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The country music icon faced numerous health issues before she died on Tuesday at age 80.

The country music icon faced numerous health issues before she died on Tuesday at age 80.

President Trump mourned the death of Country music legend Dolly Parton, announcing plans to order the flag to be flown at half-staff for a week in her honor.

The country music legend passed away at the age of 80.

A UN-backed charity once chaired by Hunter Biden is standing by a Texas money man even as federal investigators probe his group’s possible ties to sanctioned Palestinian organizations, The Post has learned. The World Food Program USA wiped its entire leadership roster from its website just days after this newspaper revealed the federal inquiry into...

It's a curtain call on another AMC theater.

Trump Says All Mines Cleared From Strait Of Hormuz, Warns Military Options Still On Table

President Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday to declare that all mines have been removed from the Strait of Hormuz - it what seems yet another attempt to declare all is well at a moment Washington has shifted from prior military operations to an economic 'strangulation' and siege policy targeting the Islamic Republic.

“I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” the President wrote on Tuesday. "Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed. There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect."

So while there is a temporary calm for now, also with Iran not having targeted foreign vessels in at least the last couple days, Trump is essentially saying military options remain on the table.

Below is the text of the full Truth Social Post [emphasis ZH]:

I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed. Through Space Force, we are watching every square inch of the Strait, as we are, also, with Pickaxe Mountain and the already destroyed three other Nuclear sites. There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

US officials along with reports in Axios and other outlets have touted US Navy assistance for a steady small 'stealth' stream of tankers still transiting the Strait each day with fighter jet monitoring operations near the Omani coastline.

Axios claimed for example that last week 15 million barrels of oil exited the waterway on a single day.

But some maritime monitor organizations and pundits remain skeptical, and the situation is muddied given that many ships must turn off their transponders if they choose to risk the passage, which for months has been subject to attack by Iranian drones and missiles.

This summer, for the first time in history, Trump threatened to bomb Muscat over negotiations with Tehran, given Iran has asserted that the Oman-brokered Hormuz management plan cuts the US out of the process.

Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst: "If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the sh*t out of them."

We have two different things being said (again):

1. POTUS: "all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz"https://t.co/A3Wfjn91KI

2. JMIC: "Navigation interference persists, and mine-risk reporting remains relevant… https://t.co/CtajLe21Vq pic.twitter.com/N8Q1d56z8R

— Charlie B (@supbrow) August 25, 2026

Coupled with this is Bessent's rollout on Monday of details of an economic 'D-Day' against Iran, saying that the country will be completely isolated from the world economy, and threatening secondary sanctions against any third party country that doesn't comply.

The big question remains whether Washington would actually go after China over violation of the new Iran restrictions, especially given China's President Xi Jinping is set to be hosted at the White House, just weeks away.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 14:40

Here's How AI Is Impacting America's Mental Health Crisis

Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times,

When Americans are feeling down, instead of calling a mental health professional, a growing number are reaching for their keyboards. Artificial intelligence chatbots have become confidantes, sounding boards, and even substitutes for therapists. Some say this could have a significant impact on the U.S. mental health crisis.

This shift is unfolding against the backdrop of a substantial mental health burden in the United States. An American Psychiatric Association poll revealed 62 percent of respondents reported high levels of anxiety. Meanwhile, the online mental health care provider Innerwell revealed that more than 61 million U.S. adults reported a mental health condition in 2024.

Almost half of them did not receive any treatment.

So what happens when the 24-hour availability of AI chatbots steps into the treatment void? Well, some care providers say that the outcome will be a mixed bag on its best day.

Others think the habit of turning to AI for mental health support will eventually change the nature of human relationships.

"People are increasingly outsourcing emotional labor - flirting, apologizing, repairing, expressing vulnerability - to AI," Luis Maimoni, a licensed marriage and family therapist, told The Epoch Times.

Maimoni said AI chatbots can feel supportive, but also take the "human out of human relationships."

"Some people do form attachments to chatbots, but that's not the part that worries me most. The bigger issue is population-wide: when enough people stop practicing relationship skills, those skills naturally fade," he said.

In his experience, Maimoni said turning to AI chatbots for comfort affects couples, families, and kids. He also believes this will eventually take a toll on the next generation.

"If we lose our ability to connect with each other and the world around us, we lose one of the things that makes us most human," he cautioned.

Maimoni's concerns are supported by the fast-growing trend of supplementing human interactions with AI in difficult situations. In a survey of more than 1,200 licensed psychologists, researchers at the American Psychological Association found that 39 percent of care providers have discussions with patients who use AI to self-diagnose.

The same study noted that 35 percent of care providers' patients were using AI as an "additional mental health professional."

Echo Chamber Effect

On the one hand, professional care providers say AI could offer new ways to reach people who lack access to traditional treatment. However, the technology's expanding role with nuanced, even intimate conversations with human operators also comes with considerable risks.

"One of the most important distinctions in mental health care is the difference between validation and agreement. As a therapist, I might tell a client that I understand why an experience felt frightening without agreeing that their interpretation of what happened is necessarily accurate," Dr. Susan Johnston told The Epoch Times.

