My latest: Western response to #Russia hybrid threats has been notably timid & reactive, reflecting a significant lapse in strategic leadership & foresight. This failure has emboldened Putin's imperial ambitions to dominate #Ukraine#Moldova & #Georgia https://t.co/3ipy98EFh4
MORE | Iranian forces may have launched an effort against Kurdish militancy around the Iran-Iraq border. Iranian forces conducted missile and drone attacks targeting Kurdish militias around Erbil and Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan on July 2. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces Hamzeh Seyyed ol Shohada Operational Base separately announced on July 2 that it ambushed a Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI)-affiliated cell that entered Iran through the northwestern border and killed five of its members near Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan Province. The IRGC claimed that the group carried improvised explosive devices. Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) separately confirmed on June 30 that the IRGC killed four of its members during clashes with IRGC Ground Forces Hamzeh Seyyed ol Shohada Operational Base personnel near Mahabad and Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan Province. Unspecified armed individuals separately killed two IRGC personnel and injured two others in Paveh, Kermanshah Province, on June 30. These operations come after Armed Forces General Staff-run outlet Defa Press stated on June 20 that the regime is closely monitoring fighters in Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, and Kermanshah provinces and has replaced “purely defensive reactions” with an “active deterrence” doctrine.
Different paths. Same pride in representing their country. 🇺🇸
Tom Rinaldi highlights @USMNT midfielder @WMcKennie's journey from a U.S. military base in Germany to the biggest stage in the world.
Avec ces agissements face à la Belgique 🇧🇪 et le refus de laisser le penalty se tirer tranquille, le Sénégal 🇸🇳 vient de perdre en APPRL devant le TAS, c’est clair, net et précis. Et le Maroc 🇲🇦 sera couronné de sa CAN2025
Ticket prices for England’s clash against Mexico on Sunday have soared to more than 50 times their face value, as World Cup fever grips Mexican fans seeking to glimpse their team on home turf for the last time. https://t.co/Pq2iYpA9MK
The World Cup Ball Is Broken!
NASA once studied a soccer ball. Not a rocket — a soccer ball. Because the way it flew was so broken it was humiliating the best goalkeepers on earth. Soccer spent fifteen years making sure that never happened again. It’s happening again.
This year’s ball is called the Trionda — “three waves” — for the first World Cup ever hosted by three nations. Canada’s maple leaf, Mexico’s eagle, America’s star, all swirling together across just four panels — the fewest of any World Cup ball in history. It’s genuinely beautiful. Which is exactly what they said about the last high-tech ball, right before it ruined everyone’s summer.
Right now, mid-tournament, the goalkeepers are revolting again. Former England keeper Joe Hart went on the BBC and said it flat out: something’s up with this ball. Keeper after keeper beaten by long, no-spin shots they swear move wrong.
#WorldCup #WorldCup2026 #Trionda #Jabulani #SportsFacts
DISCLAIMER:
We do our best to research every story we share — but facts, sources, and memories aren’t always perfect. These videos are meant to entertain, educate, and start conversations, not to serve as definitive historical accounts. Always double-check the facts for yourself, form your own opinions, and most of all, enjoy the story. This video contains brief clips used for commentary, criticism, and educational storytelling purposes. All footage is used in a transformative context.
Oh… if you disagree or think I’ve gotten it all wrong, Fansplain Me in the comments!
On July 2, 1776, delegates for the 13 American colonies voted to approve a resolution submitted by Richard Henry Lee announcing "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown." With the vote complete, Congress began editing Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence, getting ready to announce the decision to the world.
Painting of the Committee of Five presenting the draft of the Declaration of Independence to Congress by John Trumbull.
#history #IndependenceDay #Freedom250
On this day in 1776, the United States was actually born. Not July 4. July 2. That's the day the Continental Congress voted to break from Britain, and John Adams was so certain of it that he predicted July 2 would be the great American holiday forever. He nailed everything except the date.
The vote came down to the wire, and one man had to ride through the night to save it. Delaware's delegation was split, one for independence, one against, which meant the colony's vote canceled itself out. The tie-breaker, Caesar Rodney, was 80 miles away in Delaware. He got word that he was needed and rode all night through a summer thunderstorm, sick and in pain, boots and spurs still on, and made it into Philadelphia just in time to cast Delaware's vote for independence.
The other holdouts fell into place too. In Pennsylvania, the men most opposed, including John Dickinson, deliberately stayed away from the chamber so their colony could swing to yes. South Carolina came around for the sake of a united front. When the roll was called, twelve colonies voted for independence and not a single one voted against. New York simply abstained, waiting on permission from home.
