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USA Today: As a memorial service next week for Jordan Neely is being organized, his killer Daniel Penny awaits trial, where prosecutors will seek a grand jury indictment on a charge of manslaughter. On Friday, Penny was arrested less than 24 hours after Manhattan prosecutors announced the charge of manslaughter, and then he was released on bond. The 24-year-old could face up to 15 years in prison for administering a fatal chokehold on Neely, a 30-year-old Black man experiencing homelessness, on May 1 after an altercation on board the subway. In the days following Neely's death, New York police failed to release substantial details about what happened on board the subway car leading up to the chokehold, as well as what happened in the minutes leading up to the arrival of police. A medical examiner ruled Neely's death a homicide caused by depression of the neck. Lawyers for Penny, a white U.S. Marine Corps veteran, say he acted in self-defense. Bystanders on board the subway on May 1 have said Neely did not physically assault anyone in the moments leading up to Penny grabbing him from behind, lawyers say. What charges is Daniel Penny facing? Nearly two weeks after administering a fatal chokehold on Neely, prosecutors announced Penny would be charged with second degree manslaughter. On Friday, lawyer Lennon Edwards said the Manhattan district attorney "admitted" to him he could not recall a single other instance in the past 25 years where a suspect in a death case was released from custody after police secured a confession and video evidence, as in the case of Penny. "He should have been arrested on the spot," the day of the incident, said Edwards, a lawyer for Neely's family. On Friday, a judge authorized Penny’s release on $100,000 bond and ordered him to surrender his passport and not to leave New York without approval. Edwards said the district attorney had told Neely's father this week to expect a possible indictment in June.

Yahoo News: CNN’s highly anticipated town hall with Donald Trump on Wednesday night renewed long-standing questions about how to cover the former president without simply allowing him to peddle falsehoods on a national platform. Those questions are becoming more urgent as Trump’s campaign recovers from last November’s lackluster rollout of a new White House campaign. Hosted by anchor Kaitlan Collins, a former White House reporter and a rising star at the network, the event came as Trump appeared to be consolidating his position as the GOP frontrunner. In the audience sat undecided voters from New Hampshire, a crucial early-primary state. But there was little effort from the former president to demonstrate that he had been chastened by his loss in 2020 and was intent on running a more disciplined campaign in 2024. Instead, he engaged in his usual lies about his loss to Joe Biden while also mocking the judgment against him earlier this week in a Manhattan sexual assault civil suit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. He claimed that he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours and suggested that the way to prevent school shootings was to arm teachers. And for good measure, he insulted Collins, calling her a “nasty person.” Questions about CNN’s judgment Eight years after Trump launched his first presidential campaign, the question of how to cover the master of attention-getting remains unresolved. He is clearly not the sideshow that some dismissed him as in 2015 (he did, after all, win the presidency in 2016), but in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, there are legitimate questions about how to properly cover a candidate routinely given to make incendiary statements, not to mention transparently false ones. CNN chief executive Chris Licht has been intent on making the network more appealing to moderates and even conservatives since the Trump presidency, and Wednesday night’s town hall was clearly an effort to appeal to voters who might otherwise have tuned in to Fox News. But to some, simply letting Trump peddle falsehoods was a disservice to the political process. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said on Twitter that “CNN should be ashamed of themselves,” while Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg called on Licht to resign.

William Maher (/mɑːr/; born January 20, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is known for the HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher (2003–present) and the similar late-night show called Politically Incorrect (1993–2002), originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC. In 2022, Maher started the podcast Club Random. Maher is known for his political satire and sociopolitical commentary. He targets many topics including religion, political correctness, and the mass media. His critical views of religion were the basis for his 2008 documentary film Religulous. He is a supporter of animal rights, having served on the board of PETA since 1997, and is an advisory board member of Project Reason. Maher supports the legalization of cannabis, serving on the advisory board of NORML. Maher is a frequent commentator on various cable news networks, including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and HLN. Maher has regularly appeared on CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and has also been a frequent guest on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Rachel Maddow Show, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Maher has also appeared as a guest on HLN's The Joy Behar Show. He wrote the foreword for the 2002 book, Spin This!: All the Ways We Don't Tell the Truth by show host Bill Press. Maher hosted the January 13, 2006, edition of Larry King Live, on which he was a frequent guest. Maher appeared as a special guest on the June 29, 2010, edition of the show, on which CNN anchor Larry King announced his retirement. Maher co-emceed the final show of Larry King Live on December 16, 2010, with Ryan Seacrest.

Time: In a matter of minutes on Monday, the face of cable news changed dramatically. First, Fox News reported that it had “parted ways” with Tucker Carlson, the host of the conservative cable news network’s hit 8 p.m. show Tucker Carlson Tonight. Then, just as the Succession memes started flowing, longtime CNN host Don Lemon posted a note on Twitter informing followers that he’d just heard, via his agent, that the network was firing him. (CNN has since disputed that characterization, tweeting that Lemon “was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”) It’s tempting to lump together these two departures, considering that they were announced almost simultaneously. (Lemon was open about his termination, whereas Carlson’s exit was publicly framed as a mutual decision. A source at Fox confirmed to TIME that the decision was not a financial one and suggested that Carlson was likely surprised by the decision, given his signoff on Friday’s show, but would not provide further comment.) Carlson and Lemon have something else in common, too: both men are controversial, and have faced backlash from the media and the public as well as their co-workers. The Fox News star leans into his role as a provocateur, promoting a right-wing agenda that barely bothers to conceal its grounding in racism, sexism, xenophobia, conspiracy thinking, religious intolerance, and hatred of the LGBTQ community. His less inflammatory CNN counterpart, meanwhile, has been mired in accusations of misogyny and bad behavior on set. But it would be a mistake to read their tandem dismissals as some righteous act on the part of cable news media writ large to purge itself of toxic men. The cases have important differences, though both will surely impact how TV covers the 2024 presidential election. Of the two, Lemon was the much more obvious candidate for replacement. As he put it on Twitter on Monday morning: “It is clear that there are some larger issues in play.” As anyone who’s been following his career recently will remember, one salient issue is Lemon himself. This past February, the CNN This Morning co-anchor came under fire for calling 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley over the hill. “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon told his female co-hosts. “When a woman is considered to be in her prime—in her 20s, 30s, and maybe her 40s.” Further reporting turned up allegations that Lemon had a long history of behavior that Variety characterized as painting “a picture of a journalist who flouted rules and cozied up to power all while displaying open hostility to many female co-workers.”

New York Times/Yahoo News: Dominion Voting Systems did more on Tuesday than settle its lawsuit against Fox News for $787.5 million: It also set the tone for the many related defamation cases it has filed. Legal experts say the settlement with Fox News, one of the largest defamation payouts in American history, could embolden Dominion as it continues to defend its reputation, which it says was savaged by conspiracy theories about vote fraud during the 2020 election. The company has several cases pending against public figures including Mike Lindell, the MyPillow executive, and news outlets such as Newsmax. The targets of Dominion’s remaining lawsuits, few of which have deep pockets and legal firepower at Fox’s level, will likely take a cue from Dominion and Fox’s faceoff, legal experts said. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times “Even though it was a settlement, it certainly was a victory for Dominion,” said Margaret M. Russell, a law professor at Santa Clara University. “For other possible defendants, I don’t think this will make them double down; it will make them fearful.” Dominion is the second-largest election technology company operating in the United States, where there are few other major players. The company, whose majority owner is the private equity firm Staple Street Capital, was made “toxic” by the false fraud narratives in 2020, one of Staple Street’s founders said in court documents. At one point, Dominion estimated that misinformation cost it $600 million in profits. Fox said in its court filings that Dominion did not have to lay off employees, close offices or default on any debts, nor did it suffer any canceled business contracts as a result of the news network’s coverage. Fox said in one filing that Dominion had projected $98 million in revenue for 2022, which would make Tuesday’s settlement the equivalent of eight years of sales...

Russia Today:
Paris is an ally and not a “vassal” of Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted on Wednesday. He was defending his recent comments about the EU needing “strategic autonomy” in the face of rising tensions between the US and China.
“Being an ally does not mean being a vassal... doesn’t mean that we don’t have the right to think for ourselves,” Macron said in Amsterdam at a joint press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Asked for the French position on Taiwan, Macron said Paris supports the status quo, meaning the “One China policy and the search for a peaceful resolution to the situation.”
Returning from his trip to China on Sunday, Macron argued that the EU can’t just be “America’s followers,” and that it is not in the bloc’s interest to stoke tensions over Taiwan. “The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” he told reporters.
The remarks earned a swift rebuke from US Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican on the foreign affairs committee, who suggested Washington might leave the EU to handle the Ukraine conflict by itself.
Taiwanese Parliament Speaker You Si-kun on Tuesday argued that France had forsaken its motto of ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’, and that advanced democracies should not “ignore the lives and deaths of people in other countries,” adding that Macron’s comments left him “puzzled.”
Meanwhile, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that Macron was “perfectly right to demand European independence and sovereignty,” while the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, noted that “quite a few” leaders of EU countries think like Macron, even though they “wouldn’t say things the same way.”
When asked about the French president’s comments on Monday, the US State Department said France is a long-standing ally and that occasional disagreements do not detract from the “deep partnership” with Paris. As for the EU position, a State Department spokesman cited a recent speech by the bloc’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, which described China as “a national and economic security threat,” and said there is “immense convergence” between Washington and Brussels on the matter.

Firstpost: The US dollar has been the official currency for international trade for years now. However, in recent times there has been talk of creating a new currency in an attempt to dump the dollar and push back against American hegemony. This de-dollarisation has received a boost in recent times, especially after the Russia-Ukraine war began last February. And last week, this movement received further impetus when Alexander Babakov, the deputy chairman of the State Duma, was quoted as saying that the BRICS nations are in the process of creating a new medium for payments — established on a strategy that “does not defend the dollar or euro”. Is the BRICS nations actually creating a new currency for trade? Who’s at the forefront of this movement? Will it benefit India? Will the plan actually fructify? There are several questions to this issue and we try to answer them all. Dethroning the king of currency The US dollar has been called the king of currency. It became the official reserve currency of the world in 1944. The decision was made by a delegation from 44 Allied countries called the Bretton Woods Agreement. Since then, the dollar has enjoyed a powerful status in the world. It has given the US a disproportionate amount of influence over other economies. In fact, the US has for long used imposition of sanctions as a tool to achieve foreign policy goals. However, not everybody likes playing by US rules and countries like Russia and China would like to call a halt to dollar hegemony. This process is called de-dollarisation — and it refers to reducing the dollar’s dominance in global markets. It is a process of substituting the US dollar as the currency used for trading oil and/or other commodities. The proponents of de-dollarisation say that this process would reduce other countries’ dependence on the US dollar and the US economy, which could help mitigate the impact of economic and political changes in the US on their own economies. Moreover, countries can reduce their exposure to currency fluctuations and interest rate changes, which can help to improve economic stability and reduce the risk of financial crises. This move has been gaining speed in the last few years, especially in the previous year. In 2022, the International Monetary Fund noted that central banks today are not holding the greenback as reserves in the same quantities as yesteryear. “The dollar’s share of global foreign-exchange reserves fell below 59 per cent in the final quarter of last year, extending a two-decade decline, according to the IMF’s Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves data,” the paper stated. “Strikingly, the decline in the dollar’s share has not been accompanied by an increase in the shares of the pound sterling, yen and euro, other long-standing reserve currencies… Rather, the shift out of dollars has been in two directions: a quarter into the Chinese renminbi, and three quarters into the currencies of smaller countries that have played a more limited role as reserve currencies.” To punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, western governments froze $300 billion of Russia’s foreign currency reserves last year, roughly half the total, and expelled Russian banks from the Swift international payments system.

