← Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff
Trump News Fatigue is Real. Platner Shows How Dumb and Desperate the Democrats Are.
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Trump news fatigue is real — and that's the strategy. Wear you down, make you tune out, and the MAGA machine quietly rams through a $1.5 trillion defense budget, purges women and Black officers from the Navy promotion list, and turns 60 Minutes into a corpse. In this solo briefing, Paul Rieckhoff refuses to look away — from Hegseth's secret purge to Graham Platner's unraveling Maine Senate bid to Jaxon Dart dragging the Giants into Trump's orbit.
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In response to Israel's attacks on Lebanon. The closure of that waterway, which is at the southern end of the Red Sea and a gateway to the Suez Canal, could further disrupt global trade. Oil prices, gas prices, diesel prices. There will be no peace, folks, and there will be no peace in the Middle east, at least anytime soon. Welcome to Independent Americans. Welcome to episode 538. I am your host, Paul Rykoff, and It is Monday, June 1st. June is here. I hope you had a great weekend. It is Monday, which means it's also Manosphere Monday.
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Manosphere Monday.
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I love that little pop of graphic and music. Shout out to Chris Rosenthal for creating that. Since it is June 1, it is also the start of Pride Month. So happy Pride Month to everybody around the country and around the world. I think this will be one of the most important Pride months of our lifetime. We'll have more on that throughout the month. I'm coming to you today from New York City, usa, and the weather is good, like really good. It's a good way to start the week. It's a good way to start the month. We're going to need it because there's lots of chaos. And today's artist is the great hip hop band mobb deep, because 31 years ago, they dropped Survival of the Fittest. If you don't know, Mobb Deep were a hip hop duo formed in Queens in 1990. They had the rapper, songwriter, producers Prodigy and Havoc. Definitely one of the most influential east coast hip hop groups of all time. They have sold over 3 million records, known most notably for Infamous in 1995, Hell on Earth in 96, Murder Music in 99, and their most successful singles were Shook Ones and Survival of the Fittest. They disbanded in 2012 and briefly reunited and Prodigy died back in 2017. But there's a line from it that says there's a war going on outside. No man is safe. You could run, but you can't hide forever from these streets that we done took. You're walking with your head down, scared to look. You're shook because they. Oh man, I'm butchering. I can't do it. But you're shook because ain't no such things as halfway crooks. That is a warning for our time. It is a war going on outside every day. There are lots of crooks everywhere. You want to put your head down, you're scared to look, but you got to keep going, you got to keep pushing. And I'm going to help you do it. I'm going to help you navigate it. I'm going to help you bring the thunder like Mobb Deep did every time. And they had much better lyrical execution than me, but I'm going to try to have some better lyrical execution throughout this show. A quick one to start our Monday as I bring you the Five Eyes. I bring you every single episode. Independence, integrity, information, inspiration and impact. No guest today, Just me and you. There's a war going on outside. We're going to get together and get through it and stay vigilant. All right, it was a big weekend around the Rykoff house. We have playoff baseball going on. We have flag football. Friday night, we took 500 kids from our Little League to the Mets game, which was challenging, but amazing. Thank you to the Mets, who let us walk on the field. And thank you to the Mets for ending it with a walk off home run. And then fireworks. There were fireworks. So if you've ever been to a big league stadium, when they have fireworks on Friday, I highly recommend it. And shout out to my nephew Jackson and the John J. Baseball champions who beat grand street in a two out of three series over the weekend. And they are going to the New York City Championships to take on Tottenville on Saturday. Huge wins, three close games. Kids played hard on all sides, but I think it was a really good break from what we're facing because baseball is needed. Baseball is an escape, a form of unity, a form of joy. And we need that joy because we got to stay vigilant in. In getting into our top topic. It's Monday, and I'm feeling it on a Monday. And today's top topic is that Trump news fatigue is real. Yeah, man, I feel it. Especially on Mondays. You gotta feel it, too. I mean, there's so much coming at us. We feel worn down, we feel beaten up, we feel overwhelmed. But we gotta keep pushing through it because