Until the text of the US-Iran deal is signed and released, there is going to be a lot of spin on both sides. But here is my initial take. This war was a mistake, and it needs to end. The President thought that the Iranian regime would collapse quickly, but it did not. In fact, it has been strengthened strategically by its survival against a heavy US-Israeli assault and carrying out some effective counterstrikes. Many countries in the region are now courting Iran and looking to deescalate and rebuild ties. A sign of which way the wind is blowing. Getting the Strait of Hormuz open is the most important outcome of this MOU. Of course, the Strait was open before the war. Now we are paying to reopen it with sanctions relief. Iran has taken a theoretical point of leverage and turned it into a very real and powerful one, imposing costs across the global economy and rattling President Trump. As for the nuclear issues, there really is no agreement, other than to negotiate over the HEU stockpile and an enrichment moratorium. Iran knows how to drag out those negotiations, and try to pocket concessions along the way. It is possible that no deal will every be reached, and very likely that if one is reached, it will be worse than what we could have achieved through diplomacy before the war. Iran is not likely to take seriously that the US would return to war, certainly before the US midterms. So that means we will be conducting diplomacy without a credible threat of force. If any agreement ultimately reached actually safely puts Iran's nuclear ambitions out of reach, I'll acknowledge it. It's just too early to make that judgment. Trump is mainly focused on comparing his deal favorably to the JCPOA. But we are a long way from being able to make that comparison, and it may end up no better, or weaker than that deal. But in some ways, Trump's deal and the JCPOA are already similar. Nothing on ballistic missiles, nothing on proxies, nothing on weakening the regime or helping the Iranian people. And plenty of sanctions relief that will strengthen the regime, and be poured into the missile program and proxy network. Honest critics of the JCPOA will not twist themselves into pretzels to defend Trump's approach. Israelis are deeply disappointed in this outcome, but they should not be surprised. After some initial overlap of Trump's and Netanyahu's interests, there was a strong divergence. The United States needed this war to end. Netanyahu wanted to continue. Trump's claim to include Lebanon in the ceasefire and his harsh shutting down Israeli attacks on Hezbollah is also a win for Iran. After the JCPOA was signed, Obama and Netanyahu worked together to strengthen Israel's campaign of strikes in Syria to intercept Iranian weapons shipments to Hezbollah in Lebanon. So let's hope we see the removal of Iran's enriched uranium and a long-term suspension of enrichment, with full verification. But to achieve those goals, Trump's team is going to need to engage in far more sophisticated diplomacy, backed by qualified experts, than they have to date. If it is a phase one splash with no follow-up on implementation of later phases, like in Gaza, we will be much worse off after, and because of, this war.

Craziest stat for me The Knicks had the #1, #3, and #5 biggest comeback wins in NBA Finals history In the same Finals

Elon Musk held up a chainsaw, fed USAID into the wood chipper, and at least 600,00 people have already died as a result - two-thirds of them children. History's first trillionaire.

Instead of discussing how Elon Musk is now the world's first trillionaire, we should talk about how he killed hundreds of thousands of people through his dismantling of food and medical aid to poor countries currentaffairs.org/news/how-…

Can’t stop thinking about how Wall Street is celebrating Elon Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire, while he single handedly eliminated humanitarian aid that will lead to the needless deaths of 4.5 million of the poorest children in the world in the next 4 years.

"This Sunday night’s UFC spectacle on the South Lawn...captures something about this moment in our history. It's vulgar, violent, commercial, grandiose, tacky, and it dishonors a place once thought worthy of care and respect. In other words, it’s Donald Trump." open.substack.com/pub/thebul…

There were multiple times where my son said to me throughout the game “dad, get up, the game is not over.” He saw me dejected and in shock. Knicks fans were facing the thought of dropping 2 at home and our Championship dreams thrown out the window. These Knicks are teaching young kids what it means to fight. Older Knicks fans have memories of disappointment, the younger Knicks fans have seen no lead too big to comeback from. Jalen Brunson, I have never seen anything like it in my life. The ultimate role model. A humble fighter, with no fear of the moment. He is teaching millions of kids the way. Never stop fighting. Constant reminders throughout this Playoffs. Just incredible what Sports can teach you.

This is kind of intense

Has someone checked in on New York?🏀 🏀

My daughter sends. She knows all about this. Also please come over so I can feed you

I bet that trump is gonna hate this photograph, it’d be a shame if it went viral.

The face of an abuser when confronted by a female.

in today's keynote, apple produced this really interesting graphic that ironically outlines the core mechanics for a new type of operating system (for perhaps a new class of devices). you can see how this moves the world from an app based ecosystem to an intent centric world. i.e. you roughly do not need third party applications in this world at all esp when ai has the ability to construct & deconstruct interfaces / experiences on demand.

Scott Pelley responds to Trump saying he doesn’t care about the country: “I’ve never worn the uniform, but I’ve been in combat for this country. In Afghanistan, and Iraq, Kuwait. Been shot at. Spent nights in foxholes filling up with water in the desert. I’m not aware that the president has ever done any of those things for his country. You become a journalist because you love the First Amendment, you love the country. While all the other descriptions the president used about me might be applicable, not that one”

Good god this is a crazy interview. Listen as Scott Pelley describes how Bari Weiss wanted journalists at CBS to cover the killing of Renee Good in Minnesota. This is why we can’t have oligarchs running our news outlets, this is absolutely devastating.

This is an actual page on the White House web site. It reads like something written about a third world dictator. So embarrassing. I have not seen any branch of the federal government sink this low in my lifetime.

Remember when they said Zelensky desecrated the sanctity of the White House by not wearing a suit

Good

Bryce Mitchell gives his thoughts on #UFCWhiteHouse. "The government is supposed to protect us, not entertain us."

This is what happens when everyone around you is too afraid to say, “Sir, that’s fucking stupid”