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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will repel any attempt to take Syria’s oil fields away from U.S.-backed Syrian militia with “overwhelming force,” whether the opponent is Islamic State or even forces backed by Russia or Syria, the Pentagon said on Monday. The U.S. military announced last week it was reinforcing its position in Syria with additional assets, including mechanized forces, to prevent oilfields from being taken over by remnants of the Islamic State militant group or others. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper offered some of his most detailed remarks to date about the mission at a news briefing on...

The UK looks set for a December general election after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced his party was ready to fight the "most radical campaign ever". Mr Corbyn said his condition of taking a no-deal Brexit off the table had now been met after the EU agreed to extend the deadline until 31 January 2020. Prime Minister Boris Johnson can only hold an election with the support of MPs - who have blocked it three times.

A group of high school students in Oregon allegedly wore blackface to a gathering last weekend, sparking outrage. KEZI reports that Lebanon High School Principal Craig Swanson told students and staff that what he called a racist incident over the weekend is being investigated. The Eugene TV station said the...

Full Title: Report: Staffers Allegedly Confirmed Katie Hill’s Affair With Legislative Director, Leading Pelosi To Demand Resignation Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA), who resigned Sunday following allegations that she had an affair with a congressional staffer, was reportedly told to resign by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Radio host Joe Messina reported on his Monday program “The Real Side,” that Hill’s resignation was demanded by Pelosi after the speaker learned that staffers in Hill’s office confirmed her affair with Legislative Director Graham Kelly. The staffers reportedly acknowledged the affair to the House Ethics Committee, which opened an investigation into the allegations....

On Monday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” the co-host discussed some in the crowd chanting “lock him up” at President Donald Trump during game five of the World Series. Meghan McCain said, “That’s in the middle of the Washington, D.C. swamp If he had been in, I don’t know, Diamondbacks game, it might have been a different reaction.” Whoopi Goldberg said, “Just look — I think people are pissed at him. People are legitimately angry at him.” She added, “It was a whole bunch of folks — black, white, Latino, Asian. It was just a whole bunch of people, and...

A study provides a window into the first 100,000 years of the history of modern humans. The real Garden Of Eden has been traced to the African nation of Botswana, according to a major study of DNA. Scientists believe our ancestral homeland is south of the Zambezi River in the country's north. The conclusion comes after the study of maternal genetic lineage of anatomically modern humans, finding it was closest to those living in the area, which includes northern Botswana, Namibia to the west and Zimbabwe to the east. For 70,000 years, our ancestors thrived in the area before changes...

A U.S. Army officer serving at the National Security Council twice raised concerns over the Trump administration's push to have Ukraine investigate Democrats and Joe Biden, according to testimony the official is prepared to deliver Tuesday in the House impeachment inquiry. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who served in Iraq and, later, as a diplomat, is prepared to tell House investigators that he listened to President Donald Trump's July 25 call with new Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskiy and reported his concerns to the NSC's lead counsel. "I was concerned by the call," Vindman will say, according to prepared testimony obtained...

A former staff member who worked for Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) was sentenced on Oct. 28 for her part in an attempt to burgle her former employer’s office, officials confirmed.

Speaker Pelosi is playing word games, trying to pull a fast one on the Republicans, the American people, and the Constitution by appearing to “authorize” a formal impeachment inquiry, while not actually passing an impeachment resolution that would trigger rights for Republican House members to call witnesses and issue subpoenas. That is why, when ambushed by NBC News, she was careful to make a distinction and say “It is not an impeachment resolution.” It was a walk-by comment: ... Speaker Pelosi is holding a vote, a resolution, to affirm her previous declaration of a House “inquiry”…. Pelosi is not delivering...

Previously directed detail to help his daughter move New York mayor and failed presidential candidate Bill de Blasio ordered his New York police security detail to drive his son to Yale University on multiple occasions. The New York Police Department detail transported Dante de Blasio to and from school seven or eight different times during his freshman year, and also took him to visit his uncle who lives near the school, according to the New York Daily News. A former member of the security said the decision had little to do with the younger de Blasio's safety. "There was no...

Our selection today is It's Never Too Late by Tex Ritter (1946). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

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In May this year, French weekly Le Point published a front-page headline: "When Europe dominated the world (and why it has not said its last word yet)". A largely common but rarely publicly-voiced opinion, this view finally found way into print. Europe as we knew it for the past few decades is not there anymore, it seems. Europe tries to reinvent itself and seeks its new place in a changing and challenging world. Alliances which once seemed eternal do not seem such any more. Deeper and deeper cracks run through the monolith of the liberal West and the liberalism itself....

New details and photographs have emerged of conservative commentator Candace Owens' wedding to British Oxford graduate George Farmer, revealing the bride wore three gowns and their guests donned red 'Make Weddings Great Again' hats at the reception. The 30-year-old political activist, a well-known supporter of President Trump who was once praised for her views by Kanye West, met Farmer, 28, the son of a baron and conservative peer, in December 2018. The pair, who met at the launch of a right-wing student group in the UK, got engaged over a FaceTime call after just two-and-a-half weeks of dating. They tied...

'Unfortunately, a headline written in haste to portray the origins of al-Baghdadi and ISIS didn't communicate that brutality' The Washington Post expressed regret Sunday after running a headline that described ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a "religious scholar." The White House announced Sunday that al-Baghdadi killed himself by detonating a suicide vest as U.S. forces raided his Syrian compound. The Post originally described him in a headline as the "Islamic State's ‘terrorist-in-chief,'" but the headline was changed after publication to "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48." The Post‘s bizarre framing was...

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) has done voters a favor by spelling out what kinds of new taxes it would take to come up with that much money. Warren justifies many of her programs by saying all it would take is “two cents” from the wealthy. That’s a reference to her 2% wealth tax on ultra-millionaires. But Medicare for All would be so expensive that if you taxed top earners at 100%—that’s right, if you took all the income of couples earning more than $408,000 per year—you’d still fall far short. And everybody getting taxed at 100%...

Watch what you say about local officialdom in Tisbury, Mass., or you may find Police Chief Mark Saloio knocking at your door to revoke your Second Amendment rights.View Related ArticlesThat’s the harsh lesson 84-year-old Stephen Nichols learned last month when he was overheard criticizing one of Saloio’s employees for leaving his post as a school resource officer to drink coffee at a local convenience store during work hours. Nichols would later explain he couldn’t imagine someone whose job it was to guard kids leaving them defenseless.Nichols knows a thing or two about fidelity to duty. According to an article in...

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch said Monday evening that he would be running for the chairmanship of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, a panel he has sat on for 18 years and one at the center of the House's impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Lynch, a South Boston Democrat and one of the most conservative members of the state's delegation, said he spoke to colleagues over the weekend before reaching his decision. The chairmanship is open following the death of Elijah Cummings of Baltimore. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York is the senior Democrat on the committee and...

The Washington Post was forced to issue a correction after columnist Max Boot said Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was not a coward because he evaded capture by committing suicide. Boot initially stated in his Monday column that, "The assertion that Baghdadi died as a coward was, in any case, contradicted by the fact that rather than be captured, he blew himself up." After backlash from people accusing Boot of praising Baghdadi in an attempt to make a dig at President Trump, the Washington Post deleted the line and issued a correction. "An earlier version of this column...

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KTRK) -- Three women behind home plate are getting widespread attention after they flashed Houston Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole during Game 5 of the World Series Sunday night in Washington, D.C. While their actions weren't against the law, the women involved have been punished by the MLB. The incident happened during the bottom of the 7th inning at Nationals Park, when the Nats' Ryan Zimmerman was at bat. A woman who goes by the handle JuliaRose_33 on Twitter said she and a second woman were banned by Major League Baseball for the incident. She shared a photo of...