Saturday, July 4, 2026

God’s Timeline Directing Global Politics: The US-Iran MoU And The Perplexing Shift Of American Foreign Policy


God’s Timeline Directing Global Politics: The US-Iran MoU And The Perplexing Shift Of American Foreign Policy


I have been greatly frustrated as I’ve watched what appears to be the capitulation of the United States to Iran. But in the grand scheme, what I feel doesn’t really matter. We don’t have to like everything that we see, because we know that in many cases it has to happen.

God has not ceded His authority to anyone else. There are times that He will allow events to take place that we will love and celebrate. There are other times when He will permit situations that will sadden us or frustrate us or even cause us anger. But we know that no matter what those occurrences are, they have to take place to move us further along God’s timeline. And every advance on that timeline means we are one step closer to being taken up to meet our Savior in the clouds!
 
That being said, this whole MoU that’s been agreed upon between the US and Iran is a complete balagan! How does a nearly defeated enemy end up in a better position than when it first went to war? It’s absurd. It’s like the Allies making it to Berlin in 1945 but stopping before a final victory, then signing an agreement that leaves the Nazi party in power. Make it make sense!

In my last article, I listed out the many things that have been done by President Trump and the United States that have been such a blessing to Israel. I’ve always held admiration for America’s current leader. But just because you hold someone in high respect, it doesn’t mean you have to always agree with him. And calling him out for some of his decisions does not mean that you’ve suddenly “switched camps” and become an “out there” socialist liberal. I don’t know the heart of the president, so I can only speculate regarding the motives of some of his recent decisions.

As I’ve mentioned before, I believe that his trip to China has had an impact on him. His meeting with President Xi seems to have been a catalyst for a change in his perspective. If I were to guess, I would think that the Chinese president threatened to invade Taiwan if President Trump didn’t bring a close to the war with Iran. But that is based on logic and circumstances rather than solid facts.

I also believe that money has been a factor in recent decisions, particularly Qatari money. Yesterday marked Trump’s first flight in the new $400 million Air Force One, gifted by the Qataris. Described as a “palace in the air” it is the epitome of luxury. But the plane is only the most recent and most visible outpouring of Qatari cash. American real estate, tech, and energy have all been boosted by the funds of the tiny nation. But no realm has been as affected by their money as much as the US education system, particularly in higher education. I explore the maroon taint that Qatari money has poured on American education in my upcoming book, The Elijah Mandate. The Emir of Qatar wanted an end to the war between the US and Iran, and an end is what we have.

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Why 40 per cent of people are avoiding the news, according to a psychologist


Why 40 per cent of people are avoiding the news, according to a psychologist


During several recent conversations, people have told me that they’ve stopped checking their phones in the morning. Not because nothing was happening, but because everything was. They described the feeling as standing under a waterfall of perpetual bad news.

This experience is far from an isolated one. According to Reuters Institute’s 2025 Digital News Report, 69 per cent of Canadians at least occasionally avoid the news now.

Globally, 40 per cent report they at least sometimes or often do the same, the highest figure ever recorded. People shared consistent reasons for this: the news put them in a bad mood, they felt overwhelmed and powerless to act.

As a researcher in developmental psychology, focusing on social development and psychological well-being, I argue that news fatigue is not laziness, weakness or a generational decline in civic interest. It’s the predictable response of a human brain meeting an environment it was never designed to navigate.

Long before smartphones or even the printing press, our cognitive architecture was shaped by a single problem: stay alive long enough to reproduce. Our ancestors whose attention drifted past the rustle in the grass left fewer descendants than those who froze, looked and listened.

The brain that paid attention to threats was the brain that survived.

This is the foundation of what psychologists call the negativity bias, one of the most replicated findings in cognitive science. Across decades of research, the human mind has been shown to weigh negative information more heavily than positive, attend to it faster and remember it longer.

A predator nearby mattered more than a beautiful sunset. The cost of missing a real threat was death, while the cost of overreacting was a few minutes of wasted vigilance. The asymmetry made this bias adaptive.

Here is the problem: the human brain has not changed since then. We are the same species as we were thousands of years ago. What’s changed is the size of the world it’s asked to scan for threats.

