Publication day for "Chasing Hope: A Reporter's Life"! Thanks to all who have helped it come together. It's available everywhere for purchase or download.

Interesting thread.

BREAKING: A mother who previously claimed on RFK Jr.‘s Children’s Health Defense podcast that vaccines killed her 18-month-old twins has now been charged with their murders.

This is the red card FIFA has suspended. Pure corruption. I appreciate that this tweet will cost me next year’s FIFA peace prize.

President Trump relaxes gun laws, allowing some people with mental illness who had been barred from possessing firearms to have them. nytimes.com/2026/07/05/us/po…

This will appear to the world as favoritism and as FIFA bowing to political influence. If the U.S. wins, I fear that much of the world will see it as a win with an asterisk and as Trump’s America making its own rules even in the sports world.

This.

In Ashland, Ore., for our annual pilgrimage with family and friends to the @osfashland theater festival. This year's tour de force is "Raisin in the Sun"--a brilliant production. Unforgettable. Also superb: Midsummer Night's Dream and Come from Away. osfashland.org/

“They killed 22,000 children. But Gaza “produced” 82,000 live children during the last two and a half years. This is a miracle for me.” Those were the words of Mostafa Albarghouthi, 2005 presidential candidate, and founder and leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, in a recent podcast. This is the same kind of rhetoric a Hamas leader used in another podcast more than a year ago. Gazans are outraged by these statements. No one has the right to diminish the agony of losing 22,000 children. Every single child mattered. Every single life was irreplaceable. No number of births can compensate for the children who were killed, not a million. Palestinian leaders need to learn how to speak about their people and to their people. We have had enough.

The Trump Administration wanted Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States for our 250th anniversary. Instead, he visited the Italian migrant island of Lampedusa and lifted up the plight of those who undertake a dangerous journey to new lands in search of a better future for their children.

Trump not only seeks vengeance against his enemies but also fleeces his own supporters.

My weekend column is a long look at how the Nordic countries achieved economic success (Norway has higher per capita income than the US and also enjoys higher productivity), relative equality and some of the highest levels of happiness in the world. But I'm struck by how knee-jerk the reactions are: The American left is inclined to emulate Scandinavia and the right is inclined to savage it. Partly, I think, that's because both tend to confuse the Nordic model with socialism, when it's basically about free markets coupled with wage compression and very heavy investments in human capital and in empowering women in the labor force: Excellent child care, family leave benefits, flexible work, education, etc. But the model is under real strains from immigration and fiscal pressures, and it's rooted as much in norms as in laws. I don't think the US can adopt it wholesale, but I do think there are things we can learn from it -- especially the investments in young people. And when you see a model that generates such economic success and individual happiness, it's crazy to dismiss or fear it. Here's a gift link to my column: nytimes.com/2026/07/04/opini…

Exclusive: Inside the deep divisions tearing Iran's political circles as the state portrays unity at Ayatollah Khamenei's funeral ceremony. They traded accusations of delusion, treason, coup plotting, and disobeying and manipulating the new & absent supreme leader Mojtaba. nytimes.com/2026/07/04/world…

World Leaders Urged To Protect Sudan City El-Obeid From Rapid Support Forces Attack: Thanks to @janinedigi and @VanityFair for reporting on the situation in El Obeid and on @volker_turk and @amnesty calls for urgent actions by the international community. vanityfair.com/story/sudan-c…

“Free Speech absolutist @elonmusk”

Marwan Barghouti to Bid for Palestinian Presidency From Israeli Prison, Report Says haaretz.com/west-bank/2026-0…

As America marks its 250th with misgivings and malaise, how about if we seek inspiration from the Nordic model going forward? I traveled to Scandinavia to understand how these countries achieve prosperity and a high degree of equality -- while also becoming the happiest places on Earth. As Norway's finance minister, @jensstoltenberg, told me: “We actually live the American dream....The American dream, it’s more reality in the Nordic countries than in America.” They do have real challenges, and it's not entirely clear that the Nordic model is fully sustainable, let alone replicable. And we're not going to adopt it wholesale. But the US was actually on a similar track in the 1950s and 1960s, so it's not exactly alien. And I argue that in the Nordic model there is much to admire and learn from -- and adopt. Here's a gift link, and I welcome your thoughts: nytimes.com/2026/07/04/opini…

Sudan: The UN Human Rights Council is holding an urgent debate today about the crisis in el-Obeid, the capital of Sudan's North Kordofan state. What do we know? ➡️Drones attacks have been multiplying, resulting in many casualties of civilians. ➡️The RSF is massing outside the city ➡️ El Obeid could be a repeat of El Fasher unless the international community acts now. What happened in El Fasher? @amnesty found that the RSF committed 8 crimes against humanity, including murder, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement and extermination. @amnesty also concluded that the RSF committed the crime against humanity of persecution on the basis of ethnicity and gender in North Darfur. The testimonies we have gathered could not be more harrowing. Our warning: The RSF will repeat those crimes, again and again. Until they are stopped. Whether the people of El Obeid face extermination and persecution and ethnic cleansing depend first and foremost though on how the international community react and prevent further atrocities in Sudan. Our recommendations: ➡️Immediately, states with influence over the RSF must do all in their power to ensure that RSF does not repeat the atrocities it committed in El Fasher. This begins with stopping the drones attacks on civilians in El-Obeid. ➡️The Security Council must expand the arm embargo in place on Darfur for nearly two decades, to the rest of the country. NOW. ➡️The international community, including the African Union and other regional bodies, must do everything in their power to pressure the SAF and the RSF to agree to and implement a nationwide ceasefire, accompanied by a sustainable framework for longer-term security and stability, human rights protection, and justice and accountability. ➡️An independent and adequately resourced international force must be deployed to Sudan to protect civilians against crimes by all parties to the conflict. ➡️The UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council must condemn the UAE for its support, including military support, to the RSF. And so should all UAE supporters, including the US and EU. The tip toeing around the UAE must stop. amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2…

.@nytimes publisher @AGSNYT notes that the American press "is at its weakest point in the nation's history," just as it is particularly needed for the accountability that it helps to provide. Very good essay: dallasnews.com/opinion/comme…

!!!

Not enough people are paying attention to this. The UAE is fueling the civil war in Sudan, arming the RSF who the Trump admin admits is committing a genocide. And yet, this admin refuses to hold them accountable. We should be asking why.