Trump to be first sitting U.S. President to address the NRA on Friday

Trump to be first sitting U.S. President to address the NRA on Friday

President Donald Trump will speak to the National Rifle Association (NRA) at their national convention Friday in Atlanta, marking the first time a sitting U.S. President since Ronald Reagan has made such an address. Trump is set to be the guest of honor and keynote speaker at the weekend-long event, which will reportedly draw tens […]

VP Mike Pence addresses defense spending at PACOM, prompting the question: Can the U.S. afford to maintain its military?

VP Mike Pence addresses defense spending at PACOM, prompting the question: Can the U.S. afford to maintain its military?

Vice President Mike Pence expressed his support and gratitude to American service members in the U.S. Pacific Command on Monday, while attempting to address some of their concerns regarding the defense budget. Pence’s arrival at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii punctuated a ten-day trip that included stops in South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and […]

The FBI’s ‘starkly different’ investigations may have cost Hillary Clinton the election

The FBI’s ‘starkly different’ investigations may have cost Hillary Clinton the election

The New York Times published a lengthy retrospective on Saturday about FBI Director James Comey’s decision to revisit the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails 11 days before the presidential election, offering fresh insight into Comey’s thinking and sparking a new debate over whether he cost Clinton the election. Nate Silver, the editor in chief of […]

Trump sees no American role in Libya beyond fighting Islamic State

Trump sees no American role in Libya beyond fighting Islamic State

President Donald Trump believes the United States should focus solely on fighting the Islamic State in Libya. His comments on Thursday in a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni lend themselves to a Trump foreign policy doctrine beginning to coalesce around a powerful military with a willingness to use force, combined with a […]

USS Carl Vinson isn’t anywhere near North Korea: Incompetence or political theater?

USS Carl Vinson isn’t anywhere near North Korea: Incompetence or political theater?

A week ago, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group was being diverted from its scheduled operations in Australia to head directly for the Korean peninsula amid ever-increasing tension surrounding Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons program. Reports substantiating his claim came in from the Pentagon, and […]

Japanese self-defense forces looking increasingly offensive

Japanese self-defense forces looking increasingly offensive

The contingent of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces planning on conducting joint naval maneuvers with the USS Carl Vinson strike group as it transits towards the Korean Peninsula reflect a growing Japanese military chafing within its constitutional limits of pure self-defense. The four helicopter carriers Japan is sending will conduct a series of helicopter landings and […]

Trump congratulates commanders of Navy ships responsible for Syria strike

Trump congratulates commanders of Navy ships responsible for Syria strike

On Saturday, President Trump congratulated the commanders of the two Navy vessels tasked with launching 59 Tomahawk missiles at an Assad-controlled air base in Syria last week.  He then followed his telephone conversations up on Twitter, extending his praise into the digital sphere. “Congratulations to our great military men and women for representing the United […]

U.S. seeks to distance itself from reports tying Russia to Syrian gas attack

U.S. seeks to distance itself from reports tying Russia to Syrian gas attack

Conflicting reports from unnamed U.S. officials regarding Russia’s involvement in the Syrian chemical weapon attack highlight the increasingly tenuous political situation the United States and Russia find themselves in. After an anonymous U.S. official told news organizations that Russia knew in advance that Syria intended to gas civilians, and then participated in a cover up […]