVIL SEED: Jeffrey Epstein Kept His Sperm in a Cryobank – Genetic Material from Sex Offender May Still Be Preserved appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

US Treasury Sanctions Iran’s Largest Crypto Exchange

Peace talks appear stalled, or even halted completely – despite President Trump’s denials – and the US Department of Treasury is still swinging hard, as part of the ongoing effort to bring about economic collapse in Iran and ‘solve’ the Hormuz Strait shipping crisis.

In the latest installment of Washington’s economic whac-a-mole, the US on Tuesday unveiled sanctions on Iran’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange – and several others, for allegedly enabling the Iranian government and blacklisted state institutions to thwart US and EU sanctions.

The largest platform, identified as Nobitex, is believed to have assisted in allowing hundreds of millions of dollars to pour into Iran’s central bank and the ⁠Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as a sanctions work-around and parallel financial system.
via Shutterstock 

“While Iran’s economy is in free ⁠fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda, including evading sanctions and transferring wealth out of the country,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in announcing the new action.

“Following the commencement of U.S. combat operations in Iran, Nobitex played a role in protecting and moving assets and funds out of Iran to shield regime ‌wealth despite ​internet blackouts,” the statement added.

Nobitex rejected that it has direct government connections and denied that it has been assisting state institutions. It also said it did nothing to conceal the identities of the owners.

As for ownership, Reuters has documented:

…Nobitex is controlled by two brothers from one of Iran’s most ​powerful families, with close ‌ties to the new supreme leader. The two are members of the Kharrazi family, one of the most influential dynasties ‌in the Islamic Republic. Corporate records show that when the exchange started, the brothers were listed under a surname rarely used by members of the family.

The brothers were named by the Treasury as Seyed Mohammad ‌Ali Aghamir Mohammad Ali ⁠and Seyed Mohammad Aghamir Mohammad Ali, who were also subject to individual sanctions, along with the exchange’s chief executive officer, Amir ⁠Hossein Rad.

Last Friday Bessent detailed how the US has seized a total of $1 billion in Iranian cryptocurrency assets to date as part of the economic component of President Trump’s Operation Epic Fury.

During a speech before the Reagan National Economic Forum, Bessent stated:

“Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and might not realize their wallet had been grabbed.”

Assets are held “on behalf of the Iranian people” – he described, while framing that the Iranian government had ‘stolen’ the money from the Iranian populace.

Did this action help fuel BTC’s crashing well below $68K on Tuesday?

Today’s sanctions against Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex target the Iranian digital asset exchanges responsible for at least 72% of all Iranian digital asset inflows in 2025.
Remember that much of the crypto going into Iran has flowed through Binance over the years. With… https://t.co/5SiHwTTGVC
— Max Meizlish (@maxmeizlish) June 2, 2026
As we’ve featured before, for ordinary Iranians – roughly one in six of the population – crypto served as a vital lifeline. Facing relentless rial depreciation (down nearly 90 percent since 2018), chronic inflation of 40 to 50 percent, and frequent power blackouts or internet shutdowns during protests, citizens turned to Bitcoin and stablecoins like U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins (USDT) on the Tron network to hedge savings, facilitate remittances, and move value when traditional banking failed. Spikes in Bitcoin withdrawals to personal wallets often coincided with domestic unrest and regional conflicts.

Yet this parallel financial system has also become a powerful tool for the state. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) steadily tightened its grip on Iran’s crypto flows. IRGC-linked addresses received more than $3 billion in 2025—up from over $2 billion in 2024—with their share rising to more than 50 percent of total Iranian crypto inflows by the end of 2025. These figures represent conservative lower bounds based only on identified and sanctioned wallets.

Washington in the meantime is still entertaining dreams of sparking some kind of anti-regime uprising based on applying the economic squeeze to the Iranian system, but apart from unrest back in January, this has utterly failed to materialize. 