it is important. And that is part of the strategy on behalf of the most radical people to wear you out, to make you tune out, so then they can do things like start a war in Cuba or pass a $1.5 trillion defense budget. But we can't let the bastards get us down. We got to keep pushing forward. We will have no days off, and that is the top topic. There will be no days off. The war will continue, and there will be no peace when it comes to the flood of news and drama that will overwhelm us at times. But we must continue to. To stay vigilant. All right, no topic is that more true than on Iran. And here's the news in Iran. No peace there. Nope. Iran has now suspended talks with the US in protest over Israel's actions in Lebanon. Tehran says it violated the ceasefire. Trump contradict this and says talks are continuing at a rapid pace, which is what he's been saying, I don't know, for months now. In Lebanon, Netanyahu has instructed the Israeli military to strike Beirut's Dihad district, the stronghold of Hezbollah. You know, it's just not ending. There is no peace. There's another threat on another strait. Iranian media has reported that Iran and its allies are considering the activation of other fronts, including the Bab El Mandeb Strait, in response to Israel's attacks on Lebanon. The closure of that waterway, which is at the southern end of the Red Sea and a gateway to the Suez Canal, could further disrupt global trade. Oil prices, gas prices, diesel prices. There will be no peace, folks, and there will be no peace in the Middle east, at least anytime soon. So stay vigilant. All right? There will be no peace at the Pentagon. We know that. Right? As long as Acting Secretary of Culture War Hegseth is in charge of. Well, Hegseth continues to do Hexithian things. Play the song, Chris. Hope that song gives you a bit of boost on a Monday. I need it. But there's breaking news from the New York Times and now other places. The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has blocked the promotions of at least seven Navy officers in a move that targeted women and minority officers. This is no surprise. Greg Jaffe, the great reporter at the Times, says that Hegseth strikes female and black Navy officers from the promotion list. The net result, a slate of 22 new One Star Admiral nominees that bear little resemblance to the broader force. These officers will help lead. The list has zero women. Yeah. The culture war continues. The acting Culture War Director Secretary continues to focus on his top priority, leading a radical culture war. Driving out women, driving out people of color, driving out trans people or gay people or anybody else who might be recognizing Pride Month. Pride Month will not be celebrated inside the Pentagon, will not be recognized by Pete Hegseth and others. And here is the net result. There will continue to be disruption. There will be no peace at the Pentagon, and we will continue to be less safe. And our enemies are celebrating. Our enemies are celebrating. All right. No Peace is the theme for today. There'll also be no peace for the Democrats because Graham Platner, Marine Corps veteran in Maine, has got some more headline problems. And I would categorize this as Democrats doing Democrat things, meaning they've got a flawed candidate that everybody knows is flawed, that continues to be beat up, continues to have bad news, and they continue to be all in. Graham Platner's wife flagged sexually explicit texts to his Senate campaign. This is reported by the Washington Wall Street Journal and and others speaking at a town hall following days of negative revelations about his online post, Graham Platner again has been defiant. You know, this complicates a critical sentencing. He's had the Nazi tattoo issue, he's had the online posting issue, and now he's got the sexting problem. Cory Booker, the Democrat from New Jersey, said on Sunday that he has concerns about Platner. That guy has questions to answer. That's what campaigns are for, he said on this Week Now, Platner's wife put out a statement that I thought was very effective. She just spoke straight to video. She was swatting away black flies. But she said she was deeply hurt after the details of her husband's messages to other women became public, accusing a former campaign official and confidant of betraying her trust. Amy. Amy Gertner is Platner's wife. I think she's uniquely effective. She's very sympathetic and she's very persuasive. But here's the bottom line. Pletner has no prior political experience. He hasn't been vetted before. He will be in one of the most expensive Senate campaigns in history, and he's already got some pretty tough stuff out there. He continues to draw big crowds. The question is, can he overcome that stuff in Maine? Can he overcome being a Democrat in Maine? I've long said that he would probably be better off if he just ran as an independent. But the truth is he's running as a Democrat and he will