US News

• A federal judge rules the state of Oregon cannot fine a man for calling himself an engineer. The state attempted to fine the man $500. The court found calling himself an engineer was within his first amendment rights. [Link]
• New Hampshire police arrested a man and charged him with criminal libel because the man complained about the police on Facebook. [Link]
• The Pentagon Chief of Staff Kevin Sweeney resigns to return to the private sector. [Link]
• Senator Warren backs Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria. She also backs withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan. [Link]
• Caitlyn Johnston explains how the mainstream media pushes fake feminism. The MSM is currently pushing the importance of more women at the top of the military industrial complex. [Link]
• Nuclear waste from US nuke testing is leaking into the Pacific Ocean. [Link]

Cuba

• Crickets were the cause of a mysterious illness felt by US diplomats in Cuba and China. The US had long suspected that sonic weapons were the cause of the illnesses. Trump reduced the size of the US mission to Cuba because of the illnesses. Reports accused Russia of causing the illnesses. [Link]

Saudi Arabia

• The US Envoy to the GCC dispute, General Anthony Zinni, resigns. Zinni felt there was no potential progress to be made. [Link]
• The State Department approves the sale of upgrades to the Patriot Missile system to Saudi Arabia. [Link]
• A Saudi teenager, who feels she would be killed if she returned to Saudi Arabia, is granted asylum in Thailand. [Link]

Afghanistan

• Recent gains by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan put the Taliban in position to take key oil fields. [Link]
• The Taliban kill seven Afghan soldiers in an attack on a checkpoint in the Kandahar Province. [Link] In a separate attack, the Taliban kill 21 Afghan police. Five civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. [Link]
• The Pentagon’s plan to reduce US troop levels in Afghanistan will fall short of Trump’s wish to remove 7,000 troops. [Link]
• The Taliban cancel planned talks with the US in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The talks were canceled over the US refusal to discuss a prisoner exchange and Saudi’s push to include the Afghan government in talks. [Link]

Syria

• Al-Qaeda rebels seize four more villages from Turkish backed Syrian rebels in northern Syria. [Link]
• ISIS fighters kill 23 Kurdish fighters in southeast Syria. [Link]
• Turkey’s President Erdogan snubbed John Bolton. Bolton traveled to Turkey to meet with Erdogan. Erdogan rejected the conditions Bolton put on the US troop withdraw in Syria. [Link]
• Turkey asks the US to give them control of all US military bases in Syria or destroy them. The US has about 22 bases in Syrian Kurdistan. [Link]
• Christian Whiton argues the US does not need to stay in Syria to defend the Kurds. [Link]

Sudanese Protests

• In the three weeks of protests in Sudan, rights activists say over 2,000 have bee arrested. The Sudanese government says only 800 have been arrested. [Link]