The White House was built to serve the American people. Tonight it was used to promote a company the President owns stock in, sell subscriptions, promote corporate sponsors, push Trump crypto, and enrich the President and his family. The founders warned us about kings enriching themselves from public office. They did not fight a revolution for this.

“Indonesia does not need panic. But it does need course correction. The gov should reaffirm the fiscal rules, publish credible med-term financing plans for major programmes, avoid quasi-fiscal opacity, &protect Bank Indonesia’s operational independence…would send a clear signal”

Posted by former US Congressman @AdamKinzinger on Facebook. Beautifully written, in both form and substance: Hey everyone, happy Sunday. Are you ready for some good news? I know I am. We are told, over and over, that America has gone cold on the rest of the world. That we have decided the people on the other side of the ocean are a threat to be kept out. That the welcome mat got rolled up and put away for good. Then a soccer team from the North African nation of Algeria showed up in Lawrence, Kansas, and within a week the whole town was wearing green. For today's Good News Sunday, I want to tell you about one of the best things happening in this country right now. It is happening at a soccer tournament, and it has almost nothing to do with soccer. The World Cup is here, 48 teams playing across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Each team in the tournament picks a base camp, one town to live and train in between matches. Germany set up shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Spain is training in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And Algeria, playing two of its games up the road at Arrowhead, picked Lawrence and made it home for the summer. What the people of Lawrence did with that is the part I can't stop thinking about. It started small, with a whole town of people who had never given Algeria much thought deciding, more or less overnight, that this was their team now. Flags went up in shop windows. Folks pulled on the green jerseys. People drove over just to catch a glimpse of the players. And then a local news crew stopped an older gentleman on a Lawrence sidewalk, standing in front of a storefront draped in a whole row of Algerian flags he had clearly just gone out of his way to find. They asked him what he actually knew about the country whose colors he was flying. He grinned, paused for a beat, and said something along the lines of: not much yet — but we want to welcome you here. There is no agenda in that man. Nothing performative. Just a neighbor, thrilled to his bones that these strangers chose his town, and perfectly at ease with the fact that he has a lot left to learn about them. The welcome only got bigger from there. The University of Kansas, the state's flagship school that calls Lawrence home, sent its marching band out to the training ground. They had spent the previous days learning Algeria's national anthem, note for note, and they played it as the players walked out for practice. Think about what that means for a moment. These men are thousands of miles from their families, living out of a hotel in the American Midwest, preparing for the biggest sporting event of their professional lives. And the first thing they hear when they step onto the grass is the sound of their own country's song, played by a hundred American college kids in red and blue who learned it just for them. Several of the players stopped walking. A few of them looked like they weren't sure what to do with themselves. Algeria did its part, too. The team opened a training session to the public and spent the afternoon out on the grass with neighborhood kids, walking them through drills, signing autographs, posing for pictures. There are children from small-town America who are going to be telling the story of the day they trained with a World Cup team for the rest of their lives. And the Algerians have spent the last week calling themselves honorary Kansans, falling hard for a corner of a state most of them could not have found on a map two months ago. But it's not just Lawrence. This is happening all over the country, in towns you would never expect. The city of Alexandria, Virginia threw a street festival with an evening of Croatian food and music, and wrapped a city bus in the team's red and white. After crowds in Spokane, Washington flocked to watch Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah, a brand-new Egyptian restaurant in town suddenly had locals lining up for food most of them had never tasted. All told, 19 American communities that are not hosting a single match still raised their hand to take in a national team and call them neighbors for a month. There is a story we get told constantly about who we have become. That Americans have soured on outsiders. That we have decided the rest of the world is a threat. That we look at people who do not talk like us or pray like us or come from where we come from and see a problem instead of a person. And then a college town in Kansas goes and learns every note of a North African country's national anthem, just so a group of strangers feel at home for a few weeks. An old local stands in front of a row of its flags and tells them, in so many words: we don't know much about you yet, but we are awfully glad you came. That is who we actually are when nobody is telling us to be afraid. The band on the field, playing somebody else's song as if it were their own. The neighbor who knows next to nothing about you and waves you in anyway. We forget it sometimes. The good news is that it takes about one afternoon to remember. That, my friends, is good news for your Sunday. — Adam