Johnston is a Florida-based, licensed mental health counselor and the founder of Human AI Dynamics. She said good clinical work often involves "validating the emotion" of a patient while leaving room for reality testing, uncertainty, and other explanations.

She pointed out that, for the moment, most AI chatbots don't operate with this level of discernment.

"A chatbot can sometimes blur that distinction because maintaining a supportive conversation may result in repeatedly mirroring the user's interpretation back to them," she said. "For someone who is already vulnerable, the response can begin to feel like independent confirmation."

Consequently, if a person is struggling with a mental health condition, they may end up drawing the conclusion "even the AI agrees with me," according to Johnston.

"Something designed to make a person feel heard can then unintentionally strengthen a belief that might instead need to be questioned or explored more carefully," she said.

Dr. Michelle Harris, a licensed social worker and doctor of behavioral health, shares this perspective.

"One concern is that prolonged chatbot use can create a kind of closed feedback loop," Harris told The Epoch Times.

Harris has more than 20 years of experience in mental wellness and is the founder of Anew Health Solutions. She said someone who is already experiencing paranoia, delusional thinking, mania, severe depression, or suicidal thoughts may return to the same fears or beliefs repeatedly. AI could then continue reinforcing that framework instead of recognizing that someone's mental state is spiraling.

"A clinician is assessing much more than the words someone says. We are considering history, behavior, functioning, risk, changes over time, nonverbal cues, medication, sleep, support systems, and whether a person's interpretation of reality appears to be changing. A general-purpose chatbot does not have that full clinical picture," she explained.

Harris added mental health organizations have specifically cautioned that AI tools may engage "unsafely with vulnerable users."

"If someone says, 'I believe people are following me and I am terrified,' I can acknowledge that the fear feels very real and frightening without agreeing that people are actually following them. In mental-health care, compassionate support sometimes has to exist alongside gentle challenge, further assessment, or reality testing," she said.

A May study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions supports these concerns. The researchers stated clinical observations point to a link between intensive chatbot use and psychiatric destabilization in vulnerable individuals.

"For someone with a vulnerable mind, a delusion or a hallucination is a very real part of their reality and an extremely dangerous part," Dr. Michael J. Zizmor, founder of Zizmor Mental Health, told The Epoch Times.

Zizmor said the "engagement-validation loop" perpetuated by an AI system may, in some cases, fuel delusions and gaslight a user into believing in something that a human companion would've pushed back on.

"The danger is compounded by the bots' extremely humanlike and available nature, which may lead delusions to be reinforced, grandiose delusions to be magnified, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness to become overwhelming, an unwillingness to take prescribed medications to occur, or to engage in dangerous behaviors," Zizmor said.

Meanwhile, AI advocates say chatbots could play a telehealth-style support role for those who are struggling with certain mental health conditions. They argue chatbots could be particularly useful given the worsening shortage of healthcare workers in the United States.

As of 2026, around 130 million Americans live in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals.

Some believe AI can help close the gap between supportive care needs and availability amid America's ongoing shortage of qualified human counselors.

"With these developments, rigorously tested AI chatbots are an underappreciated solution to the shortage of therapists and may help address key challenges in mental health care: access, affordability, and the delivery of consistent, empathetic care," researchers at the Milbank Memorial Fund stated.

Old Problems, New Approach

Johnston believes a cautious strategy is needed with AI chatbots used for mental health support, but also thinks the technology could be beneficial under the right circumstances.

She believes this matters more than many realize because of the U.S. healthcare system's longstanding struggles with provider shortages, cost, insurance barriers, and potentially lengthy wait times to see a therapist.

"If AI helps some people cope, seek help earlier, or maintain gains between appointments, there could be a meaningful public-health benefit; if another group becomes more isolated, experiences worsening symptoms, or delays professional care, that could add pressure to an already strained system. At this scale, I don't think we can evaluate AI only by asking what happens to the average user; we also have to understand what happens to the smaller groups of users who may be particularly vulnerable," she said.

Harris agreed that mental health support in the United States is a "very real issue" due to workforce shortages, and AI might be helpful on this front.

"AI has tremendous potential as an adjunct," Harris said. "Someone might use it to organize their thoughts before an appointment, learn basic coping strategies, identify questions to ask a provider, or receive general information while waiting for care. Research involving a purpose-built generative-AI therapeutic chatbot has shown promising symptom improvements, which tells us there may be meaningful opportunities here."

That said, she clarified there's a big difference between a clinically developed and studied intervention and using a general-purpose chatbot as a therapist.

Zizmor, Harris, and Johnston firmly agree that AI isn't creating a national mental health crisis in its own right, but rather throwing a can of gas on the existing one.

From Zizmor's perspective, he believes AI is an amplifier, not a root cause. He thinks the outcome of the technology's use in mental health support depends entirely on the circumstances of the person using it. He said AI's use in this capacity should be regulated "not as an independent replacement for healthcare professionals, but rather as an addition under their supervision."

Harris concurred. "AI may help bridge certain gaps. But the danger is when the bridge becomes the destination."

For Johnston, the rise of chatbot popularity as a mental health crutch heralds an opportunity to look at the deeper issue.

"Rather than only asking whether people are becoming too attached to AI, I think we also need to ask what the AI is providing that the person was not getting somewhere else and why that need went unmet," Johnston said.

"The answer may tell us as much about the weaknesses in America's existing mental-health system as it does about artificial intelligence."

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 14:20

Netanyahu Claims 'Iran Tried To Assassinate One Of My Sons'

Previously, Iranian state media aired images which appeared to threaten President Donald Trump's son Barron Trump, and following this Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be seizing the moment.

Netanyahu has claimed in a phone interview with Israel's Channel 14 on Monday that Iran tried to assassinate one of his two sons. "Iran targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons," he claimed.

GPO/Flash90

"Therefore, the security they get is not a luxury," he added, in reference to his argument that the state must continue protecting his family for years to come - even if he loses the upcoming election.

He described that without this protection for at least five years, "they would succeed," referencing imagined would-be Iranian assassins.

Netanyahu has two sons, Yair and Avner, but he didn't specify if one or the other was under threat by an alleged assassination plot.

Avner lives in Israel, while Yair - the one who is much more visible and outspoken on social media - lives in a luxury area of Miami.

Israeli media further claims as follows: "A Channel 12 report says the alleged attempt took place at a time when Yair Netanyahu was not in Israel, but does not specify that Yair was the target."

The report also seeks to address why this is suddenly being "revealed" now:

The alleged assassination plot has been known to the Israeli security establishment for several months, the TV report says, but has been barred from publication by the military censor.

Israel has tended to push 'assassination plot' claims while offering no public evidence and at opportune times which seemed aimed at escalating Washington's involvement against Iran.

For example, back in July when Netanyahu was openly pushing against White House efforts to pursue a negotiated settlement with Tehran there was this:

Israel shared intelligence with the United States that Iran had recently devised a new plan to assassinate President Donald Trump, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN, adding another layer of tension as a ceasefire deal between the countries comes under strain.

One of the sources said the warning came this week. Another source said the US had picked up a steady drumbeat of intelligence in recent weeks about possible plans to assassinate Trump, but the warning from Israel was new and concerned a specific plot.

At the time, the White House did not seem too alarmed by the 'warning' - and hasn't made much reference to it since.

In the opening days and weeks of Operation Epic Fury, literally dozens of top Iranian government and military officials were assassinated - and in some cases their family members died in the same attacks. Israel's military owned up to many of these operations, boasting publicly during the height of the bombing campaign. 

This new claim by Netanyahu of covert plot against his family also comes just as Bessent unveiled a so-called Economic D-Day policy to strangle the Islamic Republic economically.

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 14:00

George Kay's gripping new crime thriller has entered the chat.

Get personalized advice right when you need it.

The country icon leaves behind an impressive catalog that will never be forgotten.

Their efforts have already led to three babies being born — with 14 more on the way.

To survive the back-to-school mom group chat, you’ve gotta be one tough cookie. 

Alice Stilwell, 67, and her partner of more than 20 years Robert Barr, Jr., 54, were tragically killed Saturday morning.

Only one in five millennials doesn’t project a financial image at all, compared to 33% of Gen X and 42% of baby boomers.

The Bravo boss also revealed whether he's been offered a spot on "The Traitors" yet.

The Bravo boss also revealed whether he's been offered a spot on "The Traitors" yet.

The Los Angeles Lakers have returned from their four-day minicamp in Slovenia, hosted by superstar Luka Doncic. Their trip to Doncic’s home country — which featured working out, playing pick-up games, golfing and exploring Ljubljana — was evidently a fun time. So much so, that Jarred Vanderbilt is considering getting a Slovenian passport. The Lakers...

"All Accurate": Musk Confirms Massive New Starship Rocket Base In Louisiana

Our report from several weeks ago, titled "SpaceX In 'Final Stages' Of Securing Massive New Rocket Launch Site In Louisiana," was confirmed Tuesday afternoon by Elon Musk and his rocket company.

"Starbase, Louisiana, will be built to support thousands of Starship flights a year, with missions launching to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond," SpaceX wrote on X.

Starbase, Louisiana will be built to support thousands of Starship flights a year with missions launching to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond pic.twitter.com/SE6gyNZWBK

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 25, 2026

Musk also chimed in, saying reports about the new $100 billion spaceport near Pecan Island, Louisiana, were "all accurate."

All accurate https://t.co/FkmQCEoS0i

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 25, 2026

Let's come back to our Aug. 3 report, in which we cited the Times-Picayune:

SpaceX is poised to take control of roughly 130,000 acres at Pecan Island, more specifically in coastal Vermilion Parish, as part of a settlement resolving long-running coastal lawsuits against ExxonMobil. Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to announce the agreement this month.

One X user responded to Musk's post: "This is unironically the biggest thing to happen to Louisiana since the Louisiana Purchase."

 

Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2026 - 13:40