Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way for his third visit to Washington during the first six months of the second term of President Donald Trump. Bibi requested the visit because he clearly wants something and he never likes to hear anyone tell him “No!” The American Jewish community and the state of Israel working together are already mustering their substantial resources to give the Prime Minister anything he wants, whatever that might be. If necessary, the so-called Israel Lobby, which controls many aspects of what is referred to colloquially as the United States Government, has a unique ability to lay down a serious guilt trip on anyone who tries to interfere with their prerogatives. Their ability to persuade is frequently based on repeated invocations of a semi-mythical event called the “holocaust,” which has been and will continue to be a burden on all the rest of humanity forever.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in occupied Palestine, stands as a testament to the notion of speaking truth to power. This "power" is not solely embodied by Israel or even the United States, but by an international community whose collective relevance has tragically failed to stem the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Elon Musk is not in the car business; he is a pollution salesman.

As a car company, Tesla is effectively bankrupt. This past quarter Tesla’s reported profits were only $405 million, a profit shown only because he sold “emissions credits” to General Motors and other car companies to the tune of $595 million.

In other words, he’s not in the car business, but in the business of selling the right to pollute. He helps GM sell Chevy Tahoe’s that get 15 mpg.

That is because Musk is a master of conjuring money out of thin air, or more accurately, dirty air.

So, my dear green friends, when you buy a Tesla, you’re not reducing your carbon footprint by a quarter inch, because Musk is selling your good intentions to General Motors so they can pollute more. It’s like when the medieval Catholic Church sold indulgences, so your relatives didn’t have to go to hell.

BANGKOK, Thailand – Thailand's struggle with democracy resulted in three very different prime ministers in three days with Phumtham Wechayachai becoming the newest caretaker leader last week, after a court suspended former Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra for alleged "ethical misconduct."

So, who is Acting Prime Minister Phumtham ("POOM-tom")?

Mr. Phumtham, 72, is a veteran politician who was a commerce minister and caretaker prime minister in 2024 and Ms. Paetongtarn's defense minister during 2025.

Some generals in the U.S.-trained military were wary of Mr. Phumtham when Ms. Paetongtarn appointed the civilian as defense minister, because in 1976 he joined an anti-military leftist student movement and was nicknamed "Big Comrade" for voicing speeches against the return of military dictator Thanom Kittikachorn.

When the military violently crushed the university students' protests -- officially killing 46 students amid estimates of more than 100 dead -- Mr. Phumtham fled into the countryside with hundreds of others who were welcomed by Thailand's hardened China-backed communist guerrillas.