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/02/2026 – 20:30

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche believes President Donald Trump would have “absolutely” faced prison time if he had not won the 2024 presidential election.Blanche led Trump’s defense team in the infamous hush money trial in 2024 when he was convicted of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic performer, in the lead-up to the 2016 election to silence her about an alleged affair. The acting attorney general told “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” that Trump evaded time behind bars after being convicted of 34 felonies by winning the presidency.”[Trump] was convicted on 34 felony charges,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said. “So, is it an accurate statement to say, ‘He either wins in 2024, wins the White House—it’s either the White House or the big house?’””Yes. I mean — oh, yeah, absolutely,” Blanche replied.GREGG JARRETT: TRUMP THE VICTIM, NOT VILLAIN, AS LAWFARE WAR AGAINST HIM CRUMBLES”He had a D.C. case breathing down his neck. He had the Florida case, which had been dismissed, but they were appealing it,” the AG continued. “And then he had a judge in New York. There’s no scenario in which he wasn’t going to send President Trump to prison—and he didn’t after the president won.”Trump’s conviction of 34 felony counts marked the first criminal conviction of a current or former U.S. president.The judge granted Trump an unconditional discharge, which affirmed his status as a convicted felon while sparing him from further penalties, fines or jail time.ERIC TRUMP REVEALS WHAT HIS FATHER TOLD HIM AFTER 34-COUNT FELONY CONVICTION IN NEW YORKThe Manhattan District Attorney’s office described Trump’s crimes as “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal his illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election.”Blanche called the 34 felony counts an “incredible travesty” and alleged prosecutors used “tainted” evidence that had been rejected by the Southern District of New York (SDNY) to convict Trump.TRUMP ATTORNEYS FILE MOTION TO DISMISS ‘FAILED LAWFARE’ CASE IN NEW YORK, CITING HUNTER BIDEN PARDON”They had to use all kinds of novel legal theories, including claiming that it was a campaign contribution, that it clearly was not,” Blanche claimed.”It was before the election, had nothing to do with the election. The payments started after the election,” he added.The acting AG argued that Trump would not have faced federal prosecution had he not launched a presidential campaign.”If he had decided not to run, all of this, none of this would have happened,” Hannity asserted.”Without a doubt,” Blanche affirmed. “And those smug prosecutors would say, ‘Oh no, this has nothing to do with the fact that he’s running.’ All right. Yeah, you should work on that in the mirror.”Blanche claimed it was “impossible” for Trump’s trial to be fair and impartial, alleging that jurors were predisposed against the president.TRUMP JUDGE UNDER FIRE FOR DELAYS: LONGEST ‘PERFORMANCE’ IN HISTORY, SAYS LEGAL EXPERT”What the judge in that case did, not only in the way the jury was selected — which basically made it impossible to have anybody that was fair and impartial in the jury – [he] basically encouraged… anybody that came in the courtroom, that they could just leave,” he said.”So, the only people that stayed are the people that see President Trump there and really want to go after him. And so, we had a jury that was not a jury of his peers.”Blanche said the impact of Trump’s 312-226 victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 was significant for him personally and for the country.”The consequences of 2024 for this country are priceless. But for him and his family, also priceless,” he said.Check out Sean Hannity’s full, wide-ranging interview with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on the latest episode of “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” now available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple.

They’re not sending their best… pic.twitter.com/AFUFTQEzMU
— Victor Nieves (@ItsVictorNieves) June 2, 2026

It seems that you cannot throw a rock into a group of leftwing protestors without hitting someone who allegedly commits heinous crimes against children.
The man accused of biting an ICE officer was previously accused of distributing child pornography.
The Gateway Pundit reported,
Acting Attorney General Blanche shared the following after the arrest:  “Today @TheJusticeDept charged rioter Brendan John Geier for allegedly kicking and biting ICE officers at Delaney Hall last night. We will not tolerate the vicious attacks on ICE officers we’ve seen in New Jersey the last few days. These riots are clearly not ‘peaceful protests’ as you can see from the photos of these horrific wounds. Assault a federal officer, you’ll be held accountable.”
The Justice Department has confirmed to The New York Post that Geier, of Madison, New Jersey, was previously charged with sexual abuse of children related to the dissemination and possession of child pornography in Pennsylvania.
In 2019, the Berks County District Attorney’s Office shared, “On September 21, 2018, the Berks County Detectives received a complaint from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC.)This complaint involved the possession and uploading of child pornography through “Skype” on September 17, 2018.”
If he is convicted in the case of biting the ICE officer he could do up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
They truly are not sending their best.
The post Victor Reacts: Why Are So Many Left-Wing Protesters Allegedly Creeps? (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Trump Signs AI ‘Cyber Defense’ Executive Order