News fatigue is not laziness, weakness or a generational decline in civic interest. It is the predictable response of a human brain meeting an environment it was never designed to navigate. (Unsplash)

For most of human history, the threats our nervous system processed were local. A neighbouring tribe. A drought. The illness of a child we personally knew. Information about distant places would barely arrive, and if it did, it was mainly irrelevant.

n 2026, the same neurological system is being asked to absorb a war in one region, a financial shock in another, a climate disaster in a third and a violent crime in a fourth, all before lunchtime.

A study published in the scientific journal Nature Human Behaviour examined more than 105,000 real news headlinesviewed nearly six million times. Each additional negative word increased click-through rates, while positive words had the opposite effect.

Recent studies suggest people around the world demonstrate measurably stronger physiological responses to negative news than to positive news. The body is reacting before the mind has decided whether the threat is relevant.

It’s crucial to recognize the tactics meant to exploit our negative biases and create cognitive distance. (Unsplash) 

Some researchers have introduced a clinical framework for what happens in this instance called Problematic News Consumption (PNC) — a pattern of news engagement that results in preoccupation, dysregulation and disruption to daily functioning. In their 2022 study, the researchers found that 17 per cent of American adults qualified as having severe levels of PNC. Among that group, 61 per cent reported feeling unwell quite a bit or very much, compared with six per cent of those who didn’t.

Many adults already cite the spread of misleading information as a major source of stress. Withdrawing from accurate, trustworthy information only deepens the problem. We’re wired to pay more attention to bad news, and that kind of content will find its way to us one way or another.

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Friday, July 3, 2026

Iranian power struggle widens, threatening US peace talks – report


Iranian power struggle widens, threatening US peace talks – report
World Israel News Staff


A widening rift between Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is threatening to complicate US-Iran negotiations, as Tehran’s civilian leadership prioritizes sanctions relief and frozen funds while the IRGC presses to retain control over the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

The dispute has emerged as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Doha for talks with Qatari mediators on implementing parts of a recent US-Iran memorandum of understanding. Iranian officials said no direct high-level meeting with the American side was planned.

“No meeting at any level with the American side has been scheduled for the coming days,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Baghaei said the Doha contacts would focus on implementation issues, including blocked Iranian assets.

“What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s blocked assets,” he said.

Pezeshkian has been seeking the release of $6 billion in Iranian funds held in Qatar, part of a larger pool of frozen assets.

During a visit to Qom, where he met Grand Ayatollah Mousa Shobeiri Zanjani, the president described the US-Iran memorandum as “a great victory” for the Iranian people and said the first half of Iran’s $12 billion in frozen assets in Qatar would be returned.

But the IRGC’s focus is reportedly elsewhere: keeping command over traffic through Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy corridors.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian military officials have pushed for a toll system that could generate as much as $40 billion a year and reinforce Iran’s leverage over Gulf shipping.

The issue has become a central obstacle in the talks. Iranian officials have argued that Tehran and Oman have sovereign authority over the strait, while Washington has rejected any arrangement that would allow Iran to collect tolls from commercial vessels.

“The sovereignty of the Strait of Hormuz lies with Iran and Oman, and traffic in the Strait is subject to arrangements determined by Iran,” Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, said on state television.

Vice President JD Vance rejected that position, saying, “This is not going to end in a place where the Iranians are collecting tolls on ships going through the Strait of Hormuz.”

The internal Iranian disagreement has reportedly drawn in senior clerics, with hardline religious figures siding with the IRGC’s demand that Tehran use Hormuz as a bargaining chip.

Iran’s Assembly of Experts said the strait should remain closed unless Israel halts its attacks in Lebanon.

The Hormuz dispute comes as the broader US-Iran framework remains fragile. The memorandum signed in June set a 60-day window for talks on a final agreement, including nuclear issues, sanctions relief and regional conflicts. But implementation has been slowed by indirect diplomacy, maritime clashes and competing interpretations of what Iran agreed to do in the strait.

Shipping has partially resumed through Hormuz, but traffic remains politically sensitive after recent attacks and threats disrupted tanker movement. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of global oil moved through the strait.


The Hottest 4th Of July Ever Could Set More Than 300 New Records And The U.S. Wheat Harvest Is Expected To Be The Smallest In 150 Years


The Hottest 4th Of July Ever Could Set More Than 300 New Records And The U.S. Wheat Harvest Is Expected To Be The Smallest In 150 Years
Michael Snyder


It is supposed to be hot on the 4th of July, but it isn’t supposed to be this hot. Temperatures will be 20 to 30 degrees above average in much of the eastern half of the country. I warned a few days ago that we were going to experience a “4th of July furnace”, and meteorologists are telling us that hundreds of new records could be established. Unfortunately, this entire summer is going to be extremely hot. The “Godzilla El Niño” that has now begun is going to mean the we will experience unusually hot weather, epic storms and severe droughts in key agricultural areas throughout the second half of this year. And that is really bad news, because it is being projected that the amount of wheat produced in the U.S. this year will be the lowest since 1877.