Israel is running a network of torture camps for Palestinians. Our reports, Welcome to Hell and Living Hell, extensively documented a reality of extreme violence, starvation, and torture. Palestinian prisoners are subjected to severe violence, deliberate humiliation, starvation, sleep deprivation, denial of medical care, and abuse in every facility where they are held.  These abusive practices are fully backed by the political leadership, which openly boasts about the harsh prison conditions. Some inmates are subjected to severe sexual assaults.  At least 89 Palestinians have died in Israeli detention facilities since October 2023 as a result of inhumane conditions, violence, starvation, and the denial of medical treatment.  Despite the extensive evidence, media investigations, and reports issued by Israeli and international organizations documenting torture in Israeli prisons, the international community continues to stand by and allow Israel to commit crimes against the Palestinian people.  Link to the full report >> Welcome to Hell: btselem.org/publications/202… Living Hell: btselem.org/publications/202…

Wall.

RT @SamanthaRatnam: Thank you Nestory Irankunda, Connor Metcalfe and the @Socceroos for a sensational win today! You are exactly what our…

For most of us, we can’t even imagine what Nestory’s journey has been like. As with all refugees. Displaced, homeless, full of hope but in desperate need of safety. A chance. An opportunity at life. With a dream and a ball, making a new life, in a country with a proud history of welcoming refugees, but facing its own forces of opposition today. Nestory didn’t just shoot the ball into the Turkish net, he struck a lightning bolt to the conscience of millions of Australians. How can we cheer one brilliant, skilled, explosive and confident young kid representing us, and we him, and simultaneously portray refugees or new arrivals as less worthy? It also should raise the question of how refugees come to be? Everyone wants to live a safe life at home, with kin, generations of family, not having to ask for a chance.. But conflict, it’s funding, the breakdown in international law, the weapons industry needing to be fed, exploitation of resources, religious tribalism and extremism, all create the more than a hundred million people who have fled their home. It is these drivers we must stop, and these causes we must never support nor participate in. Football brings everyone together and shows us what we share. Now, we share a love of a young Aussie kid who overcame every barrier put in his way, to reach the pinnacle of world sport. And that is needed more than ever.

RT @vali_nasr: I told @nytimes that Iran is inclined to make a deal with US because it faces more dire economic conditions but at the same…

🇺🇸💪🧐Howard Buffett, the son of billionaire Warren Buffett, gave Ukraine 150 million of his personal money in 2022. In 2023, he bought a total of 360 million $ for Ukraine. At his own expense, he built kitchen factories in Bucha and Lozovaya, police stations in Borodyanka and Izyum, and a dog training center in Bucha. Buffett brings combine harvesters, tractors and seeds to Ukraine and gives them to farmers for free. Buys and brings mine clearance vehicles to Ukraine: in some areas, mine clearance is the main type of agricultural work... Buffett supports the Ukrainian police, brought dozens of DNA detection machines, bought service dogs of the highest level of training in the Netherlands and brought them to Ukraine. Buffett helps search for war criminals, created a separate organization in Ukraine. He financed the creation and operation of The Superhumans Center, an open prosthetics center near Lviv. I bought and brought 2,400 high-power generators... In September 2023, Buffett and Ukrzaliznytsia created the world's first kitchen train that can operate offline for 5-7 days during blackouts and produce 70 thousand servings of food during the week. How much money does Howard Buffett have? It's hard to say, because he spends them all the time, he has already spent half a billion on Ukraine. He fell in love with Ukraine, visited ten times during the war, and it feels like he spends more time in Ukraine than at home in the United States... He's the middle child of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. It was named after Howard Buffett, his grandfather, and Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett's favorite professor. As CEO and chairman of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation (HGBF), Buffett has traveled to more than 130 countries to document the challenges of preserving biodiversity and providing sufficient resources to meet people's needs. HGBF was one of five philanthropic groups that received вор 2.9 billion in Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares from Warren Buffett in July 2020. P.S. According to Forbes magazine, as of April 2023, Warren Buffett was ranked 5th in the ranking of the richest billionaires in the world with personal assets of 106 billion. $. In addition, Warren Buffett plans to donate most of his assets to charity.

