America’s 250th birthday celebration increasingly centers on Trump

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/03/americas-250th-birthday-celebration-increasingly-centers-trump/

Trump’s face will be stamped on a celebratory gold coin marking the semiquincentennial. His stern visage will peer from commemorative passports. Administration officials are pushing for a $250 bill featuring the president’s portrait. On Trump’s 80th birthday, June 14, the White House lawn will transform into a ring for a “Freedom 250” UFC fight.

Historians, political leaders and others worry that America’s 250th birthday, which might have been an opportunity to pull a divided country together, is becoming so much about Trump that it will instead be just one more polarizing event on the national landscape.

Trump is not the first president who has attempted to align a national commemoration with his political agenda. As he sought reelection in 1972, President Richard M. Nixon renamed his election campaign “The road to 1976” and was accused of trying to “steal” the bicentennial celebration.

Researchers Suspected Brain Inflammation in Long COVID but Found Something Else

 https://scitechdaily.com/researchers-suspected-brain-inflammation-in-long-covid-but-found-something-else/

Scientists in Finland used advanced imaging techniques to examine the brains of people experiencing long-lasting symptoms after COVID-19 infection. While long COVID has often been linked to lingering inflammation in the brain, the researchers found no evidence of widespread neuroinflammation when comparing patients with long COVID to healthy individuals.

“We did not observe evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients with long COVID when compared to healthy controls,” says Professor of Neuroimmunology and InFLAMES Research Flagship group leader Laura Airas, who led the study.

According to Airas, the findings indicate that inflammation may be more prominent during the earlier stages of the disease and gradually decline over time.

The researchers say the results add to a growing understanding of long COVID and challenge the idea that persistent brain inflammation is the main cause of prolonged symptoms in all patients.

In a first, House votes to block Trump from ordering more strikes on Iran

 https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7309929059139673041/979928964203745378

The 215-208 vote marked the first time such a measure has cleared the House or the Senate on a final vote since the start of the conflict more than three months ago. The Senate advanced a similar resolution last month on a procedural vote, reflecting growing impatience with a war Congress hasn’t authorized.

In the House, four Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (Kentucky), Tom Barrett (Michigan), Warren Davidson (Ohio) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania) — joined Democrats in voting to force Trump to end the war.

“We are trapped in a war that won’t end because an incompetent president launched it thinking of only his own ego while failing to prepare for the consequences,” Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (New York), the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said during debate on the House floor. “Diplomacy is the only exit from this, not more bombing, not more bluster.”

Is Bill Pulte Trump’s least-experienced Cabinet pick? He’s got lots of competition

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/03/politics/bill-pulte-trump-cabinet-picks-experience

President Donald Trump appears to have chosen one of his diciest Cabinet picks yet, with the elevation of 38-year-old Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte to the job of acting director of national intelligence.

Even many Republicans have questioned or criticized the selection, often pointing to his lack of any discernible intelligence experience.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he had “no evidence” that Pulte was qualified. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she was perplexed by Pulte’s selection. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cited Pulte’s “absence of apparent qualifications.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune more subtly cited how, in the role of DNI, “we need professionals there.” And both Thune and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton on Tuesday declined to vouch for Pulte’s level of experience.

Before joining the Trump administration last year, Pulte spent a career in the finance sector and various other pursuits, including an air conditioning company and a nonprofit that cleared abandoned homes.

Trump Confirms Clash With Netanyahu, Here’s Why Tensions Are High

 https://mobileapp.newsweek.com/story/12027103/content.html

President Donald Trump said he maintains a strong working relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even after confirming he criticized him during a recent phone call.

Trump acknowledged an earlier Axios report that he called Netanyahu “f—ing crazy” in a Monday conversation, saying he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon was hindering U.S.-led efforts to revive peace talks with Iran.

The president has yet to show significant progress toward his goal of securing an agreement in which Iran abandons its nuclear weapons development and reopens the Strait of Hormuz to oil and natural gas shipments.

Tensions are escalating amid a collision between U.S. diplomatic efforts and Israel’s military campaign, with Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon threatening to derail fragile U.S.-Iran peace talks that hinge on a ceasefire on that front.

Trump: 'I started Iran war, would be no Israel without me'

 https://www.jpost.com/international/article-898221

US President Donald Trump confirmed that he called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "f****ing crazy" and told him that Trump kept him out of jail during a call on Monday, in an interview on the New York Post's "Pod Force One" with Miranda Devine, released on Wednesday. 

Reports of Trump's language were first released on Monday, with an Israeli source later disputing the account. 

In his interview, Trump clarified that he wasn't angry but that he "was a little perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon."

Trump confirms profanity-laced Netanyahu call over Lebanon

 https://www.axios.com/2026/06/03/trump-netanyahu-call-lebanon-iran-ny-post

President Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Lebanon during a tense call, as Axios first reported.

Trump's confirmation signals a widening divide between the two leaders, over both the fighting in Lebanon and the war with Iran.

Donald Trump confirms he called Benjamin Netanyahu ‘crazy’ amid Iran peace talks

 https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/donald-trump-confirms-he-called-benjamin-netanyahu-crazy-amid-iran-peace-talks-1908710.html

Donald Trump has confirmed a report that he criticised Benjamin Netanyahu as “crazy”, saying he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon was holding back peace talks with Iran.

But the US president insisted his relationship with the Israeli Prime Minister is solid and they connect in part because they are both “wartime” leaders.

