- Trump picks a Boeing executive, Patrick Shanahan, to become deputy US defense secretary. [Link]
- Trump is asking Congress to pass an immediate $30 billion in additional spending for the Pentagon. $5 billion is for the Pentagon to use in its war against ISIS. The spending includes an additional $1.1 billion to use in Afghanistan. The rest is for Trump to use on rebuilding the military. [Link]
- A US general says a $3 million Patriot missile was used to shoot down a $200 drone. [Link]
- A group of anarchists in Portland are fixing potholes without the help of the government. [Link]
- A judge rules that the FBI does not have to reveal the FBI’s rules for spying on American journalists. [Link]
- Jeff Sessions says that Marijuana is only slightly less awful than heroin. [Link]
- On the Senate floor, John McCain accuses Rand Paul of working for Putin. [Link]
- Doug Bandow makes a case for not allowing Montenegro into NATO. [Link]
- Nikki Haley says the US will not engage in talks with North Korea. Haley wants China and Russia to talk to North Korea about North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. [Link] Tillerson said the diplomacy with North Korea has failed and that the US needs a new approach. [Link]
- There is a growing conflict between Kurdish factions in Iraq and Syria. [Link]
- The operation to liberate West Mosul from ISIS is pushing the limits on how many displaced people the refugee camps around the city can take in. [Link]
- Doctors from Syria testify in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the horrific conditions in Syria. [Link]
- An airstrike on a mosque in Syria kills 42 people. Most of those dead are civilians. The US coalition admits to carrying out the strike. [Link]
- Israeli war plane bombed Syrian army targets in Palmyra. The Syrian government reports they shot down one of the Israeli planes. Israel denies any of its planes were shot down. [Link]
- The Syrian government asks the US coalition to stop carrying out airstrikes near dams. The war in Syria has damaged the integrity of a dam on the Euphrates River. [Link]
