The Republicans made the issue of US deaths in the Libyan town of Benghazi the centerpiece of multiple investigations of Hillary Clinton as part of their sustained effort to discredit her and thus undermine her candidacy. But this news item has received surprisingly little coverage from US media.

When four US special forces soldiers died in an ambush earlier this month in scrubby desert in western Niger, attention was suddenly focused on one of the most remote and chaotic war zones on the planet.
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It used to be considered that the phrase ‘Israel lobby’ was considered too hot to mention in the US media. The activities of the Israel lobby in the US, once also considered an untouchable topic, are now being reported on more openly. Aida Chavez and Ryan Grim at The Intercept write about what happened when Al Jazeera sent reporters undercover to expose the workings of the lobby both in the UK and in the US. The Israeli government complained to the UK media watchdog, which cleared Al Jazeera of all the charges.
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The Dutch investigative journalism team Zembla has been looking into Donald Trump’s shady business history, especially his dealings with dubious characters in Russia and Eastern Europe who may be involved in organized crime and money laundering. I linked to part 1 and part 2 of the documentary series and they have now released the third part.
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I had expressed some surprise at the fact that Donald Trump agreed to deals with the Democrats on raising the debt ceiling and funding the government at least through December 12 without demanding anything in return. I had expected him to demand funding for his precious border wall as part of the deal. He also indicated that he was willing to do something to accommodate the so-called Dreamers, those undocumented immigrants who had been brought here as children and had led normal lives here.
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Tennessee senator Bob Corker, a Republican who has announced that he will not run for re-election in 2018, clearly feels free to speak his mind now about what he really thinks about Donald Trump, without fear of consequences. In an extraordinary statement last week, Corker said that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly “are those people that help separate our country from chaos.”
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Late last evening juts before going to bed, I read a news report that said that after a meeting with his senior military advisors, Donald “Moron” Trump had ominously told the people present that what they were witnessing was the “calm before the storm”. When asked what he meant, he had added “You’ll find out”. While trying to drop off to sleep, I honestly worried that he was about to launch an attack on North Korea that would unleash unpredictable consequences.
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