“America’s giving us all a gift for her 250th birthday - a very clear look at how some power is not in any way subject to accountability. If an ordinary employee lies repeatedly, they get fired; if The Trillionaire lies repeatedly, analysts raise the price target.”

““In the ambulance he was shouting ‘immigrants add nothing of value to this country! What a fucking champion! Go Aussie!’” paramedic Priya Subramaniam said. “Performing mental gymnastics like that would be incredibly exhausting for his brain, as well as for everyone around him”.

Love what the Australian soccer team says about modern Australia. Seriously, watch this video, and you'll be cheering for them too.

“These interventions and others, like the Patriot Bond scheme also overseen by Danantara, are thought to be disproportionately targeting businesses without the ‘right’ connections, or those owned by the ethnic Chinese tycoons …Prabowo has had an openly adversarial relationship.”

Psychiatrists are raising alarms about a growing number of cases involving “AI psychosis,” in which individuals develop severe delusions, paranoia, and breaks from reality after extended conversations with artificial intelligence chatbots. Clinicians report that people are becoming trapped in escalating false beliefs fueled by prolonged interactions with AI systems. The issue has become serious enough that mental health professionals are now actively studying how artificial intelligence may contribute to psychotic episodes. Dr. Keith Sakata, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, recently reported seeing approximately a dozen patients hospitalized after losing touch with reality following intense use of AI chatbots. Experts emphasize that AI does not appear to cause psychosis in otherwise healthy individuals. Instead, it can amplify underlying vulnerabilities such as pre-existing mental illness, grief, isolation, sleep deprivation, or substance use. The problem lies in how modern AI systems are designed. Unlike human friends, family, or therapists who often challenge distorted thinking, chatbots tend to be agreeable, supportive, and non-confrontational. This can create dangerous feedback loops where unusual or false beliefs are repeatedly validated rather than questioned. Dr. Sakata describes AI as a “hallucinatory mirror” — it reflects and reinforces the user’s ideas, sometimes guiding them deeper into increasingly detached conclusions. These cases have been linked to devastating outcomes, including psychiatric hospitalization, broken relationships, homelessness, and even suicide. The concern has grown significant enough that OpenAI has publicly acknowledged shortcomings in how some versions of ChatGPT detect signs of delusion or emotional dependency, and the company is now developing stronger safeguards. Most experts do not consider “AI psychosis” to be an entirely new psychiatric disorder. They view it instead as a powerful new technological trigger interacting with age-old mental health vulnerabilities. As AI becomes more personalized, conversational, and embedded in everyday life, a critical question emerges: Will future systems help users confront harmful beliefs, or will they simply tell people what they want to hear? [Gaeta B, Raghavan G, Sarma KV, Pierre JM. (2026). “You’re Not Crazy”: A Case of New-Onset AI-Associated Psychosis. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience]

Credit to SBS. There would be few countries in the world where one can watch the whole World Cup for free