An absolutely gigantic heat dome is going to relentlessly bake half of the nation over the next few days, and CBS News is reporting that “more than 300 records are expected to be set by Saturday”

This July Fourth could be the hottest on record for millions of Americans as a massive heat wave traps more than half of the United States under a heat dome through the holiday weekend.

Dangerously high temperatures continued to ramp up Thursday from the Midwest to the East Coast, forecasters said. Between daily high temperatures and warm overnight lows — which won’t be low enough to offer much relief — more than 300 records are expected to be set by Saturday.

The latest National Weather Service forecast says that in some areas high temperatures will go as high as 105 degrees and the heat index will go as high as 115 degrees…

Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston are all expected to hit triple digits

Washington, D.C., is expected to experience its hottest Fourth of July on record, with temperatures reaching 101 degrees. From Thursday through Saturday, the city is forecast to endure its hottest three-day stretch of the year. Philadelphia could reach 104 degrees on Friday, while New York and Boston are also expected to hit 100 degrees.

According to the Washington Post, Washington D.C. will be among “the top 1.1 percent of the planet’s hottest places on Friday”…

What does D.C. have in common with desolate stretches of Africa’s Sahara, deserts in the Middle East and China’s Gobi Desert? It has lots of hot air, of course.

So much hot air, in fact, that D.C. will find itself in the top 1.1 percent of the planet’s hottest places on Friday, when high temperatures will soar toward 105 degrees.

For the first time, New York City is deploying vans staffed with nurses and paramedics who will hand out water, electrolytes and sunscreen, CBS News New York reported. They will also perform wellness checks, transport people to cooling centers and make in-home visits to vulnerable residents. The city is also opening cooling centers throughout the five boroughs.


With 160 million people in 30 states under alert for extreme temperatures, the U.S. Department of Energy has declared an emergency as a heat wave bears down on a huge part of the nation’s electrical grid.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued an Energy Emergency Alert, directing officials of the biggest electrical grid, PJM Interconnections in the Mid-Atlantic region, to take action to prevent blackouts and ensure essential operations like hospitals are fully functioning during the heat wave.

“Maintaining affordable, reliable, and secure power in the PJM service territory is non-negotiable,” Wright said in a statement on Tuesday.


When the 4th of July weekend is finally over, the focus will shift to the western half of the nation.

A new heat dome is coming, and it will afflict areas that are already being ravaged by drought and wildfires…


A new heat dome will build between the Rockies and the Pacific coast.

As the jet stream bulges northward in the West, an area of high pressure will build over the region. The setup will allow temperatures to trend upward initially from several degrees Fahrenheit next week to 10-20 degrees above the 30-year average by the middle of July.

The heat dome will bring the highest temperatures of the season so far — even eclipsing the extreme marks set during the spring heat waves in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Palm Springs, California.


Meanwhile, the heat is also having a huge impact on America’s farmers.

Earlier today, I was astounded to learn that the amount of wheat that will be harvested in the United States this year is expected to be the lowest since 1877

America is expected to harvest its lowest acreage of wheat since 1877, due to drought, scorched crops, high input costs and uncertainty in export markets.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service released estimates on June 30 that the total area of all wheat planted was 42.7 million acres in 2026, down six percent from the previous year. This was also 1 million acres below the agency’s March forecasts. 

In 1877, there were 40 million people living in the United States.

Today, there are 342 million people living in the United States.

We are supposed to be one of the breadbaskets of the world, but the past 12 months have been extremely warm and exceedingly dry

Droughts are known to significantly reduce crop yields as the heat and lack of water can damage crops and stunt their growth.

Romulo Lollato, a wheat specialist at Kansas State University, told news outlet High Plains Journal that a lot of the wheat in Kansas—one of the state’s largest wheat producers, alongside Oklahoma and Texas—was “very short,” which he said was a “sign of drought stress.”

Now a “Super El Niño” is here, and the outlook for the months ahead is not promising at all.

A “perfect storm” is now upon us, and it is only going to intensify throughout the remainder of this year and beyond.