Al Jazeera: Tensions in Jerusalem have flared after Israeli police attacked worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound overnight during the holy month of Ramadan.
The raids continued until Wednesday morning when Israeli forces were once again seen assaulting and pushing Palestinians out of the compound and preventing them from praying – before Israelis were allowed in under police protection. What happened in Al-Aqsa compound?
Before dawn on Wednesday, Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, attacking dozens of worshippers in the Qibli Mosque.
Israeli police, who claimed they were responding to “rioting”, beat worshippers with batons and used tear gas and sound bombs to force them out of the prayer halls, according to witnesses. Videos shared on social media showed women screaming for help as a small fire erupted in the prayer hall.
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 12 people injured, including three who were taken to hospital. It also said in a statement that Israeli forces prevented its medics from reaching Al-Aqsa. At least 400 Palestinians were arrested and remain in Israeli custody, according to local officials.
Why would armed security forces enter a mosque?
Israeli police said in a statement that they were forced to enter the compound after “masked agitators” locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones.
“When the police entered, stones were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators,” the statement said, adding that a police officer was wounded in the leg.
The Israeli police also said that according to a prior agreement with the Al-Aqsa compound authorities, no one was to spend the night inside the compound during the month of Ramadan.
“The police said they ‘peacefully’ tried to convince people to leave but when that didn’t happen they forced their way into Al-Aqsa,” said Al Jazeera’s Natasha Ghoneim. But Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned what happened as “a major crime against the worshippers”, adding that “prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque is not with the permission of the [Israeli] occupation … it is our right.”
“Al-Aqsa is for the Palestinians and for all Arabs and Muslims, and the raiding of it is a spark of revolution against the occupation,” he added.

A Manhattan grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump, making him the first current or former president to face criminal charges. It was not immediately clear what the indictment was connected to, or what charges Trump will face. The indictment is under seal. In a statement released Thursday evening, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney's office said, "This evening we contacted Mr. Trump's attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.'s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected." Trump is expected to surrender in New York early next week, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. Speaking to ABC News, Trump called the indictment "political persecution" and "an attack on our country." "They are trying to impact an election," said Trump, who is running for president in 2024. "From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats -- the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country -- have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement," Trump said in a subsequent statement. "Weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever." Trump has been under investigation by the Manhattan DA's office, which has been probing the $130,000 hush money payment made to Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who has alleged she had an affair with Trump, which he has long denied. Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer who wrote the check to Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 campaign, went to prison in part over the payment, which federal prosecutors believed amounted to an illicit campaign donation, according to court records. When Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment, his company logged the payments as a "monthly retainer" for Cohen's legal services, according to Trump and court documents from Cohen's subsequent plea deal. Prosecutors were considering whether Trump should be charged with falsifying business records, sources say. "This is all about accountability," Cohen told reporters when he arrived to testify before a Manhattan grand jury earlier this month. Of Trump, he said, "He needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds." Trump has long insisted he did "absolutely nothing wrong" and has called the investigation part of a witch hunt by a Democratic prosecutor. An attorney for Trump has said the payment was not meant to protect the campaign, but to protect Trump's family. "He made this with personal funds to prevent something coming out, false, but embarrassing to himself, his family, his young son," defense attorney Joe Tacopina told George Stephanopoulos two weeks ago on ABC's Good Morning America. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year won a tax fraud conviction against Trump's namesake company, and its former finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty to tax evasion -- but until now Trump himself had never faced an indictment.

Reuters: The Biden administration plans to send Mexico an "act now or else" message in coming weeks in an attempt to break a stalemate in an energy trade dispute as bipartisan calls grow for the U.S. to get tougher with its southern neighbor, according to people familiar with the discussions. The move would represent a significant escalation in already-strained tensions between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Obrador's decision to roll back reforms aimed at opening Mexico's power and oil markets to outside competitors sparked the trade dispute. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is expected to make what was described as a "final offer" to Mexico negotiators to open its markets and agree to some increased oversight, three people familiar with the talks told Reuters. If not, the U.S. will request an independent dispute settlement panel under the Unites States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA, they said. The United States and Canada demanded dispute settlement talks with Mexico in July, 250 days ago. Under USMCA rules, after 75 days without a resolution they were free to request a dispute settlement panel, a third party that rules on the case. At an event on Monday, Mexico's Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro said the United States has been entitled to call for a panel since Oct. 3. If the panel rules against Mexico and it fails to take corrective action, Washington and Ottawa could ultimately impose billions of dollars in retaliatory tariffs on Mexican goods. The White House has hoped to avoid escalating trade tensions with Mexico as it sought help on immigration and drug trafficking. But months of talks have yielded little progress and the administration has run out of less-combative options, the sources told Reuters...

