Kent...

A career State Department official told congressional investigators this week that he raised concerns in 2015 with a senior official at the White House about then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son being on the board of a Ukrainian natural-gas company because of concerns about the potential optics of a conflict of interest, a person familiar with the matter said.

The State Department official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State George Kent, told lawmakers behind closed doors that he raised the issue in January 2015 and expressed reservations about Hunter Biden’s position at Burisma Holdings because it could add to the challenges to convey to Ukraine the importance of cleaning up corruption and avoiding even potential conflicts of interest, this person said.

“Regardless of whether anything is wrong, it looks terrible,” Mr. Kent told lawmakers that he told the official who worked in Mr. Biden’s office at the time,  

Stuff...

Struggle...

 A veteran police officer was shot and killed in New York City just after midnight during a physical struggle with an armed suspect.  The 27-year-old suspect was also shot and killed, police said.

Mulkeen and the suspect got into a prolonged struggle on the ground with the officer shouting, "He's reaching for it, he's reaching for it," according to audio from the body-camera footage, police said.

"Numerous shots" were fired by five separate police officers and Mulkeen was struck three times, police said. It's unclear who fired the fatal shots.

Police said a .32 caliber revolver, believed to have been wielded by the suspect, was recovered at the scene.

Cornerstone...

According to experts, the Mediterranean diet has many potential health benefits, including cancer protection and improving memory. A Mediterranean diet incorporates the traditional living habits of people from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, including France, Greece, Italy and Spain. 

The diet encompasses a lot of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, beans, cereals, grains, fish, and unsaturated fats such as olive oil.

A  true  Mediterranean diet is based on the region’s traditional fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seafood, olive oil, and dairy with perhaps a glass or two of red wine. It usually includes a low intake of meat and dairy foods.  

Gabbard...

Sanders’s performance   provided an answer to that worry. He was more animated and on his game than much younger candidates. He was more effective than Warren at defending the Medicare-for-all plan they both support (but which, he’s quick to note, he wrote), replying to concerns about its realism.

Warren was certainly treated like the front runner of the debate, judging by all the attacks she took. The Massachusetts senator has replaced Bernie Sanders as the preferred punching bag of lower-polling moderate candidates who are hesitant to go after Biden.

Gabbard’s comment wasn’t a one-off error. Again and again, Gabbard called for an end to the “regime war in Syria”  . She blamed the “regime change war” for the Syrian refugee crisis, and the destruction of the country.

My visit to Syria has made it abundantly clear: Our counterproductive regime change war does not serve America’s interest, and it certainly isn’t in the interest of the Syrian people.
 

“As I visited with people from across the country, and heard heartbreaking stories of how this war has devastated their lives, I was asked, ‘Why is the United States and its allies helping al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups try to take over Syria? Syria did not attack the United States. Al-Qaeda did.’ I had no answer.

Speech...

 In the United States, the First Amendment of the Constitution is sacrosanct:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Congress shall not pass laws curtailing the freedom of speech. Congress shall not pass laws curbing the freedom of the press.

In the public imaginary, the First Amendment has turned into the notion that no one  should engage in any act that  limits someone else’s ability to speak.

As a result, it’s common for someone to accuse someone else for violating their first amendment, even though that’s absurd. 

Choosing what  the Media outlet to amplify is not the same as curtailing someone’s ability to speak. 

Just a thought.

Safe Zone...

The US military destroyed its own anti-ISIS headquarters in Syria to prevent them from falling into the hands of fighters backed by Turkey.

According to WSJ, Turkish troops advanced on the facility, which had been used to equip and train SDF fighters against ISIS, leading US officials to quickly withdraw US troops and destroy the base.

As the Turkish-back fighters moved closer, US troops attempted to repel them, using F-15s and Apache helicopters as a show of force to warn them away while US troops were still there.

But, according to The Wall Street Journal, the airpower failed to dissuade the Turkish forces; SDF fighters fled and set fire to their part of the base, and US troops left before US assets destroyed the base.

It is also unclear what was being held in the base.

The new safe zone is what Turkey asked for it for so long to settle the Syrian refugees 4 millions of them to return back to their own country.

Stinkin...

Impede...

New...

As the Democratic candidates for president have offered nothing to the American people but to expect additional Taxes on the American people, we need someone who have something to  offer.