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Undated:  ... on one of two golf courses belonging to the Trump National Golf Club on Lowes Island, Virginia ... on the course, between the 14th hole and the 15th tee, Trump had a stone pedestal built with a flagpole on it, and had a plaque placed on the pedestal ... with the inscription:

Many great American soldiers, both of the North and South, died at this spot, "The Rapids", on the Potomac River. The casualties were so great that the water would turn red and thus became known as "The River of Blood".

Historians say no such event ever took place at this site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_of_Blood_%28monument%29
-- 2016 --
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January 9: From the moment 17-year-old Donald Trump was named a captain for his senior year at New York Military Academy, he ordered the officers under his command to keep strict discipline. Shoes had to be shined. Beds had to be made. Underclassmen had to spring to attention.

Then, a month into Trump’s tenure in the fall of 1963, came an abrupt change.


The tall, confident senior with a shock of blond hair was removed from that coveted post atop A Company and transferred to a new job on the school staff — another prestigious assignment, but one with no command responsibilities. He moved out of the barracks and into the administration building, swapping jobs with a fellow high-ranking senior who took command of Trump’s old group.

Explanations vary as to what actually happened.

In Trump’s telling, he was elevated as a reward for stellar performance. “I had total control over the cadets,” he said in a recent interview. “That’s why I got a promotion — because I did so good.”


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Former cadets recall the change differently. They say school administrators transferred Trump after a freshman named Lee Ains complained of being hazed by a sergeant under Trump’s command. School officials, those cadets say, were concerned that Trump’s style of delegating leadership responsibilities while spending a lot of time in his room, away from his team, allowed problems to fester.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decades-later-disagreement-over-young-trumps-military-academy-post/2016/01/09/907a67b2-b3e0-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bb96ea5e5c6d


March 21: Donald Trump, the frontrunner, contended in his presidential announcement speech that “our nuclear arsenal doesn’t work,” insisting that it is out of date. Although he didn’t mention the $1 trillion price tag for “modernization,” the program is clearly something he favors, especially given his campaign’s focus on building a US military machine “so big, powerful and strong that no one will mess with us.”
http://billmoyers.com/story/the-trillion-dollar-question-the-media-have-neglected-to-ask-presidential-candidates/

-- 2017 --
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February 12: Pentagon is asking for a major boost in military spending for 2019, requesting Congress approve a budget of $686 billion -- one of the largest in the Defense Department's history.
http://newsheadquarter.com/politics/caffe905b1

February 27: ... More than 120 retired U.S. generals and admirals urged Congress on Monday to fully fund U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid, the same government functions expected to be targeted for cuts in President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal.

“We know from our service in uniform that many of the crises our nation faces do not have military solutions alone,” they wrote. “The State Department, USAID, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Peace Corps and other development agencies are critical to preventing conflict and reducing the need to put our men and women in uniform in harm’s way.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-budget-foreignpolicy/retired-u-s-military-officers-urge-congress-to-fully-fund-diplomacy-aid-idUSKBN1661YK?il=0


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March 14: The US, Japan and South Korea sent a pointed message to North Korea on Tuesday, dispatching high-tech missile defense ships to the same area where Pyongyang fired four missiles just eight days ago.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/14/asia/us-south-korea-japan-aegis-missile-defense-ship-exercises/index.html

March 30: “The president has approved a Department of Defense proposal to provide additional precision fires in support of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali security forces operations to defeat al-Shabaab in Somalia,”
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/326565-trump-gives-military-more-authority-on-somalia-strikes

May 11: The Pentagon’s top spokesperson, Dana White, had announced Tuesday that Trump authorized the Department of Defense “to equip Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces as necessary to ensure a clear victory over ISIS in Raqqa.”
https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/11/15615782/trump-turkey-weaponry-kurds-isis-raqqa-syria


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May 20: [In an Ipsos poll} Many [Americans] ... mistakenly believed that American defense aid to Israel declined during the Obama administration. In fact, it increased.
http://www.npr.org/2017/05/20/528802896/npr-ipsos-poll-americans-arent-so-hot-on-america-first

May 23: U.S. President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress on Tuesday assailed his proposed cuts in the diplomatic and foreign aid budget, making it unlikely the cutbacks in global health, peacekeeping and other programs will take effect.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-budget-foreign-aid/republicans-push-back-against-trump-plan-to-cut-foreign-aid-idUSKBN18J2DC

May 28:  Shortly after the Civil War, Memorial Day began as Decoration Day. "The reason for that is because it was a day on which Americans, South and in the North, would decorate the graves of soldiers who died in the Civil War" ... Veterans Day, on the other hand, was originally called Armistice Day, which commemorated the end of fighting in World War I ...
http://www.npr.org/2017/05/28/530504781/words-youll-hear-memorial-day-dos-and-donts


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May 31: "Defense and intelligence officials warn that North Korea is making progress toward threatening the U.S. with a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile — although they won't say when." The Pentagon announced it has staged a test in which the military shot down a missile similar to the type that North Korea could someday use to threaten the United States.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/31/530837428/wary-of-north-korea-u-s-destroys-mock-warhead-over-the-pacific

June 16: A $12 billion deal to buy U.S. F-15 fighter jets shows Qatar has deep-rooted support from Washington, a Qatari official said on Thursday, despite President Donald Trump’s repeated accusations that Doha supports terrorism.

Qatar is facing a severe economic and diplomatic boycott by Saudi Arabia and its regional allies who cut ties last week, in the worst rift among Gulf Arab states in years. They accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, fomenting regional unrest and cosying up to their enemy Iran, all of which Qatar denies.

The fighter jet deal came amid increased diplomacy to try to resolve the crisis.

Trump has repeatedly echoed the accusations against Qatar, even as his Defense and State Departments have tried to remain neutral in the dispute among key allies. Qatar hosts a big U.S. military base housing the headquarters of U.S. air forces in the Middle East.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-qatar-weapons-deal_us_5943bf30e4b0f15cd5ba9e11


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June 24: How Trump is empowering the military ...

Under both Presidents Bush 43 and Obama, decisions to send thousands more troops came from the top. ... Going forward, the White House will have a diminished role [handing decision-making to the Pentagon] in sounding off on military decisions that could have geopolitical implications as well as political ramifications back home in the US.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/24/politics/trump-pentagon-shift-war-power-military/index.html

July 26: President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. military will not accept transgender troops into its ranks or allow them to serve in any capacity, reversing a policy that began under the Obama administration – and triggering intense criticism from lawmakers and civil libertarians.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/07/26/trump-no-transgender-individuals-military/511858001/

July 26: "Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/trump-military-transgender/index.html


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July 26: A 2016 Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Defense Department concluded that letting transgender people serve openly would have a “minimal impact” on readiness and health care costs, largely because there are so few in the military’s 1.3 million-member force.
http://fox43.com/2017/07/26/poll-do-you-think-the-inclusion-of-transgender-individuals-would-have-an-impact-on-the-mission-of-the-military/

July 26: [The] 2016 study by the Rand Corporation found the maximum annual medical costs for transgender services would be around $8.4 million. By comparison, the military spent $84 million on erectile dysfunction medications Viagra and Cialis in 2014, the Military Times reported.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/congress-transgender-policy/index.html

July 26: During the presidential campaign, Trump had pitched himself as a greater defender of the LGBT community than his rival, Hillary Clinton.