USA Today:
Republican presidential hopefuls are vowing to wage a war on "woke," but a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds a majority of Americans are inclined to see the word as a positive attribute, not a negative one.
Fifty-six percent of those surveyed say the term means "to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices." That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans.
Overall, 39% say instead that the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, "to be overly politically correct and police others' words." That's the view of 56% of Republicans.
The findings raise questions about whether Republican campaign promises to ban policies at schools and workplaces they denounce as "woke" could boost a contender in the party's primaries but put them at odds with broader public opinion in the general election.
Independents, by 51%-45%, say "woke" means being aware of social injustice, not being overly politically correct.
“Most Americans understand that to be woke is to be tuned in to injustices around us,” said Cliff Young of Ipsos. "But for a key segment of Republicans who make up the Trump-DeSantis base, 'woke' is a clear trigger for the worst of the politically correct, emerging multicultural majority."
A new rallying cry in the culture wars
In the early 20th century, "woke" was generally used as a call for Black people around the world to "wake up" to racial oppression. After the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the term gained wider usage to describe awareness of the continuing legacy of racial discrimination and systematic oppression.
Now conservatives have adopted the term as a rallying cry in the culture wars, signaling their opposition to everything from the teaching of the ongoing effects of slavery to the use of gender-neutral pronouns.
"We will never surrender to the woke mob," Ron DeSantis declared in his victory speech when he won a second term as Florida governor in November. Former President Donald Trump last week accused President Joe Biden of engineering "a woke takeover of the entire federal government."
Even South Carolina's Sen. Tim Scott, a Black man who discusses how racism has affected his life, has derided "woke corporations" and "woke prosecutors" as negative forces in American life...

The Guardian: President Joe Biden has warned Iran that the United States will “act forcefully” to protect Americans, after the US military carried out air strikes against Iran-backed forces in retaliation for an attack in Syria. “Make no mistake: the United States does not ... seek conflict with Iran, but be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people,” Biden told reporters during a visit to Canada. Asked whether there should be a higher cost for Iran, Biden replied: “We’re not going to stop.” Officials said a US service member was wounded in Syria on Friday in the latest tit-for-tat strike between Iran-backed forces and US personnel. It comes after an attack on Thursday killed an American contractor and wounded five US troops and another contractor. Washington has said a drone of Iranian origin was used in that attack. Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared that the defensive system on the base had failed. One US official told Reuters that troops on the ground did not appear to have had enough time to react to the drone. Although US forces stationed in Syria have been attacked with drones before, deaths are rare. The violence could further aggravate already strained relations between Washington and Tehran, as attempts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers stalled, and with Iranian drones being used by Russia against Ukraine. The Pentagon had said US F-15 jets on Thursday attacked two facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said the US strikes had killed eight pro-Iranian fighters. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the toll. Suspected US rocket fire on Friday targeted new areas in eastern Syria, according to two local sources, with no casualties reported. Pro-Iranian forces in Syria said in an online statement late on Friday that they have a “long arm” to respond to further US strikes on their positions. Iran’s state Press TV said no Iranians had been killed and quoted local sources as saying the target was not an Iran-aligned military post, but that a rural development centre and a grain centre near a military airport had been hit. The US strikes were a response to a drone attack earlier on Thursday on a base near Hasakah in north-east Syria operated by a US-led coalition battling the remnants of Islamic State. Three service members and a contractor required medical evacuation to Iraq, while two wounded American troops were treated at the base. On Friday, the Pentagon said the injured personnel were in stable condition. A US base at the Al-Omar oil field in Syria was attacked on Friday morning, according to the Lebanese pro-Iranian TV channel Al Mayadeen and a security source. It is not uncommon for Iranian-backed groups to fire missiles at US bases in Syria after they are hit with air strikes. US forces first deployed into Syria during the Obama administration’s campaign against Islamic State, partnering with a Kurdish-led group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. There are about 900 US troops in Syria, most of them in the east. US troops have been attacked by Iranian-backed groups about 78 times since the beginning of 2021, according to the U.S. military. While Islamic State has lost the areas of Syria and Iraq it ruled over in 2014, sleeper cells still carry out hit-and-run attacks in desolate areas where neither the US-led coalition nor the Syrian army exert full control.