be challenged quite fiercely. I welcome him to come on this show. I've invited him a number of times. I'll give him a fair shake. Susan Collins, the Republican, is also welcome to come on this show. But watch this space, folks. There will be no peace around this area, so stay vigilant. Independent Americans. The 2026 primaries are taking shape and you can trade on the biggest political races on kalsheet. On kalsheet, you can trade major primaries, election outcomes, and the biggest political storylines as they happen. This is something I've wanted to incorporate into my show for a long time because if you listen to the show, if you watch this show, you know what's going on and you might want to try to put a bet on it. Everybody else is betting on it. They're betting on sports. And a lot of folks are betting on politics. And you've got a shot, too. For example, in this week's California primary, will Javier Becerra win the governor's race in the primary? Right now, Becerra is currently trading at 87%, which means $100 trade would pay out $113.89. If he wins the election, he'll have to beat Steve Hilton, Tom Steyer, Chad Bianco, Antonio Milagrosa, Eric Swalwell, Katie Poorer, and a whole bunch of others. But you can place your bets and you can win. You can also bet on when will traffic at the Strait of Hormuz return to normal? Will it be before January 15th or June 15th, or will it be after? If you say it's before June 15th, there's a 4% chance. $100 bet would make you $598.37. This is the kind of stuff you can bet on on Kalshi's political market. Let me give you a fun one for this week in particular. Will Trump attend an NBA Finals game? Will he do it or not? In any game, San Antonio or New York, there's a 60% chance right now. So a $100 bet would pay out $159.57. I'm betting that he goes, what are you doing? Let me know. On Kalsheet, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house. And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your positions for a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use the code independent to get $10. When you trade 10, that's independent. In honor of independent Americans and our very vigilant listeners and viewers, if you use the code independent, you get 10 bucks. When you trade 10, that's cowshi. K A L S H I kalshi trade on anything 18 and over. Restrictions and eligibility apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for for all investors. Prices, values and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see kalshi.com regulatory place your bets, people, and declare your independence with Kalshi. All right. There will also be no peace around sports. Any kind of sports. The World cup, the NBA Finals, baseball, football, ufc, you name it. The intersection of sports and politics is now normal. It is every day. It's not gonna change. It's not just gonna blow over because Trump is not gonna let it. This is a guy who's having a UFC fight on the lawn of the White House, and he's frequently tried to attach himself to athletes. He loves stars, he loves celebrities, and he will try to glam onto or stick his claws into anybody he can. And recently that has included young Jackson Dart, the quarterback from my New York Giants, a guy I have been rooting for. He had a pretty decent rookie year. He led a whole bunch of exciting young players like Cam Scatterboo and others. He went to Ole Miss, and he has really stepped in it. You've heard by now that he introduced Trump at a very highly political event. And I want to note that that's part of why this is different. Somebody should have told Dart not to do this. And I hear, let me give you a parallel. If he was in the military, you can do a formal event. If you're in the military, like Memorial Day service or a formal event at the Pentagon, you cannot do a partisan political campaign event. And that's what Dart was doing. He was at a partisan political campaign event for a congressman, Mike Lawler, Republican from upstate New York, who's been on this show. He was at a very, very partisan event. He wasn't at an event for kids. He wasn't at the Easter egg roll. He was at a very, very partisan event. Whether he knew that or not, I don't even know. But he knows it now. And this impact has been huge on his team, on sports, on the intersection of sports and politics, and I think it's been pretty painful to watch. Here's a bit of his statement from last week.
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No, obviously, this was a unique opportunity. You know, being asked and given the opportunity to introduce the President of the United States, my thinking was pretty simple in the fact of, you know, I've always loved this country. I have extended family members who have fought in wars. I have two uncles who have retired, retired from the Air Force Academy and served themselves. And I even have a great grandfather who served as Secretary of Treasury at some point. So the president position.