“The President’s tweet this morning regarding transgender Americans in the military is yet another example of why major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter,” [Sen. John] McCain said in a statement.
http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/donald-trump-transgender-military-banned-tweets-1202506959/


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July 26: Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Michigan, the vice chair of the congressional LGBT caucus: ... "Anyone who is willing to put on the uniform of the United States and risk their life in service to our country should be celebrated as patriots, regardless of their gender identity. This short-sighted and discriminatory policy will make America less safe" ...
https://dankildee.house.gov/media/press-releases/statement-congressman-dan-kildee-trump-banning-transgender-americans-military

July 26: A fight between conservative and moderate Republicans over the government paying for gender reassignment surgeries threatened to derail the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), prompting Republicans to lobby the White House to intervene, according to Politico.

“Conservatives were telling [the] White House they didn’t want money in a spending bill to go to transgender health services,” an anonymous White House official told Politico. [They also advised they did not intend a ban on transgenders in the military]
http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/26/report-trump-banned-transgenders-to-stop-congress-from-fighting-over-it/


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July 26: The military spends five times as much on Viagra as it would on transgender troops’ medical care
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/26/the-military-spends-five-times-as-much-on-viagra-as-it-would-on-transgender-troops-medical-care/?utm_term=.c7e3c22a66dc

July 27: US defense chiefs have pushed back against Donald Trump’s attempt to ban transgender people from serving in the military, saying the policy would not be overturned until they received formal direction to do so.

In a rebuke to Trump’s attempt to run the government and military via Twitter, Gen Joseph Dunford, America’s top military officer, said on Thursday that the armed forces would continue to permit transgender people to serve openly until the defense secretary, Jim Mattis, has received Trump’s “direction” to change the policy and figured out how to implement it.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/27/donald-trump-transgender-ban-troops-pentagon-us-military


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July 27: For now, Dunford has informed service members that there will be "no modifications to the current policy until the President's direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidelines."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/politics/trump-military-transgender-ban-joint-chiefs/?iid=ob_lockedrail_longstory_pool

August 4:

Lawmakers on Thursday gave final approval to the idea of a Global War on Terror memorial, clearing the path for what is expected to be a years-long process of designing and building a tribute to the latest generation of veterans.

In wrap-up work before their summer recess, senators unanimously approved legislation that would allow planning of the memorial to begin immediately, instead of the normally mandated 10-year wait period after the end of a military conflict.

“This memorial will be wholly dedicated to our 7,000 brothers and sisters who deployed with us but did not return, and their survivors,” said Andrew Brennan, founder and executive director of the Global War on Terror Memorial Foundation. “It is dedicated to the 1 million wounded warriors who are reclaiming their lives back here at home.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/veterans/2017/08/04/congress-approves-plans-to-build-a-global-war-on-terror-memorial/


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August 9: Trump wrote at 4:56 a.m: "My first order as president was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before."
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/aug/09/donald-trump/under-donald-trump-us-nuclear-arsenal-far-stronger/

August 9:
[Trump's claim is false, since he] did not order the modernization of the nuclear arsenal. President Obama did that in 2014 ...
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-trump-makes-false-claims-about-u-s-1502296243-htmlstory.html

August 10: In 2014, President Obama ordered American nuclear weapons to be modernized. His plan, expected to cost $400 billion through 2024 — and, according to outside estimates, more than $1 trillion over the next 30 years — calls for upgrades to nuclear weapons facilities, improved warheads and the construction of new submarines, bombers and ground-based missiles that can carry nuclear weapons.

This process will take years. In other words, the American nuclear arsenal is just about the same as it was when Trump took office. Also, Trump claimed nuclear modernization was his first order. It wasn’t. It came a week into his presidency, after he had made nearly a dozen orders on other things.
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2017/08/10/Here-s-Real-State-1-Trillion-US-Nuclear-Upgrade


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August 17: Bernstein: Washington 'Consensus' Questioning Trump's Abilities ... "There's considerable evidence that there's a consensus developing in the military, at the highest levels, in the intelligence community, among Republicans in Congress, including the leaders in the business community that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is unfit to be the president of the United States" ... "That's the undercurrent."
https://www.newsmax.com/Politics/carl-bernstein-donald-trump-unfit-president/2017/08/17/id/808136/

August 18: President Trump announced plans Friday to elevate the Pentagon's Cyber Command to the status of a unified combatant command next year, part of a strategic shift to emphasize cyber offense for future combat and counterterrorism operations ... The decision to create a separate cyber command "demonstrates our increased resolve against cyberspace threats and will help reassure our allies and partners and deter our adversaries," Trump said in a statement.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-trump-announces-plan-to-elevate-u-s-1503078609-htmlstory.html


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August 26: Donald Trump’s speech on his administration’s strategy in Afghanistan — in which he announced the introduction of an unspecified number of new combat troops, without a mission and without a specified end date, in a strategy that abandoned nation building but entailed war-fighting — clearly contravened the principles of his “America First” isolationist election campaign promises.
https://www.salon.com/2017/08/26/afghanistan-is-now-officially-james-mattis-war_partner/

October 16: Breaking his public silence about four American soldiers killed during an ambush in Niger, President Donald Trump said Monday he'd penned personal letters to their families and planned to phone them later this week.

"I felt very, very badly about that," Trump said during a press availability in the Rose Garden. "I always feel badly. It is the toughest calls I have to make are the calls where this happens, soldiers are killed."

Trump claimed that past presidents -- including Barack Obama -- hadn't written or called the families of slain service members, though Obama spoke publicly during his term about his many interactions with the families of Americans killed in action [he also visited the families in person].
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/16/politics/trump-niger-green-berets/index.html


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October 16: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called the sitting president a "soulless coward" Monday. 

Dave Zirin of The Nation reported the news, noting Popovich's comments were in regard to Donald Trump claiming former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush failed to call the families of soldiers who had died.

... Popovich notably compared the president's actions to those of a sixth grader and called his behavior "disgusting" and "comical."
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2739038?iid=ob_article_footer_expansion

October 16: [CNN counterterrorism analyst Philip Mudd]: “Boy, it’s a tough day for the President? How about for the families who accepted a child or a father or a spouse home in a casket? It’s not a tough day for them? This guy has the empathy of a cockroach.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-phil-mudd-goes-on-a-tear-against-trump-this-guy-has-the-empathy-of-a-cockroach/


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October 17: Trump takes credit for ISIS ‘giving up’

President Donald Trump took credit for the fact that ISIS is in retreat during an interview Tuesday, claiming that ISIS wasn’t on the run before because “you didn’t have Trump as your president.”
https://gantdaily.com/2017/10/17/trump-takes-credit-for-isis-giving-up/

October 17: Trump administration officials have described the changes as a deliberate effort to empower the military and reverse the protocols that defined the Obama administration's oversight of military campaigns that much of the top brass described as micromanagement that needlessly hamstrung commanders ... some of those complaints also stemmed from the era of President George W. Bush.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/17/politics/trump-isis-raqqa/?iid=ob_lockedrail_bottomlist

October 18: Perhaps the two most symbolic victories against ISIS have occurred while Trump has been in office: the retaking of the Iraqi city of Mosul in July, and now the liberation of Raqqa. U.S. officials have also claimed that the recapturing of ISIS-held territory has accelerated under Trump. Special Presidential Envoy McGurk—who held the same role in the Obama administration—said that of the 27,000 square miles of territory in Iraq and Syria reclaimed from ISIS since 2014, around 8,000 square miles have been retaken under Trump’s watch.