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,

AI companies would be required to submit their frontier models on a voluntary review basis before public releases.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 2 intended to address cybersecurity threats posed by artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the new frontier models being released by major industry players.

Signed in private, the order allows some AI firms to submit their cutting-edge frontier models to a voluntary government review 30 days before a full public release.

That would entail “provid[ing] the Federal Government with access to covered frontier models, subject to appropriate confidentiality, cybersecurity, insider-risk, and intellectual-property protection, use, and nondisclosure requirements, for a period of up to 30 days before they plan to release such models to other trusted partners.”

The order also gives the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Office of Management and Budget, and other related agencies 30 days to “expedite and prioritize the cyber defense of civilian Federal Government information systems” and establish or expand a federal program that would “enhance AI-enabled defensive tools.”

Trump’s order also creates an “AI cybersecurity clearinghouse” that would function in “voluntary collaboration” with the AI industry and other critical infrastructure operators. The goal would be to scan for software vulnerabilities in frontier AI models while prioritizing “remediation and distribution of vulnerability patches.”

Trump had planned to sign a previous version of this executive order, but said on May 21 that he would delay the signing after becoming dissatisfied with “certain aspects of it.”

Earlier that month, the Commerce Department’s Center for AI Standards and Innovation announced partnerships with AI giants Google, Microsoft, and xAI to test their new frontier models for potential security risks ahead of full public releases.

Cybersecurity concerns over frontier AI models surged after Anthropic on April 7 announced its Claude Mythos Preview model, which is not yet publicly available due to the company’s concerns that bad actors could use it to find critical software exploits.

The Trump administration had previously moved to ban Anthropic from doing business with the federal government after the company refused to grant the Pentagon unrestricted access to its Claude models, stating that it was concerned they would be used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, which the Pentagon denies.

Despite the ban, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark said in April that he had been in talks with the Trump administration over Claude Mythos Preview.

The Alliance for Secure AI, a nonprofit that “educates the public about the implications of advanced AI,” on June 2 called for Congress to codify Trump’s executive order to “create a legal framework that makes federal government review of advanced AI models mandatory.”

Trump’s executive order allows AI companies to submit their frontier models to government review on a voluntary basis.

“After the national security wake-up call from advanced AI models like Mythos, we are pleased to see that the Trump administration is taking the risks of these models seriously. However, we know that Big Tech will still try to cut corners on safety and security,” Brendan Steinhauser, CEO of The Alliance for Secure AI, said in a statement.

“The next AI models will be even more powerful and will pose even bigger threats to our country than Mythos. These companies need oversight and cannot be trusted to do the right thing voluntarily.”

Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/02/2026 – 20:05

Nick Pasqual was sentenced Tuesday to more than three decades behind bars for the 2024 stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, Allie Shehorn.The “How I Met Your Mother” actor was found guilty last month in a Los Angeles court of attempted murder and forcible rape for stabbing Shehorn more than 20 times at her Sunland home.Additionally, a jury found Pasqual guilty of first-degree residential burglary and multiple counts of injuring a spouse, cohabitant, fiance’s, boyfriend, girlfriend or child’s parent.’HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER ACTOR’ NICK PASQUAL CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER FOR STABBING EX-GIRLFRIENDPasqual, 36, was first arrested for domestic violence on May 18, 2024, and was later released on $50,000 bond, according to People magazine.Shehorn’s friend, Jed Dornoff, told the magazine at the time that “as soon as he paid his bail, he came after her.”CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTERShehorn, a Hollywood makeup artist, took the stand with scars on her neck and arms while recounting the violent night with Pasqual, according to ABC7.”I locked the door and he just started punching holes in that door and broke that open,” the outlet reported. “I just ran into the bathroom because I thought there’s another lock on that door.”The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that Shehorn had filed a restraining order against Pasqual days before he broke into her home and stabbed her an estimated 20 times.LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSShehorn was found by her friend, Christine White, who told The Los Angeles Times, “I just told her to keep her hand on her throat to stop the bleeding.”Shehorn suffered injuries to her throat, back, chest and wrists and underwent 14 hours of surgery. She later spent multiple days in the intensive care unit.Following the attack, Pasqual allegedly fled California, and was detained at the United States/Mexico border in Sierra Blanca, Texas, according to the District Attorney’s Office.Fox News Digital’s Lori Bashian contributed to this report.