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Now, I'm gonna have a lot to say about this today and in the days to come, but I've always had an issue with anyone using veterans in their family as a shield for their own actions. Now, that said, I don't think this statement will unify the team, remove the distraction, or put it to bed. Dart and now the team, because of his selfish, in my view, actions alone, will have to deal with this all season, and he'll probably have to deal with it for his whole career and on any team he's on forever, unless he changes his tune and condemns Trump and then he'll still get it from that side of things because you can be damn sure that Trump will keep bringing it up. Trump will never let it go. Never. I mean, every game, some reporter is going to ask Trump about how Jackson Dart did, if he did great or he did poorly. And I don't think Trump's going to say, you know what, he's a football player. I'm going to leave him alone and let him focus on football. No, he's going to talk about what a big supporter he is, how much he loves him, how muscular he looks. And this is what happens when you stand with Trump and when you put him ahead of your team, any team. Trump contaminates and consumes anything he touches. And unfortunately for me, and for all Giants fans, that now includes our quarterback and our entire franchise and history, I think, will judge him or anyone who stood with Trump poorly. I think it's a teachable moment, kids. And if you think it's going to go away, ask yourself when the last time you saw Colin Kaepernick play on a football field was. That never went away for him. It was a very different situation. But the intersection of politics and. And sports, especially when you're a franchise quarterback, never goes away. And there's another side of the story, of course. The other top draft pick, Abdul Carter, addressed Jackson Dart's comments, and he also mentioned Trump's name, unlike Dart. And here's a bit of his statement.
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So, first off, I'm going to say that some things are bigger than football, and this is one of those things. Jackson is one of our leaders. He's the face of our franchise. He not only represents himself and what he does, but he represents all of us. And that goes for anybody who wears a Giants uniform. But if he chooses to align himself with a man like President Trump, it's my responsibility, based on what I believe and what I stand on, to not only show my teammates that I'm against that, but to show the world. And that doesn't mean that we have to spread hate. It doesn't mean that me and Jackson hate each other or we have beef. I sit next to Jackson every day, every team meeting we close, we talk. You know, we just. As long as we make sure we got the same goal as a team and our goals align, which they do. And I feel like that's all that matters. So I just want to move past this and, yeah, that's it.
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Now, Carter had a solid statement. I thought it was a much stronger statement, and it was a statement, frankly. He never would have had to make if his quarterback didn't drag his team into it. So this will continue to be a Trump versus non Trump, black guy versus white guy division that will not go away. All eyes will be on it. But thankfully for the Giants, they have a very special veteran quarterback also on the team, and his name is Jameis Winston. If you've never heard Jameis Winston talk, you are missing out. He is a bolt of joy and light and personality that will have a very bright future long after he's done playing football. And as usual, Jameis Winston had something to say. Play the clip please, Chris.
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But we have to support each other. We have to promote love, because love is a stronger feeling than hate. And eliminate these. These unwanted opinions. Everybody has something to say. But how many people are willing to act on change? How many people are willing to be the change that they desire to see instead of just pulling a finger and say, oh, he said this. Let's cancel him. Oh my God, he believes this. Oh, we gotta. We gotta get him. That was uncomfortable, wasn't it? And that's how, that's how it happens. You educate, you educate. You grow from it. You build calluses.