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But ... Trump is simply reaping the benefits of the hard graft put in by the former administration. The battle for Mosul, for example, commenced in October 2016 and lasted for nine months: Iraqi forces had liberated the whole of eastern Mosul by January 24—four days into Trump’s presidency—with the remaining six months consisting of a gruelling slog for the Old City.

... the most glaring omission from Trump’s comments on Tuesday was acknowledgement of the role of local forces in the fight against ISIS. In Raqqa, the fighting has been led by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a mixture of Arab and Kurdish fighters. The SDF has been backed by U.S. airpower and occasionally accompanied by U.S. advisers, but has suffered the consequences of leading the fight against ISIS at the heart of its caliphate, with hundreds of casualties.

... Trump failed to recognize that he is building upon foundations established long before he came to office and, perhaps most pertinently, failed to recognize the overwhelming contribution made by local forces in ousting ISIS from its former capital.
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-isis-raqqa-isis-capital-687391


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October 18: Trump’s call to slain soldier’s widow sparks controversy ... As the AP explained, “Trump often has had difficulty embracing a central role of the American presidency: consoling people dealing with intense grief.”
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-call-slain-soldiers-widow-sparks-controversy

October 18: Trump denies telling widow of fallen soldier, 'He knew what he signed up for'

Rep. Frederica Wilson said she was with Myeshia Johnson in a car headed to Miami International Airport on Tuesday afternoon to meet the body of Johnson's husband, Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson, who died in Niger this month, when the president called.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday night, Wilson, D-Fla., relayed Myeshia Johnson's conversation with Trump, saying, "Basically, he said, 'Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for. But I guess it still hurt.' That's what he said."

Trump denied Wilson's claim and said he had a "very nice conversation" with Johnson, "who sounded like a lovely woman."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-denies-telling-widow-fallen-soldier-knew-signed/story?id=50549664


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October 19: Wilson returned fire by calling Trump “a liar” and saying that the conversation had been put on speakerphone and overheard by four witnesses.

The White House said Wednesday that it did not have a recording of the conversation.
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/19/trump-frederica-wilson-gold-star-families-243977

October 18: ... it's absolutely plausible that Trump expressed a real sorrow somewhat inarticulately, leaving Johnson's widow and Wilson upset. And that Trump did so entirely unintentionally ...

This moment should be about the four soldiers who gave their lives in service to the country. Instead it's a he said/she said fight with the President of the United States right smack dab in the middle of it.

"Modern-day presidential" indeed.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/18/politics/trump-frederica-wilson/index.html


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October 18: Sgt. La David T. Johnson’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told The Washington Post that she was present during the call from the White House on Tuesday to Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson. She also stood by an account of the call from Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) that Trump told Myeshia Johnson that her husband “must have known what he signed up for.”

“President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband,” Jones-Johnson said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/10/18/totally-fabricated-trump-disputes-congresswomans-depiction-of-his-exchange-with-soldiers-widow/?utm_term=.068a48fcd161

October 17: Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his claim that Barack Obama did not routinely call the families of servicemen and women killed in battle. He also warned John McCain, a decorated war hero with whom he has clashed before, that he might “fight back” after the senator said America’s “leadership and ideals are absent”.

“I think I’ve called every family of someone who’s died,” Trump told Brian Kilmeade of Fox News Radio. “As far as other representatives, I don’t know. You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/17/trump-doubles-down-on-claim-obama-didnt-call-families-of-fallen-troops


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October 17: In the first year of Obama's term, 466 American troops died in Iraq and Afghanistan, compared to 25 this year ... Kelly and his wife, Karen Hernest Kelly, were invited to attend a 2011 Memorial Day breakfast for Gold Star families, those men and women whose children were killed in action, according to an aide ....
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/17/politics/president-donald-trump-john-kelly-obama-phone-call/?iid=ob_article_footer_expansion

October 17: Former President Obama hosted now-chief of staff John Kelly at a breakfast about six months after Kelly's son died in Afghanistan.

Kelly attended the breakfast — held in May 2011 — for the relatives of U.S. troops killed in action, The Associated Press reported, citing White House visitor records.

Kelly and his wife reportedly sat at the table of former first lady Michelle Obama during the breakfast for Gold Star families.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/355861-obama-hosted-kelly-at-breakfast-for-gold-star-families-after-son-died


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October 17: ... the breakfast [was] scheduled to be hosted by the Obamas, was six months after the death of Kelly's son. It's unclear whether President Obama contacted Kelly about his son in any way prior to this.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-call-john-kelly-marine-son-died-action/story?id=50533292

October 17: A former Obama official said Trump's Monday Rose Garden statement – and not specifically addressing the claim about Kelly -- was "unequivocally wrong." ... "President Obama engaged families of the fallen and wounded warriors throughout his presidency through calls, letters, visits to Section 60 at Arlington, visits to Walter Reed, visits to Dover, and regular meetings with Gold Star Families at the White House and across the country," the former Obama official said in a statement to ABC News.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-call-john-kelly-marine-son-died-action/story?id=50533292

October 17: ... a former Obama official said in a statement to ABC News ... “President Obama engaged families of the fallen and wounded warriors throughout his presidency through calls, letters, visits to Section 60 at Arlington, visits to Walter Reed, visits to Dover, and regular meetings with Gold Star Families at the White House and across the country.”


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“President Bush wrote all the families of the fallen, and called and/or met privately with hundreds if not thousands,” a spokesperson to former President George W. Bush told ABC News.
https://heisenbergreport.com/2017/10/16/trump-under-fire-after-saying-former-presidents-didnt-call-families-of-dead-soldiers/

October 17: An aide to former President Bill Clinton also called the statement false. "He did call the families of fallen soldiers while in office," this official told ABC News.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-call-john-kelly-marine-son-died-action/story?id=50533292

October 19: White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders acknowledged Kelly was "disgusted" that the condolence calls had been politicized, but said she was not certain if the chief of staff knew Trump was going to talk about his son publicly.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-gold-star-familys-robert-kelly-remarks-20171019-story.html


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October 19: [Trump's] remark set many in the military community seething. Kelly is the most senior U.S. military officer to lose a child in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"I would be surprised if he comes in and starts allowing people to use his family as a tool," said Charles C. Krulak, a former Marine Corps commandant who has known John Kelly since the mid-1990s.

"If there is one sacred ground in politics it should be the ultimate sacrifices made by our military," wrote Chuck Hagel, a defense secretary under Obama and before that, a Republican U.S. senator.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-gold-star-familys-robert-kelly-remarks-20171019-story.html

October 19: Former President Barack Obama returned [to] the campaign trail Thursday with a warning about the current state of politics in America.