Two decades ago, U.S. air and ground forces invaded Iraq in what then-President George W. Bush said was an effort to disarm the country, free its people and "defend the world from grave danger."In the late-night Oval Office address on March 19, 2003, Bush did not mention his administration's assertion that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. That argument — which turned out to be based on thin or otherwise faulty intelligence — had been laid out weeks before by Secretary of State Colin Powell at a U.N. Security Council meeting. Bush described the massive airstrikes on Iraq as the "opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign" and pledged that "we will accept no outcome but victory." However, Bush's caveat that the campaign "could be longer and more difficult than some predict" proved prescient. In eight years of boots on the ground, the U.S. lost some 4,600 U.S. service members, and at least 270,000 Iraqis, mostly civilians, were killed. While the invasion succeeded in toppling Saddam, it ultimately failed to uncover any secret stash of weapons of mass destruction. Although estimates vary, a Brown University estimate puts the cost of the combat phase of the war at around $2 trillion. When Ryan Crocker, who at the time had already been U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait and Syria and would go on to hold the top diplomatic post in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, first saw Bush's televised speech announcing the start of combat operations, he was at an airport heading back to Washington, D.C. "I was thinking, 'Here we go,' " he recalls. But it was a sense of dread, not excitement. Crocker wondered, "God knows where we're going." Peter Mansoor, a colonel attending the U.S. Army War College at the time, was concerned about his future, knowing that he'd soon be in command of the first brigade of the 1st Armored Division, which would go on to see action in Iraq. "I was very interested in the outcome of the invasion and what would happen in the aftermath," says Mansoor, who is now a military history professor at Ohio State University. "I didn't expect the Iraqi army to be able to put up much resistance beyond a few weeks." Meanwhile, Marsin Alshamary, an 11-year-old Iraqi American growing up in Minneapolis, Minn., when the invasion occurred, says "seeing planes and bombing over where my grandparents lived made me cry." Alshamary, who is now a Middle East policy expert at the Brookings Institution, says to her at the time, the possibility that Saddam would be deposed seemed "unreal." Crocker, Mansoor and Alshamary recently shared their thoughts with NPR on lessons learned from one of America's longest conflicts — the war in Iraq. Here are their observations: Wars aren't predictable. They're chaotic — and costlier than anyone anticipates U.S. optimism for a quick and relatively bloodless outcome in Iraq was apparent even before the invasion.

In the months leading to the 2003 invasion, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in a radio call-in program, predicted that the coming fight would take "five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that." Bush, in what's been dubbed his "mission accomplished" speech on May 1, 2003, declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

Rumsfeld's prediction would prove hopelessly optimistic. In the days and weeks after Baghdad fell, a growing insurgency took root and U.S. forces began to come frequently under fire from hostile militias.

"They basically planned for a best-case scenario, where the Iraqi people would cooperate with the occupation, that Iraqi units would be available to help secure the country in the aftermath of conflict, and that the international community would step in to help reconstruct Iraq," he says. "All three of those assumptions were wrong."

Associated Press: THE HAGUE (AP) — The International Criminal Court said Friday that it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. Although world leaders have been indicted before, it was the first time the global court has issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The court said in a statement that Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” It also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. The move was immediately dismissed by Moscow — and welcomed by Ukraine as a major breakthrough. Its practical implications, however, could well be limited as the chances of either facing trial at the ICC are extremely unlikely. But the moral condemnation will likely stain Putin for the rest of his life — and in the more immediate future whenever he seeks to attend an international summit in a nation that could be bound to arrest him. “So Putin might go to China, Syria, Iran, his ... few allies, but he just won’t travel to the rest of the world and won’t travel to ICC member states who he believes would actually ... arrest him,” said Adil Ahmad Haque, an expert in international law and armed conflict at Rutgers University. Others agreed. “Vladimir Putin will forever be marked as a pariah globally. He has lost all his political credibility around the world. Any world leader who stands by him will be shamed as well,” David Crane, a former international prosecutor, told The Associated Press....

PressTV:  Mass shootings in the United States accounted for most extremism-related  deaths in the country last year, according to a report, with white  supremacists responsible for more than 80 percent of murders.  In a report released on Wednesday, a New York-based group labeled 25  murders in 2022 as "extremist-related," with 18 of those "committed in  whole or part for ideological motives."  “All the extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing  extremists of various kinds,” the report stated, adding that Americans  are living in an "age of extremist mass killings".  “White supremacists commit the greatest number of domestic  extremist-related murders in most years, but in 2022 the percentage was  unusually high: 21 of the 25 murders were linked to white supremacists.”  Two mass shootings - one in May in Buffalo, New York, wherein a white  supremacist fatally shot 10 Black people, and another in November in  Colorado Springs wherein five people were killed at a nightclub -  accounted for most of the extremist-related murders of 2022, the report  noted.  It further stated that the group has "identified 62 extremist-connected  mass killing incidents since 1970, with 46 of them being ideologically  motivated", adding that "more than half (26, or 57 percent) of the  ideological mass killings have occurred within the past 12 years".  “Of particular concern in recent years are shootings inspired by the  white supremacist “accelerationist” propaganda urging such attacks," the  report added.  According to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks shootings  in the US, a total of 647 mass shootings were recorded in 2022, killing  44,287 people.  The US is the only country with more civilian guns than the population –  120 guns for every one hundred Americans – as per the Small Arms Survey  (SAS), according to a Swiss research project.  In a country of 331.9 million people, there are 393 million firearms.  According to a study by the International Journal of Comparative and  Applied Criminal Justice, mass shootings in the US account for 73  percent of all incidents and 62 percent of all fatalities in developed  countries, more likely involving “foreign-born perpetrators, ideological  motives, fame-seeking motives, schools, open spaces, and handguns”.  Despite President Joe Biden raising concerns about the alarming rise in  white supremacy in the country, observers say his administration has  failed to curb the surge in white supremacist crimes and color-based  discrimination.  A 2020 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said white  supremacist hate groups in the US increased by 55 percent during the  tenure of Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, who is known for  institutionalizing white supremacy in the US.  The report said since the turn of the millennium, American racists "have  fretted over what they fear will be the loss of their place of  dominance in society.”