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So maybe there's a silver lining that the Giants have Jameis and the world will get to hear him talk more because there's nobody like Jameis. But how long before Dart gets injured or is out and gone and replaced by Jamis? Dart has become kind of the white opposite of Kaepernick. They'll be burning his jersey in some places and buying them, of course, in others, but he'll always be a distraction. I don't know if he'll ever recover unless he becomes a successful QB in a super white market. And then still. And ignorance and ignorance and racist will always have something to say. And welcome to the great reveal of what I think is a generation of Charlie Kirk acolytes. There's a generation of guys like Dart who grew up maybe as Republicans, maybe grew up listening to Charlie Kirk and never really tested their ideas in a public place like the New York media market. Well, now they're going to find out. And as if it's not bad enough, the Giants have made things even worse by today signing controversial former wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Incredibly talented player. I've watched Odell Beckham closely. I celebrated him when he was on the Giants. But he is not exactly the kind of guy who will smooth out the waters and put things to bed. He is another distraction. If he does great, if he does poorly, Odell Beckham will not shut his mouth and he will not make that locker room any more comp. As if this team didn't have enough drama around it. You may not even be a football fan, but you're going to hear a lot more about the Giants. You're going to hear a lot more about Odell Beckham, about Abdul Carter and about Jackson Darth because of one man, Donald Trump. Stay vigilant. Stay vigilant. There really will be no peace around sports and that includes the NBA Finals. I'm going to talk a lot about sports in the next couple weeks because it will be at the front of the political pages as well, especially the NBA Finals. As I covered last week, Trump is threatening to come to the NBA Finals. We will see if he follows through on that. Kathy Hochul is firing back. Every time she does, it's pretty sloppy. And now Texas Governor Greg Abbott is getting in on it. He posted a meme over the weekend that said spurs about to dunk on Knicks like Texas has been dunking on New York. Go, spurs, go. And then it's got Governor Abbott in the back. It says Governor Abbott takes it to the hoop. If you don't know, Governor Abbott is in a wheelchair. He is wearing a Webba Yama jersey and he is dunking on Kathy Hochul, who is wearing a number one jersey looking like she's getting dunked on posterize. And Donald Trump is sitting in the front row laughing with a bunch of white guys in suits as he normally is. And Kathy Hochul has fired back, but what the fuck is this what we're going to have to deal with for the next two weeks of the NBA Finals? Can every politician just please take maybe a two week sabbatical or just stay the hell away from the NBA Finals completely and just let us all enjoy it? I think this is actually serious, folks, because no part of our society is insulated from politics anymore. Maybe it never was, but now it's colliding in a way that's compounding our divisions around sports and politics in a way that's steeped in race, steeped in extremism, steeped in hate, and has our enemies celebrating, of course. But if you're not angry, you're not paying attention because we deserve to have some joy in our life that is uninterrupted by politics. We'll have to stay vigilant. All right. I am of course rooting for my Knicks. It's very exciting. Game one on Wednesday, but below the radar. There is something else happening that you need to know about. There's no peace when it comes to the press and the free press. And Trump is still waging war against the free press and he continues to win. There's breaking news from the New York Times that Scott Pelley, the anchor of CBS 60 Minutes, has accused his new boss of murdering 60 Minutes. There was a staff meeting and Mr. Pelly, a correspondent for the long running Sunday news show, blasted Bari Weiss, the new CBS editor in chief, and Nick Bilton, the show's new executive producer. There is audio of this. The New York Times and others have have reporting on this. Apparently there was an extraordinary exchange. Mr. Pelly and his newcaster baritone, sometimes shaking in anger, told Nick Bilton, the new executive producer, that he had slender qualifications in his new job and questioned the network's commitment to the future of the program. It was a pretty bad day for everybody. This comes on what Mr. Pelly called black Thursday when CBS fired Tanya Simon, the previous executive producer, along with Sharon Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, two of the show's long correspondence. Mr. Bilton, according to the recording, said, that is why I'm here. This is why we are all here. The rumors are spreading and I'm going to turn the show into 601 minute episodes that it's going to be like TikTok. That's not changing. The show is going to stay exactly like it is for now. And then he warned that broadcast was becoming obsolete. He said broadcast is an ice cube that's melting. He said, barry loves the institution. She loves 60 Minutes when people push back at the end of it. He said he was looking forward to meeting with folks. He said that he had been prepared for conversation and was aware of the city's, of the staff's feelings. And then there was a talk about who was being rude, who was not being rude. And then Bilton moved to conclude the meeting and he asked people to enjoy the bagels. He said, I want to thank everyone for coming graciously. I look forward to talking to you in one on one setting as these meetings are scheduled. And enjoy the bagels. Yeah, well, look, I think Scott Pelley is not wrong. And Scott Pelley actually did a piece on my unit in Iraq back in 2003 or 2004. They embedded with us. They talked to us about the growing insurgency. I've always found Scott Pelley to be a good reporter and the 60 minute scene to be of the highest level of integrity. But that's obviously changed now. But I think he's right. 