Rory McIlroy, US Open stars keeping tabs on World Cup: ‘A good distraction’
World Cup fever has reached just about every part of the United States, even the east end of Long Island, where the U.S. Open is taking place.

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) had nothing but contempt for the new reports of President Donald Trump's memorandum of understanding to end the Iran war he started — noting on MS NOW's "Deadline: White House" Monday that he is leaving the United States and its allies in a considerably worse position than they were before, and even Republicans aren't rushing to celebrate it."So we're not even going to have a conversation about the nuclear program until we've removed all of our leverage points," noted anchor Nicolle Wallace. "What, if anything, is America getting?""Not much," said McCaskill bluntly.First of all, she noted, "the only thing that Donald Trump has done here is kind of solve a problem he caused," since he was the one who escalated hostilities against Iran in the first place, and "now they're trying to pretend that he's putting out a fire that he didn't start."Additionally, McCaskill continued, even Trump loyalists like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are reserving judgment for the time being. "The fact that Lindsey is expressing doubts tells you all you need to know about how, really, well, I was going to use a bad word here. This deal is it's really bad. It's not a deal."The biggest insult of all, she continued, is to the military."At one point in time, we had military leadership that was strong enough to advise presidents in a meaningful way," said McCaskill. "We were seen as almost invincible in the world because of the strength of our military and its leadership. This administration is ruining the credibility of our military around the world. They are making us less safe by what they have done, because now there's a whole lot of folks out there that go, wait a minute, they can't manage a military the size of Iran?""No wonder Xi and Putin are high-fiving," McCaskill lamented, adding that these two rival leaders "can't believe" Trump sidetracked American power so badly at moments when they have their own ambitions. "This is nutty foreign policy. It makes us weak. It makes it dangerous for America. And it does permanent damage to our standing in the world and the standing of our military." - YouTube youtu.be
World Cup fever has reached just about every part of the United States, even the east end of Long Island, where the U.S. Open is taking place.
The agreement, which punted many of the toughest issues to future negotiations, came after a last-minute scramble.
Democrats balked at handing Bill Pulte spy powers. Will they stay strong against Trump’s new pick for intel chief? The post Are Jeffries and Schumer Getting Ready to Greenlight Domestic Spy Power for Trump? appeared first on The Intercept.
A national security expert flagged the impact of one of President Donald Trump's moves that effectively allowed a key U.S. spy tool to expire.During an appearance on CNN, Leon Panetta, the former CIA director under former President Barack Obama and White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration, expressed concern about the expiration of a key part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.House lawmakers refused to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA earlier this month in response to Trump's pick for acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte. When Trump refused to drop Pulte, FISA lapsed, and Panetta explained what losing FISA means for national security."You want to create a vulnerability in terms of our national security? Prevent FISA from taking effect," Panetta said. "Because what that does is it allows terrorists to be able to communicate in this country."FISA provides the U.S. with the "ability to basically capture that kind of communication so that we know what terrorists are up to and what threats our country is facing," Panetta added."With FISA shut down right now, without question, this country is very vulnerable to some kind of terrorist attack," Panetta said. "People have got to wake up. The president's got to wake up."Panetta said that he understands "the political games that go on sometimes," but "at this moment, our national security is what is most important to the president, to the country and to Congress."
Before Trump paused Jay Clayton’s nomination, Democrats thought they were on a “glide path” to renewing FISA. Now the president wants to tie domestic surveillance to voter suppression. The post Senate Democrats Aren’t Happy About Trump’s Spy Law Ultimatum appeared first on The Intercept.
President signs memorandum at Palace of Versailles where Germans were humiliated after losing first world war. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 17 June at a glanceThe Trump administration declared a “major win” but likewise the Hezbollah chief, Naim Qassem, proclaimed a “great victory” as the text of the 14-point US-Iran memorandum of understanding became public.Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The agreement is a record of US failure. People will see it and judge.” Irna, Iran’s official state news agency, released a photograph of Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, holding up a Persian-language document apparently showing his signature alongside that of Trump. According to Reuters, Ghalibaf told state TV: “Everything we sought to achieve through military action, we obtained several times over through negotiation; it was not even comparable.” Continue reading...