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Russia Today:

Israeli lawmakers  have voted in favor of a bill that would impose the death penalty on  “terrorists” who murder Israelis. Backed by Prime Minister Benjamin  Netanyahu and his hardline allies, the bill has been bitterly opposed by  Palestinians and foreign observers.

The death penalty bill  passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament by 55 votes to nine  on Wednesday. Most of the opposition – led by former Prime Minister Yair  Lapid – abstained from the vote in protest.

The bill was  authored by MP Limor Son Har-Melech and supported by Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Both  Son Har-Melech and Ben-Gvir are members of the ‘Jewish Power’ party, a  radical Zionist faction that helped Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party  back into power in last November’s elections.

Under the  legislation, anyone who “intentionally or out of indifference causes the  death of an Israeli citizen when the act is carried out from a racist  motive or hate to a certain public... and with the purpose of harming  the State of Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in its  homeland” shall face execution, with no chance of prison time.

The  law would apply in the West Bank, which although partially administered  by the Palestinian Authority, is subject to Israeli military law.

The  bill crosses “a clear red line as part of Israel’s slide into total  fascism,” Arab-Israeli political party Hadash Ta’al said in a statement.  "Today it is the Palestinians, tomorrow it will be the protestors on  the streets. Ben-Gvir will be easy on the trigger when it comes to  determining who is a terrorist."

The Palestinian Authority said  that the bill is “cruel, barbaric, and inhumane,” describing it as  “rooted in Jewish supremacy.” Its passage will lead to Palestinians  “arbitrarily and ceremonially being put on death row,” its statement  continued.

Thousands of Israelis gathered outside the country’s  parliament building in recent days to protest the bill, while opposition  poured in from abroad. Speaking after a meeting with Israeli Foreign  Minister Eli Cohen on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock  called the bill “particularly worrying,” given that Israel has not  executed anyone since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was hanged in  1962.

Russia Today:  Americans are losing confidence that Ukraine is winning its conflict  with Russia, a new Rasmussen Reports poll has shown. The latest figures  indicate that more than one-third of US voters who were confident of a  Ukrainian victory in December no longer expect Kiev to prevail.  The poll, which was conducted last week and released on Friday, found  that 46% of likely US voters believe the Russia-Ukraine conflict has  become a stalemate. Those Americans who believe that one side or the  other is winning are about evenly divided, with 21% in Ukraine’s camp  and 19% saying Russia has the upper hand.  Just two months ago, a Rasmussen poll asking the same questions showed  that 32% of Americans believed Ukraine was winning the conflict. And  just as around one-third of voters who were confident in December that  Ukraine would prevail no longer expect a victory for Kiev, the  percentage of respondents who see Russian forces winning has increased  by about the same proportion.  Rasmussen’s findings dovetail with recent polling showing that public  support for US aid to Ukraine has dropped sharply. For example, an  Associated Press-NORC poll conducted in late January showed that less  than half of US adults (48%) still agreed with sending weapons to Kiev.  Just 26% said Washington should continue to play a “major role” in the  conflict.  Middle-aged voters are most likely to say that President Joe Biden’s  administration is doing “too much” to help Ukraine, Rasmussen said.  Washington has already allocated $113 billion of military and economic  aid for Ukraine since Russia began its offensive against Kiev a year  ago. During his visit to Kiev earlier this week, Biden vowed  “unwavering” support for Ukraine’s defense, pledging to continue backing  the former Soviet republic “as long as it takes.”  The US and its NATO allies also have declared that Ukraine will win, and  must win, to preserve the “rules-based international order.” However,  critics of US foreign policy have argued that Ukraine’s battlefield  successes have been greatly exaggerated, and US Chairman of the Joint  Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said last week that the conflict will need  to end in a negotiated settlement because neither side can likely  achieve victory on the battlefield.

Yesterday, February 24, marked the one year anniversary of Russia  invading Ukraine.  

There's so much we've learned in the past year since this war started.  So much.  

1) We've learned that the west in unison has condemned and supported  economic sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine, unlike the US  when it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan.  

2) We've learned that westerners and their racist double standards along  with their imperialist and colonialist terrorist attitudes still exist  for Black and Brown peoples around the world, but not for blue-eyed and  blonde-haired Europeans.  

3) We've learned that the western media also possesses this same racist  double standard along with their imperialist and colonialist terrorist  attitudes for Black and Brown peoples around the world.  

4) We've learned that even the Ukrainians who were fleeing their own  country, prevented others, specifically, African immigrants, from doing  the same due to Euro racist and disparate treatment.  

5) We've learned that the US has spent nearly $80 billion of taxpayer  money supporting Ukraine, militarily, financially and in terms of  humanitarian aid, but has provided Black and Brown nations with none of  these aid packages when confronted by a colonialist or imperialist  country.