“We’ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” Mr Trump told the New York Post’s Pod Force One in an interview released on Wednesday.

Mr Netanyahu responded that he and Mr Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but have “common goals” and “agree on the main things”.

“He respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to work out our differences,” the Israeli leader said in an interview on CNBC.

Teaching Torah to Women - to benefit Women or Torah?

 Sotah (20a) She had scarcely finished drinking when her face turns green, her eyes protrude and her veins swell; and it is exclaimed, remove her that the temple-court be not defiled if she possessed a merit, it causes the water to suspend its effect upon her. Some merit suspends the effect for one year, another for two years, and another for three years. Hence a man is under the obligation to teach his daughter Torah, so that if she has to drink the water of bitterness, she may know that the merit suspends its effect. R. Eliezer says: whoever teaches his daughter Torah teaches her obscenity. R. Joshua says: a woman prefers one kab and sexual indulgence to nine kab and continence. He used to say, a foolish pietist, a cunning rogue, a female Pharisee, and the plague of Pharisees bring destruction upon the world.

Benefit from Sin

Berachos (31b) If Thou wilt indeed look. R. Eleazar said: Hannah said before G-d,: Sovereign of the Universe, if Thou wilt look, it is well, and if Thou wilt not look, I will go and shut myself up with someone else in the knowledge of my husband Elkanah, and as I shall have been alone they will make me drink the water of the suspected wife, and Thou canst not falsify Thy law, which says, She shall be cleared and shall conceive seed. Now this would be effective on the view of him who says that if the woman was barren she is visited. But on the view of him who says that if she bore with pain she bears with ease, if she bore females she now bears males, if she bore swarthy children she now bears fair ones, if she bore short ones she now bears tall ones, what can be said? As it has been taught: She shall be cleared ad shall conceive seed: this teaches that if she was barren she is visited. So R. Ishmael. Said K. Akiba to him, If that is so, all barren women will go and shut themselves in with someone and she who has not misconducted herself will be visited! No, it teaches that if she formerly bore with pain she now bears with ease, if she bore short children she now bears tall ones, if she bore swarthy ones she now bears fair ones, if she was destined to bear one she will now bear two. What then is the force of If Thou wilt indeed look?  The Torah used an ordinary form of expression.

The true meaning of Trump’s choice for America’s new top spy

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/03/politics/trump-pulte-dni-election-security-analysis

His elevation on Tuesday of Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to serve as America’s new acting top spymaster was therefore a classic political move.

The DNI is charged by law with acting as America’s top intelligence official. The role may include briefing the president on potential terrorist attacks, assessing an adversary’s possible moves in wartime, overseeing the most secret counter-intelligence activities and securing presidential approval for covert actions.

The statute creating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated the director “shall have extensive national security expertise.” Trump said Tuesday on social media that Pulte had “deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets” and $10 trillion at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But Pulte’s record, despite a successful career in high finance, appears to fall well short of the law’s stipulation.

Pulte is an uber-loyalist and a regular in the Mar-a-Lago inner circle; he’s known for rigorously defending Trump on television; and he has shown he’s willing to use the power of government to go after Trump’s enemies. As housing director, he sent the Justice Department criminal referrals on allegations of mortgage fraud against several of Trump’s perceived political enemies.

Israel placed its sovereignty in US hands, and Trump’s Lebanon ceasefire proved it

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sybsnh3xge

After Trump announced a Lebanon ceasefire and called his Netanyahu talk 'productive,' the PM again threatened Dahieh strikes, drawing a furious second call as Iran talks loomed; an Israeli official says Jerusalem is 'boxed in' by a recurring US pattern in Lebanon, Gaza and Iran

Even those close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledge that his late-night call with U.S. President Donald Trump was highly tense. The clash came not during the first conversation between the two leaders, but in a second call after Trump had already announced a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Trump’s post triggered a political storm in Israel. Opposition leader Yair Lapid described Israel as a protectorate, while former prime minister Naftali Bennett wrote: “Jerusalem. Beit Shemesh. Lebanon. Gaza. The location is different, the story is the same. A government that has lost control of Israeli sovereignty. Chaos everywhere. We will restore security to Israel’s citizens.”

Trump and Netanyahu Are Clashing Over How to End the Iran War

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-netanyahu-iran-war-lebanon-8fdba5cb?mod=hp_lead_pos7

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war against Iran with an unprecedented level of coordination. Now three months later, they are fighting over how to bring the conflict to a close.

Trump wants a diplomatic agreement that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, dispose of Iran’s enriched uranium and end a conflict that has driven up energy prices and divided his political base. Netanyahu faces pressure at home to intensify military operations against Hezbollah, Iran’s most important regional proxy and a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

Israel-Lebanon talks resume, Hezbollah keeps fighting in violation of agreement with Trump - report

 https://www.jpost.com/international/article-898158

During talks between Israel and Lebanon on Tuesday, senior members of the Israeli delegation said that Hezbollah did not stop fighting, despite promising US President Donald Trump to do so on Monday.

Delegations from both Lebanon and Israel met at the US State Department on Tuesday to begin a scheduled two-day resumption of negotiations.

Members of the Israeli delegation also said that Hezbollah publicly rejected the equation of a ceasefire in southern Lebanon in exchange for a ceasefire in northern Israel.

The negotiations come a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a strike on Beirut at the urging of Trump, with Iranian officials warning that military action taken by Israel against Lebanon would cause a halt in communication between Iran and the US.