US News

• Fiat Chrysler will pay $650 million in settlement for emissions cheating. [Link]
• A lawsuit in Missouri challenges the Constitutionality of laws that prevent people from feeding the homeless. The lawsuit claims the laws infringe on the freedom of religion by preventing people from fulfilling religious obligations of helping those in need. [Link]  
• Ray McGovern reviews the Russiagate intelligence assessment on its second birthday. [Link]
• The former US commander at Gitmo has been charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements during the investigation of a civilian who died in 2015. [Link]

Trump’s Foreign Policy

• Nick Turse explains how the Pentagon keeps many of their bases secret from the American people. The US spends an estimated $150 billion each year to maintain those bases. [Link]
• Philip Giraldi explains how Trump seems to have no foreign policy principles. However, Trump’s gut often is at odds with the establishment foreign policy. [Link]
• The Trump Administration’s inconsistent Middle East policy is causing decision making to be difficult for US oil companies. [Link]
• The US and Israel withdraw from UNESCO. [Link]

Syria

• Russians are now patrolling in Manbij. [Link]
• Several Middle East states are now working to repair their relationships with Assad. The repair has included; Sudan’s president visiting Syria, increased support for Kurdish groups opposed to Turkey, and the UAE and Bahrain normalizing diplomatic relations with Syria. It is expected that Syria will rejoin the Arab League. [Link]
• Syrian Kurds capture a German ISIS fighter. [Link]
• Moon of Alabama writes on John Bolton’s blunder of adding conditions to the US withdraw of Syria. Turkey’s president snubbed Bolton and rejected the conditions Bolton added to the US withdraw. [Link]
• Secretary of State Pompeo says Turkish threats to the Syrian Kurds will not delay the US withdraw from Syria. [Link]

Yemen

• The UN says warring parties in Yemen are largely complying with the Hodeida ceasefire. However, both side are refusing to withdraw their forces from the city. [Link]
• A Pentagon report says no Americans witnessed or participated in torture by the UAE in Yemen. The report also denies any evidence that the UAE abused Yemeni detainees. The report was produced as a requirement of the 2019 NDAA. [Link]
• Senator Todd Young calls on the US to pressure Saudi Arabia to end the war in Yemen. [Link]