Russia Today: The Mormon Church and its investment manager will pay $5 million in  fines to the US government after stashing billions of dollars’ worth of  assets in shell companies, obfuscating their ownership.  The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Tuesday  that it had charged Ensign Peak Advisors for the firm’s handling of  investments on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  (LDS Church) – colloquially known as the Mormon Church. The company  failed to correctly report the equities that it placed in 13 shell  entities, according to the allegations.  The violations took place between 1997 and 2019, the commission said,  adding that the portfolio had grown to around $32 billion by 2018.  Acting with the knowledge of the church leadership, Ensign Peak “went to  great lengths to avoid disclosing the church’s investments, depriving  the commission and the investing public of accurate market information,”  said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  The Utah-headquartered Mormon Church said in a statement that the firm  “received and relied upon legal counsel” to structure the investments  the way it did, and was guided by a wish to maintain the privacy of its  client. Ensign Peak was spun off from the investment division of the  church in 1997 as a non-profit.  The parties agreed to settle the case with a $4 million fine paid by the  investment manager and a $1 million penalty paid by the parent  organization.  The church stressed that it ordered changes to reporting as soon as the  SEC raised concerns in 2019, and said that it cooperated fully with the  investigation. It added that it has “diversified reserves, including  stocks, bonds, commercial and residential real estate, and agricultural  properties,” which are managed “solely to support the church’s mission.”  The SEC investigation was spurred by a November 2019 whistleblower  complaint to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), according to the  Washington Post. A report claimed that the church had accumulated $100  billion in accounts meant for charitable purposes.  The whistleblower, a former senior portfolio manager at Ensign Peak,  alleged that the significant sums indicated that the church leadership  was misleading its followers and possibly violating federal tax rules.  Charitable organizations are not required to pay taxes on their income  in the US.

In this video, we discuss how Australia, in cities like Queensland, is  moving toward a CIA/police state. We talk about the Wieambilla event in  December, that led to new surveillance and reporting against citizenry  of all kinds, including: conspiracy theorists, religious, social or  political extremists, sovereign citizens, as well as people with  ideologies relating to capitalism, communism, socialism or Marxism.  Finally, we offer our own commentary on how this is going to be the new  norm in western countries and how this is already happening in the US.

In this episode, we discuss the mental health of Pennsylvania Senator  John Fetterman. We talk about his current and life-long battle with  depression along with the stroke that caused it. We also wish him and  his family well and a quick and effective recovery fighting the monster  that is depression.

In this episode, we discuss UN (UN Human Rights Council) experts'  judgment that US sanctions against Iran are illegal. We talk about  Iranian thalassemia patients and their inability to receive live-saving  medications as a result of America and its sanctions and embargo against  Iran and companies that do business with Iran. We mention the events  that lead to the 2018 sanctions under the Trump administration and also  the sanctions themselves. Finally, we excoriate the US for their  unethical and immoral sanctions and embargo against Iran, especially  transactions for medical purposes and the lack of humanitarian  exemptions.

In this episode, we discuss how US lawmakers are intentionally provoking  and inciting China by preparing and planning a visit to Taiwan. We make  mention of key people and congressional committees that are responsible  for such agitation. Finally, we provide our own commentary on how  Washington is deliberately preparing a visit to Taiwan in an effort to  anger China and upset its "One China Principle/Policy."

In this episode, we discuss a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that details the number of Americans who've taken their own lives in a 4-year span (2018-2021). We highlight the numbers and provide possible reasons why Americans are committing  suicide. Finally, we report on which other demographics have been susceptible to taking their own lives.

In this episode, we talk about how the US is placing sanctions on 6  Chinese companies/entities amid the "spy balloon" incident. We mention  which industries/sectors these 6 companies/entities have impacted.  Finally, we offer our own commentary on everything from the red flags of  the Commerce Department chiming in on this incident to America's  hypocrisy granting the War Department/Department of "Defense" over $858  billion dollars to America's lengthy history of violating the  territorial independence and sovereignty of many nations in the past and  present compared with China's.

In this episode, we discuss the two earthquakes that left over 3,000  people d3ad in both Turkey and Syria. We talk about what areas were  affected, how extensive the damage has been and so on. (Only if you  can/are able) please help out by contributing to a non-profit  organization of your choice.

In this episode, we discuss what's currently been in the news for the  last 3-4 days concerning the alleged/suspected "Chinese spy balloons"  during the Biden administration accept this time, we report on how there  were allegedly 3 "Chinese spy balloons" during the Trump  administration. We take a look at what the outcome of this breaking news  means. Finally, we add our own commentary on the matter.

In this episode, we discuss an "organ for freedom" Massachusetts bill  allowing prisoners to receive up to one year off their jail sentence by  donating their organs. We talk about which Americans are especially  susceptible to this bill, who benefits the most from it and the moral  and ethical debates concerning this matter. Finally, we provide our own  commentary on the bill and the danger of it becoming a law.

In this episode, we discuss a Mother Jones article about the real reason  House Republicans removed Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs  Committee. We take note of Omar's legitimate and upstanding criticism of  Israel and the Republican's recent history of anti-Semitism. Finally,  we provide our own commentary about both the article and the situation  at hand concerning Omar's removal from the Foreign Affairs Committee.

In this episode, we discuss a new Pew Research poll released just  yesterday that highlights how more Americans oppose funding and  providing military weaponry and equipment to Ukraine. We talk about the  numbers on and statistics of the findings. Finally, we provide our own  commentary on America's financial/monetary and military support to  Ukraine.

In this episode, we discuss a US general's (Air Mobility Command chief  Gen. Mike Minihan) prediction that the US will go to war with China over  Taiwan in 2025. We go over the politics of the situation and provide  our feedback about the likelihood of such a military confrontation  between the two countries.

In this episode, we go back to the study by The Center for Strategic and  International Studies (CSIS) from two weeks ago that conducted 24 War  Games simulations between China and the US. We go over and discuss what  the study found regarding US preparedness against China in case China  decided to invade Taiwan. Finally, we provide our own commentaries and  question the war profiteer backers and their motivations behind making  the argument that America was not ready for a war against China.

In this episode, we discuss how the US is putting pressure on NATO ally,  Germany, to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine for a counter-offensive  against Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war. We discuss why Germany is  refusing to accommodate their American counterparts and share our view  on the entire situation.

In this video, we discuss Turkish protestors lighting ablaze Sweden's  flag in protest to a far-right Swedish extremist burning the  Quran/Koran. We talk about Turkey's reaction to this, including in  relation to Turkey allowing Sweden to enter NATO. Finally, we react to  this event, and admonish Sweden in the process.

In this episode, we talk about a recent Quinnipiac survey that found  that 33% of Americans believe the US is "doing too much" to help Kiev.  We mention how much funding the US has given Kiev thus far. We also talk  about where Americans' main concerns currently lie and how the US has  its own problems with homelessness and people living paycheck to  paycheck that it needs to deal with.

In this episode, we discuss how tech companies keep firing Americans. In  the latest tech business to report layoffs, Google announced today that  it was laying off 10,000 of its employees and pivoting to artificial  intelligence (AI) technology. Finally, we talk about which tech  companies have laid off workers recently and the repercussions of having  so many laid off people in the US job market.

In this episode, we discuss how Iran is calling out America's hypocrisy  regarding its human rights abuses and violations of its own citizenry,  which we expand to also include, internationally. We go over Iran's  Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani's analysis. Finally, we  provide our own analysis into the issue and into Nasser's examinations.

In this episode, we discuss how the US is stealing Syrian oil and wheat. We also discuss how much of Syria's oil the US is thieving and get both Damascus' and Beijing's take on the issue. Finally, we talk about how evil, immoral and unethical America's actions in Syria are.

In this episode, we discuss both America's and the UK's role in Saudi  Arabia's one-sided aggression against Yemen and its people. We take a  look at how the US and UK are complicit and criticize America's  inadequate and anemic public response to Saudi Arabia's hostilities.  Finally, we discuss Yemen's resistance movement's response to Saudi  aggression.

In this episode, we discuss how the US military/war department and its  declining recruitment numbers are using E-girl influencers to get Gen Z  into the military. We talk about many of the tactics the US military/war  department and E-thot influencers utilize to draw in Gen Zers. We also  opine the unethical and immoral nature of using sex as a strategy for  military enlistment.

In this episode, we discuss a new study by The Ohio State University  concerning America's falling birthrate. We compare statistics throughout  the decades starting with the 1960s and 1970s. We talk about the  economic and social factors that hinder starting a family in the US.  Finally, we discuss who is responsible for these trends and why America  is not a hospitable place to have a family.

In this episode, we discuss how China issues a warning to the West and  what the warning is about. We also take a deep dive into China's  involvement in Africa. We then compare China's relations with Africa to  that of the West's. Finally, we mention China's concern and what it  doesn't want to happen in Africa.

In this episode, we discuss how the United States has threatened Africa for its relations with Russia. We also provide background into the event  that America used to intervene in African affairs. Finally, we take a closer look on African-US relations and how the US wants to control Africa and its wealthy resources.

In this episode, we talk about a war game simulation that an American  think tank carried out in guesstimating the outcome of a China vs US war  over Taiwan in 2026. We discuss the findings of the war game simulation  and its impact on all of the players surrounding it. We also discuss  America's and American's love for war as an addiction.

In this episode, we discuss how US lawmakers expressed sentiments of  extraditing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro back to Brazil. We  also talk about Brazil's history with military coup-style governance  and far-right fascism and how it's comparable to America's politics today.

In this episode we talk about how Brazil is having its own version of  the US' January 6 insurrection by far-right fascist nutjobs in the  country. We talk about the event extensively, including comments and  sentiments from regional/Latin American officials. We also talk about  the similarities of Brazil's insurrection with that of the US.

In this episode, we discuss how the relations between the Philippines  and China has gotten closer despite an angry and disgruntled militarized  America. We also talk about the social, economic, political and  diplomatic ties between the two Asian nations while the US pokes and  prods the Philippines for more concessions concerning its US military  presence on the island for potential future hostilities with China.

In this episode we discuss how corporate landlords have stockpiled a  massive $110 billion to buy up many homes, especially single family  rentals (SFRs), in America, forcing the vast majority of Americans to  rent homes instead of buying. We provide background on statistics such  as market share of homes owned by these corporate landlords, when it  began, etc. We also discuss how this deleterious practice has not only  killed the "American dream" of owning a home, but is also forcing more  Americans to slave rent for life or face homelessness.

In this episode, we discuss a Gallup Poll that shows that the  overwhelming majority of Americans are pessimistic about 2023. We go  further in depth about American's gloomy outlook of 2023 concerning the  economy, global politics, America's standing in the world, taxes, etc.  We also consider the role of US politicians and their lack of concern  for the average impoverished and working class American.

In this episode we talk about how states within the US are making it illegal for homeless people to sleep out in public and criminalizing poverty and homelessness in the process. We discuss how these American laws and policies are dangerous and not only do not help homeless people but do the exact opposite and set them back further.