"Some of the politics we see now, we thought we'd put that to bed. I mean, that's folks looking 50 years back. It's the 21st century, not the 19th century," Obama said during a rally in New Jersey ...

"We are rejecting a politics of division. We are rejecting a politics of fear," Obama continued. "We are embracing a politics that says everybody counts, a politics that says everybody deserves a chance, a politics that says everybody has dignity and worth -- a politics of hope."


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"We're at our best not when we're trying to put people down, but when we're trying to lift everybody up," the former president remarked. "Folks don't feel good right now about what they see. They don't feel as if our public life reflects our best. Instead of politics reflecting our values, we have politics infecting our communities."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/politics/obama-back-on-the-campaign-trail/index.html

October 21: President Donald Trump on Saturday continued to lash out at Rep. Frederica Wilson, calling her "wacky" and fueling a now days-long controversy that involves a dead American soldier, husband and father.

Today was the funeral for Army Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four Americans killed in an ambush in Niger

[Trump on Twitter]: I hope the Fake News Media keeps talking about Wacky Congresswoman Wilson in that she, as a representative, is killing the Democrat Party!
http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2017/10/21/as-fallen-soldier-laid-to-rest-trump-keeps-up-fight-with-wacky-frederica-wilson/


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October 22: Sen. John McCain, in an interview about the Vietnam War, appeared to take a swipe at President Donald Trump when he criticized people from "the highest income level" who avoided the draft by finding a doctor who "would say that they had a bone spur."

Trump, who attended the private New York Military Academy as a young man, received five military draft deferments during the Vietnam War, including one medical deferment after he was diagnosed with bone spurs in his foot.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/22/politics/john-mccain-trump-draft-deferments/index.html

Undated: The body is capable of resorbing a spur, however it does not happen since the tension and pressure that caused it to form may be controlled, but it is not gone completely. The only way for a spur to be completely removed is with surgery.
http://www.tanglewoodfootspecialists.com/faqs/can-a-bone-spur-go-away-without-surgery.cfm


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October 23: "One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest-income level of America, and the highest-income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur," McCain said, in an apparent reference to the diagnosis that allowed Trump to be medically disqualified for service in 1968.

"That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve," said McCain, the son of an admiral who refused an offer of early release by his captors despite being tortured.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/23/559445251/mccain-takes-swipe-at-president-for-vietnam-bone-spur-deferment

October 23: CONGRESS SEEKS ANSWERS ON NIGER AMBUSH: Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford on Sunday said lawmakers want a ‘full, accurate story’ on what happened to the four servicemen who were killed on a mission in Niger
https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-defense/2017/10/23/senators-seeks-answers-on-niger-ambush-222949


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October 22: The Oklahoma senator said he joins Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, in his frustrations over a lack of details about the incident.

"What Senator McCain focuses on is getting the full story, not getting parts of the story or not getting conflicting stories," Lankford added. "We want to be able to get the full, accurate story and get it right."
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/22/politics/frederica-wilson-tweets-trump/index.html

On Twitter: ISIS just claimed the Degenerate Animal who killed, and so badly wounded, the wonderful people on the West Side, was "their soldier."

Based on that, the Military has hit ISIS "much harder" over the last two days. They will pay a big price for every attack on us!"
November 3
@realDonaldTrump

November 3: It was not immediately clear if any missions were conducted specifically as a result of this week’s terror attack. Targets are typically struck because they are planned or suddenly pop up, so it’s unlikely that the New York incident would have altered existing military planning. In some cases, airstrikes have been down due to weather and a lack of ISIS targets as the terror group retreats from its strongholds in the Middle East.
http://ktla.com/2017/11/03/trump-says-u-s-military-hitting-isis-much-harder-after-nyc-attack/


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November 6: The Air Force failed to flag Devin Kelley as banned from buying the weapons he used to kill 26 people and wound 20 more worshipers at a South Texas church on Sunday, the Air Force acknowledged late Monday.

Kelley’s domestic violence offense was not entered into the National Criminal Information Center database by Air Force officials at Holloman Air Force Base where he had served, Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The Air Force was required to provide the information to the database because Kelley was convicted of domestic assault and under federal law would have been ineligible to purchase a gun legally. A review has been ordered into how the error occurred, Stefanek said. 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/06/devin-kelley-may-have-been-allowed-toclerical-error-may-have-allowed-kelley-buy-weapons-used-massacr/837799001/

-- 2018 --
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January 7: The Pentagon is putting the finishing touches on the first comprehensive review of US nuclear forces in nearly eight years. It's shaping up as President Donald Trump's signature nuclear weapons initiative in the face of a growing North Korean nuclear threat.

The review, which may allow Trump to put his mark on the nuclear inventory for decades to come, could lead to more than $1 trillion in spending over nearly 30 years. There have been three such reviews since the end of the Cold War, the most recent in 2010 under President Barack Obama.
https://upload.democraticunderground.com/10141955283

January 11: Trump Is On His Way to Record-Setting Defense Spending in 2018

As the president doubles down on wars abroad, companies like Boeing stand to reap billions.
https://www.thenation.com/article/trump-is-on-his-way-to-record-setting-defense-spending-in-2018/


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January 23: The trouble with Trump leaving climate change to the military

Late last week, the Pentagon released the unclassified summary version of America’s new National Defense Strategy. For the first time since 2008, it makes no mention of climate change.

The administration didn’t cite climate change in its National Security Strategy release in December, either. After that, a bipartisan group of 106 lawmakers begged Trump to reconsider, but at this point, there is no reason to think he or his appointees plan to listen. At least formally, they plan to ignore climate change in security and military policy.

This neglect has prompted a great deal of agita in the climate community, where the nexus of climate change and national security is intensely studied. It would be strategically disastrous for the US military to ignore climate change. Practically speaking, it cannot.
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/1/23/16918280/trump-military-climate-change

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February 7: A US Air Force B-52 bomber launched a record-setting series of strikes this week in northern Afghanistan -- dropping 24 precision-guided munitions on Taliban fighting positions during 96 hours of air operations "to destroy insurgent revenue sources, training facilities, and support networks," according to US Forces Afghanistan.

According to new US military data released to CNN last week, the Taliban strengthened its hold over Afghanistan in the second half of last year.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/06/politics/us-b-52-bomber-afghanistan-record/index.html

February 7: Senate leaders strike budget deal ahead of government shutdown deadline

The measure, negotiated between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, increases domestic spending by $63 billion and military spending by $80 billion for 2018 with larger increases in 2019. The spending levels completely eliminate the mandatory spending caps, otherwise known as sequestration, that have been imposed on both military and domestic spending since 2011.


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“The budget caps agreement includes many Democratic priorities,” Pelosi said in a statement. “This morning, we took a measure of our Caucus because the package does nothing to advance bipartisan legislation to protect Dreamers in the House.

Even with a broader spending deal, Congress would still have to pass a short-term spending bill by midnight on Thursday because the new agreement doesn’t actually fund the government but creates the top-line spending levels that enables them to write the appropriations bills. The proposal gives them until March 22 to do that.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-leaders-strike-budget-deal-ahead-government-shutdown-deadline-n845491

February 12: After a former airman killed 26 people in a Texas church in November, the United States military rushed to add the names of 4,284 dishonorably discharged military members to a national list of people banned from owning firearms, a report said Monday.

The gunman in the Sutherland Springs mass shooting had been tossed out of the Air Force for assaulting his wife and shouldn’t have been able to buy an automatic rifle under federal law.

But the Air Force later admitted that it hadn’t submitted Devin Patrick Kelly’s records to the FBI’s background check system ...
https://nypost.com/2018/02/12/military-adds-thousands-to-gun-ban-list-after-texas-church-massacre/


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February 12: Trump seeks nuclear readiness for US military

President Donald Trump said his administration is going to build a nuclear arsenal “like you’ve never seen before,” as part of a military buildup provided for under the newly released fiscal year 2019 budget proposal.

“In the budget, we took care of the military like it’s never been taken care of,” he said during a meeting at the White House. “We will have a nuclear force that will be absolutely modernized and brand new … We’ll always be number one in that category, certainly as long as I’m president.”
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2018/02/12/trump-seeks-nuclear-readiness-for-us-military.html

February 13: US drone destroys Russian-made tank in Syria in 'self-defense,' officials say
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/02/13/us-drone-destroys-russian-made-tank-in-syria-in-self-defense-officials-say.html

February 17: The oil field carnage that Moscow doesn't want to talk about

There are growing indications that US airstrikes killed and injured dozens of Russian military contractors
in northern Syria earlier this month.

... details of just why the mercenaries were in the oil-rich region -- and the target of their ill-fated operation -- are starting to emerge.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/18/middleeast/us-airstrike-killed-dozens-of-russians-in-syria-intl/index.html


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February 16: Trump’s military parade would turn U.S. troops into toy soldiers

This year the United States will spend $824.6 billion on defense. Meanwhile, social safety nets get gutted, schools go without heat, tens of thousands die from opioid overdoses and infrastructure crumbles.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2018/02/16/trumps-military-parade-would-turn-u-s-troops-into-toy-soldiers/?utm_term=.296d960aefae

March 13: Trump praises military, calls for 'Space Force' as new branch of armed forces

“For too long, the men and women of the United States Armed Forces have been asked to do more with less,” Trump said, listing “underinvestment,” deferred modernization and maintenance, old equipment and having “fewer ships than we should, fewer planes than we should, and fewer of you than we should.”

“Today I am very proud to report that all of that is changing, and as you have seen, all of that is changing quickly,” Trump said, noting that his administration sees “peace through strength.”


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“I’m talking the largest military buildup since Ronald Reagan, and one of the largest buildups in the history of our nation,” Trump said, noting that the proposed military budget would be $716 billion in 2019. “We are investing in the greatest weapon, the most beautiful weapon. Our most brilliant weapon — you.”

Trump added that “in 2019 we want to give you your largest pay raise in over a decade. You deserve it. You deserve it.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/13/trump-praises-military-calls-for-space-force-as-new-branch-armed-forces.html

March 15: US at war in 7 countries — including Niger
https://www.defenseone.com/news/2018/03/the-d-brief-march-15-2018/146688/


March 20:
Trump to boost exports of lethal drones to dozens more allies
https://nypost.com/2018/03/20/trump-to-boost-exports-of-lethal-drones-to-dozens-more-allies/


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March 27: Trump suggests US military foot the bill for border wall

It was not immediately clear how serious Trump was about pursuing this option, but the move would likely face steep hurdles with appropriators in Congress.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/27/politics/donald-trump-border-wall-military/index.html

April 3: Trump: 'We're going to be guarding our border with the military' until wall complete
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/03/politics/trump-border-wall-military/index.html

April 4: Trump admin sending National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/04/politics/trump-national-guard-troops-border/index.html

April 6: Texas begins operation to send National Guard troops to the border
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/06/politics/national-guard-troops-border/index.html

April 7: With 16 service members killed in air crashes, top lawmaker says 'readiness of the military is at a crisis point'
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/07/politics/us-military-aviation-deaths-trump-national-guard/index.html


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April 11: President Donald Trump's morning declaration that "nice and new and 'smart'" missiles would soon be fired toward Syria caught most of his aides off guard and came before an agreement had been reached between key US allies, multiple American and Western officials said on Wednesday.

That Trump would surprise staffers and allies with a morning tweet is not new; he regularly sets his own tone for the day on Twitter based on cable television and his own mood. But Wednesday's messages were unique in their telegraphing of upcoming US military action, something Trump vowed he would not do as president.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/11/politics/donald-trump-syria-tweets/index.html


April 11: The Russian military has been jamming some U.S. military drones operating in the skies over Syria, seriously affecting American military operations, according to four U.S. officials.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/russia-has-figured-out-how-jam-u-s-drones-syria-n863931


May 12: Trump administration struggles to deal with US enemy combatant

The Trump administration is weighing how to proceed with a U.S. citizen it has held as an enemy combatant since September in a unusual case that could threaten the legal underpinnings of the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).


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The man, known only as John Doe, has presented a difficult case for the administration since he was first picked up by Syrian Democratic Forces as an alleged ISIS fighter and turned over to the U.S. eight months ago.

Officials believe they lack sufficient useable evidence to try him in court, but for security reasons, are loathe to simply release him.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/387359-trump-administration-struggles-to-deal-with-us-enemy-combatant

May 18: The disappearance of a machine gun and a box of grenades from an Air Force base in North Dakota has prompted military officials to order a full, command-wide inventory and investigation to establish that weapons used by security personnel at eight military bases are accounted for, according to a US military official familiar with the details of the situation.

The full, command-wide inventory at eight bases under the Air Force Global Strike Command will cover all small arms, machine guns, pistols, rifles and grenades, according to the official. Routine inventories of military armories at the bases are conducted three times a day and weapons are matched against serial number records.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have also been called in, according to the official.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/18/politics/air-force-missing-weapons-investigation/index.html


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May 26: Marines' new Switchblade drones will unleash lethal mini missiles

Tiny, fast and very quiet, they are extremely difficult for adversaries to detect or track.

Even if an adversary does spot the drone, it doesn’t matter. Once Switchblade finds its target, the enemy cannot escape. They can run, they can hide, they can even try to evade or out speed in vehicles ... Switchblade will silently track them and strike.
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/05/25/marines-new-switchblade-drones-will-unleash-lethal-mini-missiles.html

May 27: Damage to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu was worse than expected and it will remain closed indefinitely, officials said.

Boat transportation to the attraction was suspended May 6 after one of the vessel operators noticed a crack on the outside of the memorial, Hawaii News Now reported .

Engineers are working to figure out possible long-term solutions.

Other areas of the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center remain open.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/26/arizona-memorial-at-pearl-harbor-closed-indefinitely.html


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June 1: Google says it will not renew a controversial contract with the Defense Department, bowing to public and internal pressure over its contribution to Pentagon drone strikes.

Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene told employees Friday that Google would honor its commitment to the Pentagon's Project Maven program through March 2019, but would not seek a new contract at that time, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Project Maven uses artificial intelligence to enhance drone strikes. Google has also worked to develop machine learning algorithms that would help the Pentagon enhance its surveillance efforts generally.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/01/technology/google-maven-contract/index.html

June 4: Air Force puts a chill on Trump's $24 million fridges for presidential jet
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/04/politics/us-air-force-one-refrigerator-cancel/

June 5: US B-52s fly by contested islands amid rising tensions with China
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/04/politics/us-b52-spratly-flyover/index.html


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June 18: Trump space force: US to set up sixth military branch
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44527672

June 18: Trump's Space Force Threatens Increases In Problematic Military Programs

... Trump’s positions do not necessarily reveal more than that he thinks the words “Space Force” make good copy. There already is a quite robust Space Command in the Air Force, with 36,000 personnel. Congress is considering an Administration budget request for fiscal year 2019. It continues the increasing Air Force Space Command budgets, for unclassified programs, of last year and this year: the unclassified programs in the budget includes $8.5 billion for investments in new systems. Over the next five years, the Air Force projects to invest $44.3 billion in those space systems.

"The president told a US general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they don’t want. Thankfully the president can’t do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake."
https://t.co/uYzqg1W8nE
— Senator Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) June 18, 2018
https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2018/06/18/trumps-space-force-threatens-increases-in-problematic-military-programs/#cbe841dbcb3d


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July 27: Wife of a former US Marine is facing deportation to Mexico

The Davenport resident has no criminal record but faces a removal order over her 1998 illegal entry into the United States, Soto said. She's married to a former Marine and Iraq War veteran, and they have two girls, ages 8 and 16, who are US citizens.

... her teen daughter will stay with her father in Florida while the younger one will go with her to Mexico if she's deported. "My heart is torn apart," ...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/27/us/florida-marine-wife-to-be-deported/

August 10: Trump’s Secret War on Terror

Drone strikes continue and spread—away from public scrutiny or congressional oversight.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/08/trump-war-terror-drones/567218/


August 17: The bomb used by the Saudi-led coalition in a devastating attack on a school bus in Yemen was sold as part of a US State Department-sanctioned arms deal with Saudi Arabia, munitions experts told CNN.

Working with local Yemeni journalists and munitions experts, CNN has established that the weapon that left dozens of children dead on August 9 was a 500-pound (227 kilogram) laser-guided MK 82 bomb made by Lockheed Martin, one of the top US defense contractors.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/17/middleeast/us-saudi-yemen-bus-strike-intl/index.html


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September 7: The Pentagon is investing $2 billion into artificial intelligence
https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/07/technology/darpa-artificial-intelligence/index.html

September 17: The Air Force must expand its operational squadrons by some 25 percent in the coming years, officials say, to deal with the growing military might of China and Russia and to protect the homeland and continue to fight violent extremists.

"What we know now from analysis, what everyone in this room knows by experience," said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson at a military conference outside Washington on Monday, is that "the Air Force is too small for what the nation expects of us."
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/17/648809500/air-force-seeks-huge-increase-in-planes-personnel

September 25: US F-35 fighter jet poised for combat debut
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/25/politics/us-f-35-combat-missions/index.html

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October 29: President Donald Trump characterized a group of migrants headed toward the United States as an invading force, adding that the U.S military would meet them at the border.

"Many Gang Members and some very bad people are mixed into the Caravan heading to our Southern Border," the president tweeted Monday. "Please go back, you will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!"
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/29/trump-military-caravan-migrants-945683


October 31: Trump triples down, now wants up to 15,000 troops on Mexican border
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/trump-immigration-caravan-border-ryan-1.22707260


November 1: Migrant caravan: Trump suggests immigrants could be shot if they throw rocks at military
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/01/donald-trump-suggests-migrants-could-shot-throwing-rocks/1850582002/


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November 2: Nigeria’s army has posted a video of Donald Trump saying soldiers would shoot migrants throwing stones to justify opening fire on a group of Shia protesters this week.

“Please watch and make your deductions,” said the army in a post on its official Twitter account.

In the video, the US president warns that soldiers deployed to the Mexican border could shoot Central American migrants who threw stones at them while attempting to cross illegally.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/02/nigerian-army-uses-trump-rock-is-a-rifle-comment-to-justify-shooting-protesters


November 3:

The total price of President Trump’s military deployment to the border, including the cost of National Guard forces that have been there since April, could climb well above $200 million by the end of 2018 and grow significantly if the deployments continue into next year, according to analyst estimates and Pentagon figures.

The deployment of as many as 15,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border — potentially equal in size to the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan — occurs as the budgetary largesse the military has enjoyed since Trump took office looks set to come to an end.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump%E2%80%99s-border-deployments-could-cost-dollar200-million-by-year-end/ar-BBPhYCP

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November 6: The French president says Europe needs to be able to defend itself better alone, without depending on the United States
https://news.sky.com/story/emmanuel-macron-calls-for-real-european-army-to-defend-against-russia-and-us-11546376


November 7: French President Emmanuel Macron Calls for a 'European Army' to Defend Against China, Russia and the U.S.
http://time.com/5446975/emmanuel-macron-european-army-russia-us/


November 9: Donald Trump hits back at Emmanuel Macron for European army proposal

The US president has said his French counterpart's comment about the need to create an EU army was "very insulting."
https://www.dw.com/en/donald-trump-hits-back-at-emmanuel-macron-for-european-army-proposal/a-46235899


November 13:
Merkel backs Macron’s call for creation of European army

Chancellor’s support comes as Trump again attacks French president’s stance on defence
https://www.ft.com/content/3f5c6c74-e752-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3


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November 13: Donald Trump slams European allies’ defence spending after France trip

Fresh from his trip to France Donald Trump railed against “rich” European allies, insisting that they should protect themselves.
https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/donald-trump-slams-european-allies-defence-spending-after-france-trip/news-story/8dff5ac66ee6d48eecc014131ddfb69d

November 19: Troops at U.S.-Mexican border to start coming home

All the troops should be home by Christmas, as originally expected, Army Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan said in an interview Monday.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/19/troops-us-mexico-border-come-home-1005510

November 19:
A look at Trump’s ‘A-plus’ weekend: Finnish leaf-raking, ‘Pleasure,’ Calif., and Adam ‘Schitt’

This weekend, Trump managed to insult a venerated military veteran, mangled the name of a wildfire-scarred town that he had just left, confused the president of Finland by making strange comments about leaf raking and, like a grade-schooler, attempted to taunt a critic in Congress with a naughty play on his name. All in just 48 hours.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/19/look-trumps-a-plus-weekend-finnish-leaf-raking-pleasure-calif-adam-schitt/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d82d4a76f649


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November 19: President Donald Trump's attack on the Navy SEAL commander who oversaw the raid against Osama bin Laden is drawing new attention to the seesaw dynamic of a President who lavishes praise on the military even as he goes after its leaders and heroes.

The President dismissed the highly respected Adm. William McRaven as a "Hillary Clinton fan" and backer of former President Barack Obama in a Sunday interview with Fox News.

