Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz is showing signs of being a drag on the ticket and a gaping omission by Kamala Harris’s vetting team – led by former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

Walz was rushed through the vetting process without any apparent red flags despite past criticism of his embellishment of his military service and other missteps from his past.

Will she now be saddled with the liberal Minnesota governor for the rest of the campaign?

Walsh, head of the National Hockey League players’ union, was among three Harris confidantes charged with interviewing and vetting the VP candidates, according to Politico.

How they could have missed such troubling red flags as Walz falsely claiming he served in combat and retired as a command sergeant major is not a good sign for Harris’ campaign, which this week had to scrub Walz’s bio to correct the misrepresentation.

Another member of Walz’s National Guard unit came forward Friday to criticize the Minnesota governor for bailing on their unit to run for Congress just two months before it was deployed to Iraq.

“Running for Congress is not an excuse,” retired Capt. Corey Bjertness, the chaplain of Walz’s field artillery regiment, told the New York Post. “I stopped everything and went to war. I left my wife with three teenagers and a 6-year-old and I was gone for 19 months.”

Thomas Behrends, who replaced Walz as command sergeant major, told the Post “He had the opportunity to serve his country and said ‘screw you’ to the United States.”

Walz and Harris have yet to hold to a formal news conference since he was named as her running mate – staying in the bunker and avoiding numerous questions about Walz’s military service. They appear to be sticking with the Biden strategy of reading from teleprompters at rallies and fear answering direct questions about the new running mate.

Walz has also been a staunch supporter of left wing Squad member Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a fierce critic of Israel and a defund the police advocate.

“When I’m having a tough day….I think Ilhan Omar is in Congress, and I smile,” Walz said of the congresswoman.

Somebody who hates America brightens your day?

Walz has also taken more than 30 trips to China, working there as a teacher and later traveling there as a member of Congress and governor.

The Wall Street Journal reported one China trip doubled as a honeymoon for Walz.

The mounting Walz resume goes against the Harris campaign’s attempt to frame him as a moderate Midwestern everyman father figure. In fact Walz is a classic left winger – further to the left than Harris.

The Trump campaign has already raised enough questions about Walz in an attempt to define him first, before the Harris campaign does it.

How relatable is a guy who put tampons in boys bathrooms and travels to China 30 times and heaps praise on an extremist congresswoman?

By Jake Nisse

Published: 05:20 BST, 10 August 2024 | Updated: 05:28 BST, 10 August 2024

LA Lakers star LeBron James could become a co-owner of the Boston Celtics, according to a new report.

James has owned a stake in Liverpool (who are owned by Fenway Sports Group) since 2011, and further became a partner in FSG in 2021, giving him ownership in the Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins as well.

Now, the New York Post is reporting that FSG and RedBird Capital (who are also closely associated with the four-time NBA champ) are considering bidding for the Celtics.

Boston won an NBA-record 18th title in June when they defeated the Dallas Mavericks, but owner Wyc Grousbeck surprised fans shortly after by announcing that he was selling the team. 

The franchise is seeking $6billion in the sale, sources told The Post.

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LeBron James could become an owner of the Boston Celtics through Fenway Sports Group

Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck (center) announced he was selling the team after it won the 2023-24 championship

James, 39, is still going strong for the Lakers and would not be able to own a stake in the Celtics while still an active player.

However, the sale is reportedly expected to be a two-step process – with the final 49 percent of the franchise not sold until 2028.

By that time, it’s likely that a 43-year-old James would be done playing and would be able to be involved with the Celtics.

James has also expressed a desire to start his own franchise, an expansion team in Las Vegas.

According to The Post, FSG and RedBird are currently part of the Vegas process, but the consortium ‘would likely move on’ from that plan if they actually went ahead and bought the Celtics.

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James has been an owner of Liverpool since 2011. He holds a stake in the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins too.

The publication also named Celtics minority owner Stephen Pagliuca as a potential buyer of the NBA team.

Grousbeck, as he said in a previous interview with CNBC, is putting up 51 percent of the team for sale now and the remaining 49 percent when he steps down as the team’s controlling owner around 2028.

James is currently playing with two Celtics players at the Olympics in Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, with Team USA set to play for the gold medal vs. France on Saturday.

‘The King’ has also enjoyed great success vs. the Celtics in his career, as he’s averaged 28.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.1 assists in 59 regular season contests.

BOSTON – The Massachusetts State House may not be the first place you would think of to see theater, but that’s what makes a new play so special. Performances of “A Light Under the Dome” are now underway in the Senate Chamber.

The State House is the perfect stage

The production is from Plays in Place, a Boston-based theater company specializing in creating site-specific plays. For each piece, the company partners with museums, historic sites, or, in this case, National Parks of Boston.

Katie Woods, a digital public historian with Parks, tells us work started four years ago, saying, “We came together and decided that we wanted to do a series of three plays that talked about the intersection of the suffrage and abolitionist movements in Boston.”

“It’s an element of Boston history that’s often overlooked. We think of abolition, we think of the Revolutionary War a lot and all the time, but the role that the women’s movement played here is often vastly overshadowed by New York and Philadelphia,” explains playwright and producing artistic director of Plays in Place, Patrick Gabridge.

In 1838, Angelina Grimke addressed the Senate Chamber at the State House, becoming the first American woman to speak before a U.S. legislative body.

“She was really breaking new ground and in a space that not only was not open to her, but was not welcome to her, and so being able to kind of create this moment and bring it to life seemed like a perfect opportunity,” Wood says.

“Really, really special”

The actors, including Marge Dunn, are reveling in the unique opportunity.

“There’s nothing like performing in a room like this. Obviously, it’s challenging in some ways because you don’t have a strict audience space; you don’t have a strict stage to perform on. Acoustically, sometimes it’s kind of strange to talk in that room, but there’s something that just brings this gravitas and this weight to the piece that is really, really special,” Dunn says.

Gabridge tells WBZ-TV it’s difficult to fully understand the past when you only have history books to rely on.

“Our work works to unflatten history and really show the complexity that people faced in historical times.”

You can see “A Light Under the Dome,” for free at the State House. There are two daily performances through Thursday.