הראיון הזה מוכיח דבר אחד: כפי שהיה בממשלת השינוי, גם בנט לא מציע שום שינוי מהותי במדיניות הישראלית כלפי איראן, הפלסטינים והאזור בכלל. א. איראן בכל הנוגע לאיראן, בנט למעשה לא מציע שום דבר שונה מהמדיניות של נתניהו. איראן היא "מכרה זהב" עבור פוליטיקאים ישראלים, אבל הבעיה היא שבנט לא מבין עד כמה המלחמה הזאת תכפה על ישראל שינוי אסטרטגי. הסיבה פשוטה: ללא גיבוי אמריקאי מלא, ההרתעה הישראלית מול איראן נפגעת באופן משמעותי. ב. כישלון תפיסת הלחץ על איראן כל ההבטחות על סנקציות, לחץ כלכלי והפלת המשטר באיראן מתעלמות מעובדה בסיסית: ישראל וארה"ב ניהלו מערכה ממושכת נגד איראן, פגעו קשות בצמרת הביטחונית שלה, אך המשטר האיראני לא רק שלא קרס – אלא אף התחזק. בנט, כמו נתניהו, ממשיך לנגן את אותו התקליט ומתמקד באיראן, מבלי להפנים את השינוי האסטרטגי שנדרש בעקבות כישלון המערכה הנוכחית. ג. הפלסטינים גם ביחס לפלסטינים, בנט חוזר לתפיסת "ניהול הסכסוך" כאילו דבר לא השתנה. מעבר לכך שאין נורמליזציה אזורית משמעותית ללא צעדים ממשיים לכיוון פתרון הסוגיה הפלסטינית, התפיסה שלפיה אפשר פשוט "לתת לפלסטינים לחיות את חייהם" הוכחה ככישלון קולוסלי. למרות זאת, מנכ"ל מועצת יש"ע לשעבר ממשיך להציג אותה כאילו היא הפתרון. ד. הכלכלה והלגיטימציה הבינלאומית בנט שוב מדבר על השקעות וצמיחה כלכלית, אך מתעלם מהבעיה המרכזית של ישראל כיום: משבר הלגיטימציה הבינלאומית שלה. אחרי קרוב לאלף ימי מלחמה, הולכת ומתחזקת בעולם התפיסה שישראל מערערת את יציבות האזור ופועלת ללא מגבלות וללא אופק מדיני. אי אפשר לבנות כלכלה חזקה ללא השקעות, ואי אפשר למשוך השקעות בהיקף משמעותי ללא לגיטימציה בינלאומית. אי אפשר לאחוז במקל משני קצותיו. בסופו של דבר, מי שמציג את בנט כאלטרנטיבה לנתניהו מתעלם מהעובדה הפשוטה: ייתכן שנתניהו לא יהיה ראש הממשלה בפועל, אבל מבחינת המדיניות – מעט מאוד, אם בכלל, ישתנה.

IMPORTANT: A clarification on the reported U.S.-Iran agreement. Earlier reports made it sound as though a final peace deal had already been reached & that Friday’s signing ceremony was largely a formality. That is not what Iranian officials are now describing. According to Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gharibabadi, what has been finalized is a memorandum of understanding & framework for ending military operations, lifting the blockade & opening the way for further negotiations. A formal signing is expected on Friday. However, a further 60-day negotiating process would then follow, covering sanctions, the nuclear file, economic reconstruction, implementation mechanisms & verification of commitments. Iranian officials also stress that entry into those negotiations is conditional on the United States first implementing its commitments regarding the end of the war, lifting the siege & releasing assets. In short, this appears less like a final settlement & more like a framework designed to stop the fighting & create the conditions for a broader agreement. The immediate question remains the same: Can Trump deliver Israel? Because if military operations are indeed meant to end on all fronts, including Lebanon, then Lebanon may provide the first real test of whether this understanding holds in practice. A word of caution, however. We have heard talk of agreements, imminent agreements, understandings & breakthroughs before. Friday is still a long way away in military terms, & the road beyond it is longer still. Much can happen between now & then. There are many stages yet to navigate & no shortage of actors capable of derailing the process. Celebrations may be premature.

On Pauline Hanson: Raf Epstein on #Insiders nails it - "the media hold her to a different standard." Which is to say, no standard at all. We've never had a detailed policy interview with Hanson. And a rare policy question sees Pauline unravel.

My interview @cnni: From an Israeli perspective, the proposed U.S.–Iran agreement is seen as highly problematic. Critics in Israel argue that it could strengthen the Iranian regime, precisely the outcome Israel has long sought to prevent, while offering only uncertain or limited constraints on Iran’s nuclear program. There are also concerns that any final deal will not include meaningful restrictions on Iran’s missile program or its network of regional proxies, or that such provisions would be weak and difficult to enforce . At the same time, Israel’s ability to directly challenge or reshape the position of the U.S. administration is viewed as limited. As a result, Israeli policymakers are expected to act cautiously, particularly so as not to undermine the U.S. president’s efforts to reach an agreement. Strategically, Israel has tried to separate the Lebanese and Iranian fronts in order to manage regional escalation more effectively. However, this approach has had limited success so far. Overall, Israel’s capacity to influence the direction of U.S. policy on this issue is perceived as more constrained than in the past, given the dependence in the administration and President Trump. #IranWar‌

Nestory Irankunda (whose parents were refugees fleeing Burundi) chose to represent Australia, whilst also being eligible for Tanzania or Burundi. I think we can be very, very glad he did. #Socceroos