The comments drew sharp criticism from former officials, rumbles of dissatisfaction from veterans and veiled expressions of concern that Trump -- or the highly charged political atmosphere under his administration -- may be nudging the strictly nonpartisan military into the arena of politics.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/19/politics/trump-military-insults-compliments/index.html

November 20: ... we ... don't think there'll be any additional troops heading there. At one point, Defense Secretary Mattis said, you know, we could send more troops. But at this point, it looks like it's going to stick at roughly the 5,900 troops. And actually tonight, those troops, the cost of them - the Pentagon just put out tonight the cost of this deployment of 5,900 troops through December 15 - $72 million.
https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=669761220


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November 25: Trump Ramped Up Drone Strikes in America’s Shadow Wars

In his first two years in office, Donald Trump launched 238 drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia—way beyond what the ‘Drone President’ Barack Obama did.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-ramped-up-drone-strikes-in-americas-shadow-wars


November 26: Jared Kushner pushed to inflate Saudi arms deal to $110 billion: Sources

The state official described the five-page list of potential arms sales as items the Saudi officials had signaled interest in or were deemed among their needs by U.S. defense analysts.

Brookings Institute defense strategy expert Michael O'Hanlon, who has seen the photograph of the letter of intent provided by ABC News, called it “amateurish quality.”

“It acknowledges it's not binding,” O’Hanlon told ABC News.

“It's a multi-billion dollar transaction with three short lines of information as if that's meaningful. It's like you're taking notes on the back of a napkin over dinner. It's not a contract. It’s the idea of putting all of these numbers in the interest for the biggest number you can find.”

Many of these deals were negotiated during the Obama administration, but U.S. officials say Trump’s diplomatic pressure was effective in fulfilling the pending orders.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/rake-america-great-finns-troll-president-trump-forest/story?id=59291034


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November 28: President Trump is expected to extend the deployment of thousands of U.S. troops to the U.S.-Mexico border into January rather than withdrawing the personnel in the middle of December, Pentagon officials tell NPR.

News that the deployment will likely extend through the holidays comes days after U.S. agents fired tear gas at migrants who tried to cross into the United States from Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday.

the troops are meant to support Customs and Border Protection agents and provide logistical help — everything from installing barbed wire to moving personnel to where they're needed. The troops include military engineers and military police, who are supposed to leave any actual law enforcement duties to CBP officials.

In addition to the 5,900 active-duty personnel, the Trump administration has sent 2,100 National Guard troops to the border.
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/28/671472765/trump-is-expected-to-extend-u-s-troops-deployment-to-mexico-border-into-january?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20181128&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews


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December 16: President Donald Trump said Sunday that he will be “reviewing” the case of a former U.S. Army commando being charged with murder, raising questions about the possibility he could jeopardize the ongoing military legal proceedings.

Trump tweeted that “at the request of many” he will examine allegations that Mathew Golsteyn hunted down and killed a suspected bomb-maker in Afghanistan. The president tweeted that Golsteyn is a “U.S. Military hero” who could face the death penalty “from our own government.”

Any review or intervention by Trump could constitute unlawful command influence and could threaten the case against the former Green Beret.

In a statement Sunday, Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said that "the allegations against Major Matt Golsteyn are a law enforcement matter. The Department of Defense will respect the integrity of this process and provide updates when appropriate."
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/12/16/trump-says-hell-review-murder-case-against-former-green-beret/


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December 19: U.S. troops to leave Syria as President Trump declares victory over ISIS

Two senior defense officials said the White House would announce the move as early as Wednesday.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-troops-leave-syria-president-trump-declares-victory-over-n949806


[... some support entities other than ground troops will remain in Syria]

December 19: ... the Pentagon still says that ISIS has as many as 17,100 fighters in Syria, and about 30,000 total between Syria and Iraq. That’s about how many militants the group had at its peak strength in 2014.

Which means that while ISIS is certainly far weaker as an organization than it was at its height, it’s still a long way from being truly “defeated.”
https://www.vox.com/2018/12/19/18148281/trump-syria-troops-kurds-turkey-war-withdrawal


December 19: A State Department official says that department's staff members who have been working to stabilize the area — helping with water, electricity, schools and other basic needs — will be leaving Syria, and that it has advised U.S. citizens in the country to do the same. The official says their withdrawal was a White House decision.

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On Twitter, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voiced his displeasure with a troop withdrawal plan.

"Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake," Graham tweeted. "With all due respect, ISIS is not defeated in Syria, Iraq, and after just returning from visiting there — certainly not Afghanistan. President @realDonaldTrump is right to want to contain Iranian expansion. However, withdrawal of our forces in Syria mightily undercuts that effort and put our allies, the Kurds at risk."
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/19/678150756/reports-white-house-intends-to-pull-u-s-troops-from-syria

December 19: ... declaration of victory is far from unanimous, and the withdrawal decision immediately triggered demands from Congress -- including Republicans -- for more information and a formal briefing on the matter. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who just returned from Afghanistan, said he was meeting with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis late in the day.

The decision will fulfill Trump's long-stated goal of bringing troops home from Syria, but military leaders have pushed back, arguing that the IS group remains a threat and could regroup as it battles in Syria's long-running civil war.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/us-to-withdraw-all-american-troops-in-syria-official-says

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December 19: In Syria withdrawal, Trump discards advice from allies, officials
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-syria-withdrawal-trump-discards-advice-from-allies-officials/ar-BBRc7jc

December 21: VA Says It Will Stop Arbitrarily Dropping Caregivers From Program

The VA became aware of "continued concerns expressed by Veterans, caregivers and advocates about inconsistent application of eligibility requirements by VA medical centers," the department said
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/21/679123976/va-says-it-will-stop-arbitrarily-dropping-caregivers-from-program?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20181221&utm_campaign=breakingnews&utm_term=nprnews

December 20: Trump Pledges to Withdraw U.S. Ground Troops from Syria—But Global Powers & Deadly Air Forces Remain
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/12/20/trump_pledges_to_withdraw_us_ground


December 22: Two arrested in Gatwick Airport drone scare that delayed flights

"The military measures we have in place at the airport have provided us with reassurance necessary to re-open our airfield," airport officials said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/two-arrests-gatwick-airport-drone-scare-delayed-flights-n951161


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December 27: Trump’s secret trip to Iraq didn’t quite go as planned

He failed to meet with any Iraqi officials and may have also exposed a covert Navy SEAL team.

Though the trip had reportedly been planned for weeks, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi was invited to meet the president only two hours in advance, and was unable to make it to the event. The two leaders spoke over the phone instead, and the prime minister later said that the meeting was canceled because of a disagreement over how to conduct the session.
https://www.vox.com/2018/12/27/18157575/donald-trump-iraq-secret-trip-us-troops

The president also reportedly exposed a covert Navy SEAL deployment. According to Newsweek, Trump posed with members of a special operations unit for photographs and then posted a video including this scene on Twitter without blurring out their faces or obscuring their identity — which violates accepted security protocol.

There’s also some question about whether troops, some of whom had Trump sign MAGA hats, violated a Department of Defense rule against active-duty personnel engaging in “partisan political activities.”
https://www.vox.com/2018/12/27/18157575/donald-trump-iraq-secret-trip-us-troops


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December 28: MAGA hat, campaign rhetoric cast cloud over Trump Iraq visit

By injecting a heavy dose of campaign-style rhetoric and partisan optics into this week's holiday visit with troops in Iraq -- his first trip to a war zone since taking office -- President Donald Trump has once again proved he has no problem blurring the lines between politics and his relationship with the US military, according to military experts and a top Democratic lawmaker.