What do you do after letting loose and putting on what one of the sharpest eyes for talent around described as a dominant performance during Miami Swim Week? If you’re Kristin Cavallari, you share that story about the time you went on a couple of dates with an A-lister, and he took his junk out in front of you.That’s going to get people talking. The reality star turned podcaster, and sometimes bikini model, said during the latest episode of her “Let’s Be” Honest podcast that she went on two dates at the Sunset Tower Hotel and the Beverly Hills Hotel roughly four years ago “with a very famous man.”He turned out to be a very famous man with a bizarre go-to move of exposing himself to his dates. The dates up to that point were solid, according to Kristin. She said, reports

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville and his co-host Al Hunt mocked the Democratic Party’s recent 2024 election autopsy last week, saying the reasons their party lost are glaringly obvious.A year and a half after the 2024 election, the Democratic National Committee released a whopping 192-page report purporting to explain how their party failed in keeping the presidency and in races across the country. Carville and Hunt, both of whom have warned time and time again how the Democratic Party needs to abandon its “woke” policies, criticized the report. “The supposedly much awaited Democratic autopsy on 2024 came out. To call it a total dud would be to elevate it,” Hunt said on the “Politics War Room” podcast. “It avoided—it didn’t mention Biden’s age. It didn’t mention Gaza. It didn’t mention Kamala Harris’s campaign problems.”LIBERAL NY TIMES COLUMNIST ROASTS DEM ELECTION AUTOPSY AS ‘RIDICULOUS,’ SAYS AI COULD HAVE DONE A BETTER JOBWhile Hunt said there may be some value to studying issues like digital ad placement, he said that his ultimate takeaways were because President Biden waited too long to get out of the race and that Harris wasn’t a good candidate. “Completely agree with you,” Carville replied. “If there’s one fact about the 2024 election that you need to autopsy above all, and it’s this: From Labor Day to election day, the Harris campaign had available and spent $2 billion. I don’t think we got a vote on election day that we weren’t going to get on Labor Day anyway. Why wouldn’t you want to know?”Carville clarified that he is not suggesting anybody skimmed money by any means, but rather he wants to know why the money was spent so ineffectively to the point it failed to reach persuadable voters.”Clearly, this was the most ineffective $2 billion ever spent. How was it allocated? Why didn’t it do any good? Is there a way that we could have done it better? There has to be,” he said.HARRIS CAMPAIGN REPORTEDLY SPENT 6 FIGURES ON ‘CALL HER DADDY’ PODCAST WITH FEWER THAN 1 MILLION YOUTUBE VIEWS”When an airplane crashes, the last thing anybody says, ‘Well, we just need to look ahead. We don’t need to look back.’ No, actually, you want to find out, was it the landing gear? Was it the air traffic control? Was it the weather? Was it terrorism? Was it ran out of gas? I don’t know. But the last thing you want to do is say, ‘Well, there’s nothing to see here, folks. Let’s go on,’ And it’s idiotic,” he added. “It was a prime example of just staggering Washington Democratic—call it ‘incompetence’ gives it too much of a word—and I don’t know if there’s anything to do about it, can be done about it or should be done about it.”Fox News Digital reached out to Harris and Biden’s offices and did not receive immediate reply.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE