Politics

U.S. forces killed an Al-Qaeda-linked leader tied to the Palmyra ambush as counter-ISIS strikes continue, Democrats are pushing back on abolish-ICE rhetoric, ISIS-linked militants in Nigeria executed captives over ransom, and Trump’s Greenland push is driving NATO resistance and tariff threats.

U.S. pressure is tightening across the Western Hemisphere as Washington warns Cuba, cracks down in Venezuela, Iran’s unrest turns deadlier under blackout conditions, and Minneapolis edges toward federal intervention amid escalating clashes over immigration enforcement.

American power looks weaker because it is no longer theatrical, but it is still shaping outcomes through pressure and alliances while rivals burn men, money, and legitimacy trying to fight the modern world and their own limits.

BRICS navies are flexing off South Africa as the U.S. shifts Army forces toward the Indo-Pacific, Trump escalates rhetoric on owning Greenland for Arctic defense, and Taiwan searches for a missing F-16V while grounding its fleet for safety checks.

He did not kill Jennifer Evans, but he has spent over thirty years in prison because Virginia’s felony-murder doctrine treated his worst decision that night as if he had.

Delta Force with DEVGRU support removed Nicolás Maduro as the U.S. moves toward prosecution and a short stabilization plan, Iran threatened U.S. forces after Trump warned Tehran over killing protesters, and Russia claimed Huliaipole while Ukraine and independent mappers describe a heavily contested gray zone in Zaporizhzhia.

Swiss bar fire kills dozens, Mamdani sworn in, Ukraine strike hits Kherson. Here’s what’s making headlines this Thursday evening.

In Washington, confidence often looks like a man walking off a cliff with a plan in his hand, convinced that history will blink first when gravity shows up.

Russia battered Kyiv with a winter missile-and-drone strike as Canada announced new Ukraine aid ahead of Florida talks, Thailand and Cambodia moved to lock in a ceasefire, Israel’s recognition of Somaliland sparked a regional flare-up, and Yemen’s south shifted as the STC expanded while the Houthis held the north.

Most “loophole” gun gadgets blur lines and invite backlash. The Kali Key is different: it mechanically converts an AR into a manually operated straight-pull rifle, shifting it out of the semi-auto category without permanent changes.

From an ambush that wounded three Rochester police officers, to the killing of UN peacekeepers overseas, to US forces seizing sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela, a series of escalating incidents highlights growing risks for security forces operating in unstable and increasingly contested environments.

After a deadly ambush near Palmyra, US forces hit more than 70 ISIS targets across central Syria in a heavy retaliation strike meant to keep ISIS cells from regrouping. Russia is pounding Odesa while massing forces near Pokrovsk, and back home a Bellevue officer-involved shooting is under review by King County’s independent investigators as both the officer and suspect recover.