Brennan’s broyges

Among the several Yiddish words for "angry" is " broyges ." For the purposes of alliteration and anomaly, I want to apply it to the indignation reflected in former Communist Party voter and Obama administration CIA Director John Brennan's recent tweet on Hamas's terrorist assault on Israel last week.

Gearing Up for the Third Gulf War: a Future Cataclysm between US, Israel, Saudi and Iran?

With Donald Trump's decision to shred the Iran nuclear agreement, announced last Tuesday, it's time for the rest of us to start thinking about what a Third Gulf War would mean. The answer, based on the last 16 years of American experience in the Greater Middle East, is that it won't be pretty.

Dems try enhanced interrogation on Trump’s CIA nominee Jack Engelhard

Jack Engelhard's classic international bestselling novel Indecent Proposal, which later became a worldwide hit movie, has been republished to meet readers' demands. His other major works include Compulsive: A Novel, his award-winning post-Holocaust Montreal memoir Escape from Mount Moriah, plus Slot Attendant: A Novel About A Novelist.

Second Democrat announces support for CIA nominee Haspel

Gina Haspel's nomination to be CIA director received a crucial boost Saturday when Sen. Joe Donnelly became the second Democrat to support President Donald Trump's choice despite questions about her role in the previous decade's controversial interrogation program. The senator from Indiana, who met with Haspel on Thursday, said in a statement that he had ''a tough, frank, and extensive discussion'' with her that covered both her vision for the agency and its past use of ''enhanced'' interrogations against terrorist captives, including methods such as waterboarding that are widely considered torture.

Trump’s Iran move reminds some of run-up to Iraq war

Agencies, Washington , Fifteen years after invading Iraq over weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda that both proved non-existent, the United States is again steering toward a possible confrontation with a Middle East power for suspected work on nuclear weapons and support for terrorism. U.S. President Donald Trump's Iran policy sounds hauntingly familiar to some current and former U.S. officials who witnessed the buildup to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, where sectarian and ethnic fractures and some 5,000 U.S. troops still remain.

Trump’s CIA nominee Gina Haspel promises not to restart – torture’

Haspel's prepared remarks also recount her early days as a spy 'in dusty back allies of third-world capitals' Gina Haspel, US President Donald Trump's choice to lead the CIA, is offering assurances that if she gets the job, the spy agency wouldn't resort to waterboarding and other techniques that she once helped supervise and critics call torture. "Having served in that tumultuous time, I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation programme," Haspel plans to tell the Senate Intelligence Committee at her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, according to excerpts released on Tuesday night.

CIA nominee says she wouldn’t resume brutal interrogations

President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the CIA has told senators privately that she would stand firm against any effort to restart the brutal detention and interrogation program the spy agency ran after 9/11, administration officials said Friday. In comments meant to soften the public profile of Gina Haspel before her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, two administration officials said she was not the "architect" of the program, but a "line officer" who never interrogated any terrorism suspects.

Congress seeking to reclaim war oversight

Congress has a constitutional role in determining the use of U.S. military force, but there are two characteristic forms of error that go with it: Either lawmakers let the president do whatever he wants, without legal authorization, or they micromanage the commander in chief to the point that he cannot take necessary action, at least not openly.

NY man doesn’t want ex to use frozen embryos to get pregnant because of childhood fears

'A consummate professional': Mike Myers leads tributes to Austin Powers co-star Verne Troyer after 'suicidal' Mini-Me actor passes away following a long battle with depression George's tears for Barbara: Bush breaks down at his wife's funeral as Jeb reads their love letters during touching eulogy in front of his family and guests including Melania, the Clintons and the Obamas Trump uses Twitter to dismiss claims his lawyer Michael Cohen will 'flip' on him and cooperate with Mueller as he blasts NYT reporter 'She was beautiful till the day she died': Jeb Bush's touching eulogy to his 'precious' mother Barbara including jokes about how she told George H.W. to 'eat broccoli' and anecdotes about their 73-year love Melania Trump smiles as she shares a touching moment with Barack Obama at Barbara Bush's funeral - but pays no attention to Hillary and Bill Clinton President Trump watches Barbara ... (more)

Tens of thousands detained in Chinaa s Xinjiang, US diplomat says

Paramilitary policemen stand in formation as they take part in an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally, in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China. Tens of thousands of people have been detained in China's troubled far-western region of Xinjiang, a senior US State Department diplomat said on Wednesday, amid a deepening crackdown on Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China.

Kaine, fellow senators introduce new war powers resolution

The chairman and other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., unveiled a bipartisan resolution Monday authorizing the use of military force overseas, accelerating a debate that Congress has been reluctant to have, but that's taking on new urgency after President Donald Trump's strikes on Syria. The resolution from Kaine and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., would repeal the broad authorizations Congress approved in 2001 and 2002 for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, replacing them with new authority to go after specific "non-state terrorist groups."

Senators introduce new war powers resolution

A new resolution from leaders on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to authorize the use of military force overseas is accelerating a debate that Congress has been reluctant to have, but that's taking on new urgency after President Donald Trump's strikes on Syria. The bipartisan measure from Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., would repeal the broad authorizations Congress approved in 2001 and 2002 for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, replacing them with new authority to go after specific "non-state terrorist groups."

Zuckerberg Testimony Undermines Facebook Stance in Terrorism Case: U.S. Court Filing

A lawyer for victims of terrorist attacks in Israel on Monday urged a federal appeals court to revive their lawsuit against Facebook Inc, saying Mark Zuckerberg's congressional testimony undermined the social media company's argument that it bore no responsibility for content on its platforms. Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, "severely contradicted critical factual positions" that the company took to win dismissal last May of the $3 billion lawsuit by victims and relatives of American victims of Hamas attacks, according to a filing with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.