And so, on July 2, 1776, it was done. The colonies had legally, officially declared themselves free. The next day Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that this day "will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival," with "pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations." Fireworks and all. He was describing the Fourth of July two days early.
So why do we celebrate the 4th? Because that's the day Congress approved the final wording of the document explaining the decision, the Declaration of Independence. The vote to be free happened on the 2nd. The paperwork got finished on the 4th, and history remembered the paperwork.
The country was actually born in a rainstorm and a roll call on July 2, thanks in part to one sick man who refused to let a tie decide the fate of a nation.
The United States has warned Poland about a possible provocation by Russia
According to The Telegraph, the Kremlin may attempt to stage a provocation involving drone incursions or military aircraft, presenting it as a "navigation error" or other accident, counting on a hesitant NATO response.
The goal of the provocation is said to be to pressure the West, undermine trust in the Alliance, and attempt to weaken support for Ukraine.
According to European officials, from Moscow's point of view, Poland appears to be a more convenient target for such a provocation than the Baltic states.
🚨🚨 BREAKING: Julian Nagelsmann and Germany, it’s OVER. He’s no longer the head coach.
Decision made and Nagelsmann leaves the job after poor World Cup, as BILD reports.
👀 Jürgen Klopp would be OPEN to the job, as revealed earlier this week. 🇩🇪
Mark Zuckerberg is bankrupting a $22 billion startup because they refused to sell to him.
The company is Kalshi.
They run the largest prediction market in the US. Users bet real money on real-world outcomes.
Last year, prediction markets did $28 billion in monthly volume across the industry.
This month, they did $220 BILLION.
The sector literally 8x'd in a single year.
Bernstein now projects the entire prediction market industry will hit $1 TRILLION by 2030.
Zuckerberg saw the growth curve coming. Last year, when Kalshi was valued at only $2 billion, he sat down with founder and CEO Tarek Mansour to discuss buying the entire company.
Mansour said no.
Kalshi went on to raise at $11 billion in December. Then $22 billion in March. It is now pursuing a $40 billion round and openly weighing an IPO.
Zuckerberg's response:
He walked back to Meta headquarters, took every piece of information he learned in that meeting, and directed a small internal team to build a Kalshi clone from the ground up.
Meta's version is called Arena. It uses Llama to generate the questions. Every one of Meta's 3.5 billion daily users will get access.
And here's where the plan gets ruthless...
Meta is deliberately launching with play money. That single decision lets Zuckerberg dodge every gambling regulator on Earth while he trains billions of users to bet on prediction markets.
Meanwhile Kalshi is spending millions fighting state gambling laws, the CFTC, an Illinois sports tax, a Minnesota felony statute, and the Department of Justice.
Kalshi is the crash test dummy. Meta is the getaway driver.
The moment the regulatory war is settled, Zuckerberg flips the switch. Arena becomes a real-money market, and 3.5 billion users are already trained to use it. Kalshi's user base of a few million cannot compete.
This is the exact playbook Meta ran on Snapchat in 2016 when Instagram Stories launched. It is the exact playbook they ran on TikTok in 2020 when Reels launched. It is the exact playbook they ran on Twitter in 2023 when Threads launched.
The FTC took Meta to court over this pattern last year and called it "buy or bury." The judge sided with Meta. So the playbook is legally protected.
Tarek Mansour walked into a meeting with the most predatory copycat in tech history and gave him the entire pitch deck for the fastest growing product in Silicon Valley.
Six months later, Zuckerberg is executing on that intel while Mansour is stuck defending his company in courts across America.
Kalshi survived Zuckerberg's offer. But it probably will not survive Zuckerberg's clone.
Meta ended Q1 with $81 billion in cash. That is enough to buy every prediction market company on Earth six times over. Zuckerberg is choosing to STEAL them instead because he can, and because the courts already gave him permission.
The next 12 months will decide whether Kalshi becomes a $50 billion IPO or a cautionary tale about what happens when a founder says no to Meta.
What do you think?
The US has warned Poland that Russia may be planning a limited military provocation within months to test NATO's willingness to respond.
According to Polish outlet Onet, possible scenarios include missile or drone strikes on critical infrastructure, cyber or hybrid attacks, or a small cross-border incursion from Kaliningrad or Belarus disguised as an accident.
Polish and Baltic security sources say the objective would be to create a crisis that pressures Western allies to reduce or suspend military support for Ukraine without triggering a full-scale NATO-Russia war.
Source: The Telegraph
Moment a group of South Africans marched into a whites-only community, where armed white residents confronted them and fired warning shots, causing the crowd to disperse.
Maj. Taylor Hiester, commander of the F-16 Demonstration Team participating in the flyover at the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C. to celebrate America's 250th birthday, shares how a childhood dream led him to the skies above our nation's capital.