Politics

The Pentagon has just confirmed deployment of US Special Forces in Lebanon to support the Lebanese Army in an upcoming coordinated military campaign aimed to clean out an ISIS border pocket in the country's northwest. Regional media outlets are describing the coming major new offensive as "imminent". But awkwardly for the US, the fight will necessitate some level of coordination with Hezbollah, which the US considers a terrorist organization.

A global punitive campaign on North Korea propelled by sharp new U.N. sanctions - amounting to a $1 billion ban on North Korea exports - received a welcome, and unexpected, boost on Sunday from China, the North's economic lifeline, when Beijing slammed its neighbor for its ongoing missile and nuclear tests.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held their first meeting since Donald Trump signed into law new sanctions against Moscow which Russia said amounted to a full-scale trade war and ended hopes for better ties, sending relations between the two nations back to their lows, hit during the Obama administration.

Authored by Rand Paul via Rare Liberty,

“Innocent until proven guilty” is the bedrock of American jurisprudence. Civil asset forfeiture, a legal process in which the government confiscates your property without a guilty verdict, turns that justice on its head.

Last night, the New York Times ran an article (see: Republican Shadow Campaign for 2020 Takes Shape as Trump Doubts Grow) suggesting, among other things, that Mike Pence was quietly preparing for a Presidential run in 2020 on the chance that Mueller, the mainstream media and the intelligence community is ultimately successful in taking down Trump.  They even suggested that members of Pence's team have openly admitted as much to potential donors at fundraising events.  Here are a couple of the key excerpts: