Wonder if Trump has Barron playing golf?  He would have a heck of a swing arc.

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black Reportedly Pleads Guilty to Theft While Being Held by Russia
 
 
Military.com | By Drew F. Lawrence
Published May 16, 2024 at 4:18pm ET

A U.S. soldier being held in Russia pleaded guilty to theft charges Thursday, two weeks after he was detained in the country on suspicion of stealing money from a Russian woman he was in a relationship with, according to several state media outlets.

Russian authorities arrested Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, in Vladivostok, a port city in the country, earlier this month and charged him with theft. Black traveled from South Korea to China and finally Russia, where he remains in custody.
 
Black was assigned to the Eighth Army at Camp Humphreys, South Korea. He went on leave, supposed to be headed to an Army base in Texas, when he flew to Russia to meet Aleksandra Vashchuk, his girlfriend.

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"He is cooperating; he admitted [guilt]," the RIA news agency, a Russian-backed media site, reported Thursday, citing an official from the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Primorsky Territory, near where Black is being held.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/05/16/staff-sgt-gordon-black-reportedly-pleads-guilty-theft-while-being-held-russia.html

Four ways US Army’s Pacific chief plans to boost regional land forces
By Jen Judson
 Thursday, May 16, 2024

 
HONOLULU — America and its Pacific partners are building a network of land forces to deter those who would threaten regional stability, but there are four building blocks to make this joint effort a success, according to the head of U.S. Army forces in the area.

Gen. Charles Flynn’s comments at a gathering of regional military leaders in Hawaii comes as China clashes with nearby nations over territorial disputes, and as North Korea continues to build its nuclear arsenal.


The U.S. Army and its allies and partners in the theater are finding more ways to come together and build relationships, Flynn said, some of which have endured since the end of World War II.

https://www.defensenews.com/land/2024/05/16/four-ways-us-armys-pacific-chief-plans-to-boost-regional-land-forces/

Military sexual assault totals down, but trust among women remains low
By Leo Shane III
 Thursday, May 16, 2024
 

Less then half of women surveyed by the Defense Department said they trust the institution to properly handle sexual assault cases. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
A Pentagon report released Thursday found that less than half of women in the military trust their chain of command to properly handle reports of sexual assault, posing a continued problem for service leaders even as the number of assault cases fell significantly last year.

But Defense Department officials insist they see positive signs regarding recent reforms designed to bolster trust in leadership and curb assaults, and remain optimistic that additional steps will produce further improvements.


“A lot of those changes are underway, but we know it’s going to take some time before we start to see those numbers,” Beth Foster, executive director of the Defense Department’s Office of Force Resiliency, told reporters Thursday. “We know we have a lot more work to do to rebuild trust, especially amongst our service women.”

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2024/05/16/military-sexual-assault-totals-down-but-trust-among-women-remains-low/

Finally, a presidential debate
By
Washington Examiner
May 19, 2024 12:00 am
.

Voters may have been denied the opportunity to see President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump debate during their parties’ respective primaries, but thanks to some behind-the-scenes negotiations, and bad polls for Biden, suddenly general election debates are on. And voters are better off for it.

Just two months ago, when asked on the tarmac if he would commit to debating Trump, Biden said, “It depends on his behavior.” Trump, of course, has not suddenly changed behavior since then. He was, is, and always will be an incorrigible rapscallion you either love or hate.

But something has changed in the last two months, and that something appears to be Biden’s numbers. Biden is losing, bigly, especially in key swing states. That is the only reason any incumbent proposes a debate, as Biden did earlier this week when he suggested one debate in June and another in September.

Within just a few hours, not only had Trump accepted Biden’s offer, but CNN agreed to host the June debate on the 27th, and ABC agreed to host the September debate on the 20th. It has since been reported that a back channel had been previously opened between senior aides of the two candidates and informal negotiations had been going on for weeks.

The June debate will be the earliest general election debate in presidential history, occurring before either contender has been named the presidential candidate at their parties’ respective conventions. For Biden, this may be strategic, as it should quiet any and all speculation that Democrats will replace him in Chicago.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/3006886/finally-a-presidential-debate/