60 Minutes is already dead and so is CBS. Radio and so is CBS News. And that was always a plan. Trump's war on the free press has been very successful. And the winds are stacking up. PBS Funding Corporation for Public Broadcasting Funding turning X into Twitter into X shutting down Stephen Colbert, putting a chill across the entire press. He's winning. And his war on the press continues to march on. And it's a bad time for our democracy. It's a bad time for the free press. But we must continue to push back and we must continue to stay vigilant. All right, there will be no peace when it comes to any of this. I will have episodes throughout the week. But let's hit on sports for a quick second on this manosphere Monday. I just want to say this NBA Finals should be extraordinary. Wemby did an amazing job in game seven. He's the most exciting player in maybe in sports. And I think that, you know, Shigo Alexander may never get another win unless Wemby gets hurt because the spurs are incredible across the board. We've never seen anything like Wemby. Wow. And it's going to be really fun to have him in New York City for the finals. The Knicks are ready. It's going to be a great clash. It's like 1999 all over again. And it'll be a time for us all to try to come together and enjoy the finals, but maybe also stay vigilant. All right. It can be exhausting, all of it. And I'm always going to try to give you something good. Something good. And this is a sports related something good. This weekend in New York was the Fun City Bowl. It is an annual football game between the NYPD, the the police department and the FDNY, the firefighters. And this year the the PD beat the FDNY 14 to nothing in the annual Fun City Ball. It brings together the city's heroic first responders in a charity game. Raises a lot of money. Hopefully Chris can play a clip in. Almost blocked there. Big pump by Cole turns like number nine at PG Saxon Wolves. But it was a great example of how people can be divided on the field and come together after. It's kind of like the cops and firefighters version of the Army Navy game. But it's a reminder that there are still helpers out there even when there is no peace. There are people who continue to run in when others run out and continue to do more to raise money for charity to inspire young people and show folks what is possible if we all come together and stay vigilant. All right. It's going to be a big week ahead, I want to read something from a mailbag. This is a new segment I'm going to do. From time to time I will read mailbag stuff and I hope that you will send me notes on social media. You can go to IndependentAmericans US, but an anonymous person who asked me not to read his name had this note for me. Hey Paul, big fan of you, the podcast and your support of veterans. On today's podcast, you mentioned the record breaking proposed military budget, but said that at least the troops were getting a pay raise. You know who's left out of that budget? DoD civilians. I'm a combat veteran of Desert storm and a DoD civilian. Veterans compose about 45% of the DoD civilian workforce. For FY26 active duty troops received a raise of 3.8. Raise. We got 1% this year. We're not even mentioned in the budget. Please bring this to into the light. The DoD civilians, of which 55% are veterans, are getting the shaft by this administration. You have my continued support, brother. Please mention this in a future episode without using my name. Rock on. You got it, brother. I just did that. I read your note. I appreciate your note, appreciate your service, Appreciate you flagging it for me. We will continue to stay on it and we will continue to have your back and we will continue to stay vigilant. All right. We are daily now. We hit number 15 on the podcast charts. If you don't know the deal, subscribe wherever you're listening and find us on Patreon, find us on Spotify, find us on YouTube, and subscribe to the Morning Independent, our free newsletter every single morning in your inbox, completely free. Also free of partisanship, corporate influence and spin. America's divided. But here at Independent Americans, we are working to change that, adding light to contrast the heat of all the other political shows. If you're now among the 45% of Americans who are independent, this is your jam. Our independent movement is hope for the future. Country over party, people over politics, light over heat. Every single week we are trying to bring peace, even when there is hard, when it's hard to find. Our movement is growing and our hope is the oxygen of democracy. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it far and wide and invite others to declare their independence. Big shout out to Kalshit. Thank you for stepping up to support this podcast. Thank you to all of our sponsors and all of our Patreon members who help us keep bringing independent spirit to the masses but invite others to declare their independence like you have and stay vigilant, my friends, because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. No, you're not alone in your vigilance. We're all vigilant and we're all in this together. Even when there's no peace. Even when. When we're worn out. I'm your host, Paul Rykoff. Thank you for tuning in into Independent Americans. I will see you tomorrow with a brand new show. Happy Monday. Enjoy the start of June and stay vigilant, America. Stay vigilant.