Traditionally, US presidents have sought to preserve the military's standing as an apolitical institution by avoiding partisan issues while visiting with service members, wary of putting troops in any situation that could be construed as an endorsement of specific political candidates.

But Trump has not shied away from politicizing the military in the past, as he did during last month's controversial Thanksgiving phone call with service members stationed around the world, when he steered the conversation toward controversial political topics.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/27/politics/trump-political-war-zone-visit-iraq/index.html


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December 28: Trump’s Politicized Visit To Iraq ‘Embarrassing,’ Retired 4-Star General Says

“God, he’s talking to special operations soldiers in Iraq. It’s sort of embarrassing,” former Gen. Barry McCaffrey told MSNBC.

For the first time in his life, President Donald Trump visited service members in a combat zone and made it about himself, retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey said.

Speaking to MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian on Thursday, McCaffrey ― the recipient of two Silver Stars, two Distinguished Service Crosses and three Purple Hearts ― credited Trump for going to Iraq the day after Christmas but said he used it mostly as a political rally.

“It’s a good thing that the president went to Iraq and visited the troops, even better that he brought Melania along,” McCaffrey said. “It was entirely inappropriate to use that as a point of a political rally.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-politicized-iraq-visit-general-barry-mccaffrey_us_5c264797e4b05c88b6ffedbd

-- 2019 --    
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January 22: Supreme Court lets military go ahead with transgender restrictions
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/01/22/supreme-courts-lets-military-go-ahead-with-transgender-restrictions/

February 7: Bipartisan bills introduced to thwart Trump's trans military ban

The two bills introduced by Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate would let transgender troops continue serving and enlisting in the armed forces.
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/bipartisan-bills-introduced-thwart-trump-s-trans-military-ban-n969051


February 13: US prosecutors have accused a former US Air Force officer of spying for Iran in an elaborate operation that targeted her fellow intelligence officers.

Monica Witt, who allegedly defected to Iran in 2013, had previously worked as a US counterintelligence officer.

Four Iranian citizens have also been charged with attempting to install spy software on computers belonging to Ms Witt's colleagues.


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According to the FBI, Ms Witt was last seen in southwest Asia in July 2013.

Prosecutors say Ms Witt had been granted the highest level of US security clearance and worked in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2008.

"It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country, said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the head of the justice department's national security division.

Ms Witt is accused of sharing US government secrets, including the name of agents and specifics of operations, with Iran as early as January 2012.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47231777

April 29: The Russian Navy Might Be Recruiting Whales as Spies

A group of fishermen in Norway found a whale wearing a harness from St. Petersburg. It wouldn't be the first time a navy relied on animals for reconnaissance.

A group of Norwegian fishermen made a strange discovery last week: a beluga whale wearing a harness floating in the waters just off the side of their boat. The whale seemed incredibly tame and comfortable in the presence of humans, but the harness it was wearing looked far too tight. The fishermen were concerned with the whale’s safety, so they contacted a group of scientists to see if they could try and save it.

The scientists located the whale and managed to remove the harness. When they did, they spotted some text: "Equipment of St. Petersburg." The scientists believe that this whale was part of a Russian Navy project using tamed whales for reconnaissance.

At first the Norwegian scientists suspected the whale and the harness could have been some experiment at the University of St. Petersburg, but researchers at the university confirmed they had nothing to do with it. That led the researchers to suspect the Russian Navy at Murmansk. Of course, it’s tough to know if the Russian Navy really is behind this, as they have yet to confirm anything and likely never will.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a27311420/beluga-whale-russia-spy/
   

May 4: The U.S. is sending the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Middle East in order "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime," National Security Adviser John Bolton announced Sunday night ... the deployment was in response to "a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" on the part of Tehran ....
https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-john-bolton-uss-abraham-lincoln-middle-east-israel-hamas

May 24: Trump bypasses Congress to push through arms sales to Saudis, UAE

Lawmakers from both parties criticized the move, with Democrats calling it an abuse of presidential power.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-bypasses-congress-push-through-arms-sales-saudis-uae-n1010116

May 25: Can a Pardon Be a War Crime?: When Pardons Themselves Violate the Laws of War

President Donald Trump’s inclination to grant pardons to several military and contractor personnel accused or convicted of war crimes may itself be a violation of the laws of war, if not a war crime. In an extraordinary public statement issued Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – an international organization that usually acts through confidential communications with parties to armed conflict – explains the distinction between pardons and amnesties. The ICRC does not comment on specific cases, and in this statement, does not opine on the legality, let alone the possible criminality, of any particular grant of pardon/amnesty. But the fact that the organization chose to weigh in on such a hot button issue suggests how serious a threat such action by President Trump would be to the system of international law.


Here’s what’s at stake ...

https://www.justsecurity.org/64288/can-a-pardon-be-a-war-crime-when-pardons-themselves-violate-the-laws-of-war/

May 26: The President of the United States is erratic, illiterate, and doesn’t want to know what he doesn’t know. The President has alienated former allies, befriended or courted murderous dictators, and has repeatedly brought the country to the brink of nuclear confrontation. The President lies constantly, knows that he is lying, and demands that Administration officials lie for him, and often they do. The President has waged war on the institutions of government, overseeing the gutting of the State Department and the destruction of other federal agencies by their own leaders, and effectively shut off media access to the Pentagon, the State Department, and the White House. The President has acted to thwart oversight of the Administration by other branches of government. The President has never made a secret of despising the government itself: he has called it a “swamp” and gleefully shut it down for thirty-five days, during a temper tantrum. The President has not only failed to divest himself of his businesses but has installed his children in and near the White House, openly using his office for personal financial gain. The President has debased political culture and language, using his bully pulpit to spew lies, hate, and personal insults
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-nancy-pelosis-tactics-affirm-the-trumpian-style-of-politics

May 31: "Fox & Friends" celebrates release of accused war criminal Trump wants to pardon:

“Fox & Friends” host Pete Hegseth has been privately lobbying President Donald Trump to pardon Gallagher, whose fellow SEALs have said he bragged about killing “random” civilians and threatened witnesses.
https://www.salon.com/2019/05/31/fox-friends-celebrates-release-of-accused-war-criminal-trump-wants-to-pardon-all-the-emotions_partner/

November 21: The U.S. Navy said Thursday that it will proceed with a hearing to consider the expulsion of Special Operations Chief Eddie Gallagher from the Navy SEALs, despite his support from President Trump.

"The Navy will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher's Trident Pin," said Trump in a tweet earlier Thursday. "This case was handled very badly from the beginning. Get back to business!"

The Trident Pin is a symbol of membership in the SEALs.

In July, Gallagher was acquitted of murdering a wounded Islamic State militant in Iraq in 2017, but he was convicted on the single charge of posing with the body of the dead prisoner. Last week Trump restored Gallagher's rank after he had been demoted to petty officer first class. But the president did not pardon Gallagher for his offense.
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/21/781855883/u-s-navy-presses-on-with-board-review-of-seal-eddie-gallagher-despite-trumps-twe

November 24: Greenland Is Not For Sale. But It Has The Rare Earth Minerals America Wants
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/24/781598549/greenland-is-not-for-sale-but-it-has-the-rare-earth-minerals-america-wants

-- 2020 --
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