Turkey says Israel is 'problem for the entire world'; Sa’ar calls it 'genocide incitement'


Turkey says Israel is 'problem for the entire world'; Sa’ar calls it 'genocide incitement'
ynet


"Israel has become a problem for the entire international community,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in a sharp attack Thursday evening in an interview with CNN Türk.

"We have no intention of backing down from our position. Israel is not only a problem for Turkey, it has 

become a problem for the entire world. Israeli authorities have become a burden humanity can no longer 

bear,” he said.

Fidan said Turkey was the first country to halt trade with Israel over its aggression in the Gaza Strip. “Our 
president stopped $10 billion in trade with Israel overnight. It is important to take a firm position and start 
doing something,” he said.

“Anti-Israel sentiment has emerged around the world, from university campuses to newspapers and 
intellectual platforms, because they are openly carrying out massacres,” he said. “They are openly 
playing a destabilizing role everywhere. In the past, they could hide this with a few simple media 
maneuvers. Now they can no longer hide it. Israel is now looking for a new enemy to change its 
destructive and shameful image in the world.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called Fidan’s remarks “sickening” and said they amounted to 
“clear incitement to genocide.”

“The dehumanization of the Jewish people and portraying them as an ‘intolerable burden’ is the classic 
language of the greatest oppressors in history,” Sa’ar said. “The enlightened world and Turkey’s NATO 
allies must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for Israel’s destruction.”

The Turkish foreign minister’s remarks add to the harsh criticism Turkey has directed at Israel since 
October 7. This week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded to Israel’s historic recognition of the 
Armenian genocide, saying: “We do not take even slightly seriously the slanders against our country by 
a murder network whose hands are stained with the blood of 75,000 innocent Gazans, most of them 
women and children.”

The Turkish president added that those who malign Turkey and the Turkish people in an effort to 
obscure what he called their barbarity in Gaza would know this if they examined their own history.
On Sunday, Israel’s government unanimously approved Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s 


Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Thursday blasted Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, 

after Fidan launched an anti-Israel tirade during an interview with CNN Turk.

The Turkish top diplomat had said in the interview, “Israel is not just Turkey’s problem, nor is it 

solely President Erdogan's issue. The only difference is that President Erdogan is the one openly 

saying that what is wrong is wrong. That is a separate matter, and it is something humanity itself 

should reflect on." 

He then claimed, “But everyone knows it and feels it. People whisper it behind closed doors, and 

from time to time they say it openly. This is a problem for all of humanity. That's what we should 

call it."

Fidan continued, “These people have become a burden that humanity can no longer bear. With these 

policies and this mindset, humanity cannot carry this burden. The human conscience cannot bear it. 

Political systems cannot sustain it, and economic systems cannot sustain it. No matter which 

framework you use, there is no parameter under which these people can be sustained."

“If you expect me to solve your problem on your behalf all by myself, then everyone must step up, 

take a diplomatic stance, and impose the necessary sanctions on those people," the Turkish Foreign 

Minister said.

Fidan also claimed that “Israel is currently searching for a new enemy" and added, “As long as 

Israel - or any other actor - acts in ways that conflict with our national and regional interests, we 

have no reason to fear anyone, hesitate, or back down."

He further hinted that Turkey would not hesitate to fight Israel as he stated, “We have no problem 

with confrontation. If it comes to that, it is not an issue for us."

Responding to Fidan’s rant, Sa’ar said, “Turkish FM Hakan Fidan’s sickening words are textbook 

incitement to genocide." 

“Dehumanizing the Jewish people as an ‘unbearable burden’ is the classic, horrific language of 

history’s worst eliminationist regimes," the Foreign Minister added. 

“The civilized world and Turkey's NATO allies must unequivocally condemn this explicit call for 

the erasure of Israel," concluded Sa’ar.

Fidan’s remarks are the latest in a series of verbal attacks by Turkish officials against Israel. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month threatened attacks on Israel, claiming that Israeli strikes 

in Syria and Lebanon have reached a point where they also threaten his country.

Several days earlier, Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi declared that Turkey will one day 

reclaim control over Jerusalem.

Turkey and Israel were close to reconciliation just before the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, 

but since that time, Turkish officials, and foremost Erdogan, have repeatedly criticized Israel.

In March of last year, Erdogan blasted Israel and described it as a "terror state" after it launched 

surprise strikes on terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip.