Obama spoke at the Air Force Academy The President decried any turn toward isolationism President Barack Obama Thursday used his final commencement address at a U.S. military academy to talk about the security challenges facing America, to make the case for a steady commander-in-chief, and to urge that America not look away from the world in isolationism. While Obama did not mention presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in his remarks to graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he rebutted some of the foreign policy arguments Trump has put forward – proposals that lean toward reducing America’s role in global affairs. “As we navigate this complex world, America cannot shirk the mantle of leadership,” Obama said. “We can’t be isolationist. It’s not possible in this globalized, interconnected world. In these uncertain times, it’s tempting sometimes to pull back and try to wash our hands of conflicts that seem intractable, let other countries fend for themselves. But history teaches us, from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, that oceans alone cannot protect us. We cannot turn inward.” The President said being commander-in-chief was the “highest honor of my life.” Obama added that while the country faces big challenges, American values like freedom and equal opportunity inspire the world, including immigrants striving to reach U.S. shores. The speech to the Air Force Academy’s class of 2016, which was more a tribute to the school’s 812 graduates and to the U.S. military, highlighted the threats facing national and global security, from terrorism to Russian aggression to the conflict in the South China Sea. Obama’s remarks came just hours before former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was to deliver a foreign policy address in California in which aides said she would slam Trump’s foreign policy approach and lay out why she believes he is “unqualified” and “unfit” to serve as president. Obama also argued that treaties – some of which Trump has questioned – help keep America safe, citing as an example the treaty that established NATO. Obama opened his remarks hailing the airmen he has come to know as president and joking that some days he spends more time with those in the Air Force than with his own family. “I’m really gonna miss Air Force One,” the President said, after noting the crew’s punctuality, the fact that he does not have to take off his shoes before he flies, and that his luggage never gets lost. “We can never know what the future holds but in the not so distant future when I’m no longer president, I will sleep knowing men and women like you serve to keep us free.”


Another day, another military drill from North Korea. Here’s what else you need to know today to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) President Trump may not go all in on funding for his border wall in the upcoming spending bill fight after all. Trump had said he wanted funds for the wall included in the budget bill that must be OK’d this week to avoid a government shutdown. That position’s a no-go for Democrats, who promised a fight, including possibly shutting down the government. Trump’s aides have now taken a softer tone, saying that just including some “border security” funds in the spending bill would be enough. That would push the war over funding the wall, one of Trump’s signature campaign promises, to another day. The President made good on his campaign promise to hit other nations with tariffs, but it wasn’t China or Mexico that got whacked first, it was our nice neighbors to the north in Canada. The Trump administration slapped tariffs of up to 24% on Canadian lumber shipped to the US, after trade talks on dairy products collapsed. Some fear this could start a trade war. Meanwhile, Trump’s new tax plan, which he’s due to reveal tomorrow, may propose slashing the top corporate rate to 15% from 35%. That could spook some deficit-minded Republicans, who are eager to offer businesses and corporations tax relief but don’t want to explode the country’s debt to do it. Hacking is now the latest in a series of frightening similarities between the French election and last year’s US election. A Japanese cybersecurity firm says Emmanuel Macron’s campaign was targeted by hackers employing methods similar to the ones used against the Democratic National Committee. Macron’s camp hasn’t said if it was indeed hacked. His opponent in the May 7 runoff, Marine Le Pen, is temporarily stepping down from leading the National Front party to fully focus on her campaign. Arkansas last night held the nation’s first back-to-back executions in 17 years. This days after holding the state’s first execution in more than a decade. The latest executed inmates, Jack Harold Jones and Marcel Wayne Williams, were among eight prisoners set to die this month before the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs expires. Four executions are now on hold pending appeals. At least 18 states are considering bills that would make it harder for demonstrators to protest. Lawmakers are considering everything from boosting penalties for protesters who block roads to making wearing a mask while protesting illegal. Civil liberties groups are most alarmed by bills in Tennessee and Florida that would let drivers off the hook for hitting demonstrators who are blocking roads. “What’s been going on while I’ve been gone?” Former President Barack Obama, in his first public appearance since leaving the White House People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. British version Another copy of the Declaration of Independence – on parchment, like the one in the National Archives – has been found in the UK. Last laugh Four years ago, his stepfather said there’s no way he’d ever graduate from college. Guess who’s laughing now? Message matters A Florida teen took social issues to her prom when she wore this. Hair hate Don’t feel so bad, Pepsi. Hair care products maker Shea Moisture is the latest company to put out an ad that straight up ticked off its customer base. Smooth move Kenny G serenaded his fellow passengers on a Delta flight from Tampa to LA. But chill out smooth jazz haters; this mini-concert was for a good cause. 86% That’s how much anti-Semitic incidents rose in the first quarter of 2017, compared to the same period in 2016, the Anti-Defamation League says. Not budging This dog isn’t getting up until a street performer in Spain finishes his song. (Click to view)


Warmbier was released last week He died on Monday President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that Otto Warmbier, the American who died days after his release from North Korea, would still be alive if he had been released sooner. “He should have been brought home that same day. The results would have been a lot different,” Trump said. The Trump administration secured Warmbier’s release from North Korea last week on humanitarian grounds after nearly 18 months of imprisonment. He arrived in the US last Tuesday in a coma and died on Monday. Related article McCain: North Korea 'murdered' former detainee Otto Warmbier Trump called the situation a “disgrace” and is now facing calls for the US to respond to North Korea for its role in Warmbier’s death. But on Tuesday, answering a question during an Oval Office meeting with the Ukrainian president, Trump focused on lamenting the length of Warmbier’s imprisonment and the delay in securing his release. “He should have been brought home a long time ago,” Trump said. Warmbier was arrested and imprisoned in North Korea during President Barack Obama’s time in office, though North Korea only informed the US of Warmbier’s medical condition earlier this month. Trump’s comment could be interpreted as an implicit knock of the Obama administration. Ned Price, former National Security Council spokesman under Obama, responded to Trump saying the Obama administration “had no higher priority than securing the release of Americans detained overseas.” “North Korea’s isolation posed unique challenges, but we worked through every avenue available to us – including through the Swedish, our protecting power, as well as through our representatives in New York – to secure the release of Mr. Warmbier,” he said, adding that at least 10 Americans were freed from North Korea under Obama. Three Americans remain imprisoned in North Korea. Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song were arrested in recent months on charges of committing “hostile acts.” A third American, Kim Dong Chul was detained in 2015. “A lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents, where they were so happy to see him even though he was in very tough condition,” Trump said Monday, reacting to Warmbier’s death. White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday offered few details about how the US plans to respond to the death of Warmbier, promising only that the US will “continue to apply economic and political pressure” to change North Korea’s behavior. “The President has spoken very clearly about how he and the first lady and our country feels about the loss of this American,” Spicer said. Spicer said the US is continuing to work with China to apply pressure on North Korea and said the US has seen “positive movement” with China. The US will “continue to work with them and others to put the appropriate pressure on North Korea to change the behavior of this regime,” Spicer said. Asked whether Trump would still consider meeting with Kim Jong Un – as he previously said he would be willing to do, given the right conditions – Spicer said: “Clearly, we’re moving further away, not closer, to those conditions being met.” CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.


ISIS used the former palace as a training center for foreign recruits, UK officials say Mosul is the largest city remaining under the terror group's control British fighter jets have struck an ISIS training complex in one of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s former palaces in Mosul, the UK’s Ministry of Defense said Wednesday. Two Royal Air Force Typhoons carried out the strikes Monday on one of the terror group’s strongholds in Mosul as part of a targeted coalition attack, the ministry said in a statement. Extensive surveillance showed the palace, close to the Tigris River, contained a training center for foreign recruits and offices dedicated to internal security in the group’s so-called caliphate. The jets were armed with the RAF’s largest guided bombs, the Enhanced Paveway III, and first struck the headquarters, then the security center. Initial indications were that the mission was successful. “Daesh has been losing followers and territory for months, and emphatic strikes like this show that we and the coalition will not waver,” UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said, using an alternative name for ISIS. “Daesh fighters, both foreign and homegrown, can see that they are targets inside this cult.” During a visit to RAF Akrotiri, a British air base on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus from which British jets fly daily missions against ISIS, Fallon announced that additional UK troops would deploy to Iraq for the fight against the terror group later this month. ISIS has steadily lost territory in Iraq and Syria in the past 18 months, including the Iraqi cities of Ramadi, Tikrit and Falluja, while it pursues mass casualty attacks beyond the borders of its so-called caliphate to project power. ISIS attacks spur dread and anger Iraq’s military is gearing up for an assault to retake Mosul, the largest city under ISIS control. Terror export fears as ISIS ‘caliphate’ shrinks CNN’s Simon Cullen contributed to this report.


Government lawyers have asked a judge to reject CNN’s requests to make public the memos of former FBI Director James Comey in which he details his meetings with President Donald Trump. In a late Friday evening filing, the lawyers also have asked for permission to argue in secret why they say the disclosure could compromise the investigation into Russian election-meddling and potential obstruction of justice into that probe. Several news outlets and government watchdogs, including CNN, have requested the documents be released under the Freedom of Information Act. Comey testified in Congress that the documents detail Trump’s request that he pledge personal loyalty and what he interpreted as a request to curtail an investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Despite Comey’s testimony that he wrote the memos specifically to avoid including classified information, the government argued it has now classified portions of the documents. Related article Comey was taken aback by Trump request for loyalty pledge Releasing the memos, the government said, could “reveal the scope and focus of the investigation and thereby harm the investigation” and any prosecutions. To prevent that harm, the government requested District Judge James E. Boasberg, who sits in Washington, DC, allow them to secretly make their case, citing an unnamed “FBI employee” who would testify only behind closed doors about why the Comey memos could not be disclosed. “Publicly explaining in any greater detail why the release of the Comey Memos would be detrimental to the pending investigation would itself disclose law enforcement sensitive information that could interfere with the pending investigation,” the government wrote. In a court filing earlier this year, CNN argued disclosure of the documents was in the public interest and required under the Freedom of Information Act. It requested the memos be released “unredacted, and without further delay.” Related video CNN, NYT, USA Today sue FBI over Comey memos The existence of the memos was first disclosed when Comey asked a friend to provide the contents of one memo to The New York Times. The friend told CNN that the document contained no classification markings. Comey had just been fired by Trump as FBI director, imperiling the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election that Comey had been leading. Comey told Congress he expected the disclosure would lead to a special counsel picking up the investigation. Trump told NBC News he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation, claiming it “is a made-up story.” Comey then publicly described the memos and meetings with Trump in testimony before Congress in June. In one meeting, according to the former FBI director, Trump asked others – including the attorney general – to leave so Trump and Comey could speak privately, and then asked Comey to “let this go,” referring to the Flynn investigation. Related article James Comey testimony: Trump asked me to let Flynn investigation go In another, the President invited Comey to dinner, which “turned out to be just the two of us, seated at a small oval table in the center of the Green Room,” according to Comey’s Senate testimony. Comey said he was concerned that “the dinner was, at least in part, an effort to have me ask for my job,” which “concerned me greatly, given the FBI’s traditionally independent status in the executive branch” and his inquiry involving current and former Trump aides. Comey said he turned over his copies of the memos to the special counsel. The request for the documents landed in court back in June after the FBI did not respond to CNN’s FOIA request. Other watchdog groups and news organizations, including USA Today, Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, joined the lawsuit, and the government has repeatedly asked to delay the proceedings.


Editor’s Note: CNN national security analyst John Kirby is a retired rear admiral in the US Navy who was a spokesman for both the State and Defense Departments in the Obama administration. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. The USS Fitzgerald collided with a freighter off Japan early Saturday Seven US sailors were killed There is – at this writing – a lot we do not know about how the destroyer USS Fitzgerald came to collide with a heavily-laden freighter in the waters off Japan in the middle of the night. We do not know whether the warship’s radars were operating sufficiently. We do not know what decisions the men and women who were standing watch aboard the destroyer made – or failed to make – that could have averted the danger. We do not know what actions, if any, were taken by the crew of the freighter to either cause or avoid this tragedy. But this much we do know: First, we know the crew fought heroically to save their ship and the lives of their shipmates. We know that from early reports by Navy officials but also from the images that flashed across our screens, our tablets and our phones after the incident happened early Saturday. One look at the crushed, twisted starboard side, the hoses flaked about, the water being discharged, the frantic work being done tells you all you need to know about the stuff you can’t see in those same images: a fiercely brave crew working together to staunch the flooding, to rescue their shipmates and to save their ship. You can be certain they ended up drenched, exhausted, scraped and bruised – but not broken. They kept that ship from foundering for 16 brutal hours.  And they brought her back into port. I don’t care who you are, but you have to respect that kind of teamwork. Any sailor will tell you how long and how hard they train to get good at damage control. It’s pounded into them from the time they set foot at boot camp or the Naval Academy or a hundred other schools they must attend throughout their career. Fire and flood are enemies at sea, same as an adversary’s fleet. Except that fire and flood can be the results of accidents, mishaps or even your own mistakes. And that’s the second thing we know for certain today: that the Navy is going to find out exactly what happened. The investigation has already begun. It will be thorough. It will be clear. It will be definitive. Investigators will document minute-by-minute how these two ships came to occupy the same piece of water – how they approached one another, at what speeds, courses and angles. They will interview every possible witness, examine every relevant piece of equipment, pore over every kilobyte of recorded data. In the end, they will be able to reconstruct the entire event in time and space and determine precisely what lapses in judgment, seamanship and leadership occurred. And then they will make that investigation public. They will lay it out there for all to see and for all to learn from. Reporters won’t have to submit Freedom of Information Act requests or rely on leakers to find out what investigators discover. The Navy will tell them. They’ll probably even hold a news conference. After that, Navy leaders will incorporate the lessons they learn from this tragedy into those navigation, damage control and leadership courses, in the hopes that something like this doesn’t happen again. The Navy will not be afraid to hold itself to account for this. That leads us to the third thing we can safely know: accountability. It won’t be just the Navy that gets the lash here. Careers will be dashed. People will be punished. Short of battle at sea, Navy warships are not supposed to hit anything – not the ground, not each other, and certainly not container ships in the middle of the night. The commanding officer, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, will almost certainly be the first to go. “Anyone who has ever commanded a ship knows that you are inescapably responsible for everything that happens on your watch,” wrote my friend and colleague, Bryan McGrath, himself a former destroyer captain. “There is no such thing as ‘I was asleep’ or ‘I was ashore.’” The Navy won’t need to complete its findings to hold Cmdr. Benson responsible. He will surely lose his command forthwith. But there will no doubt be others whose performance during the incident will be found wanting, maybe even negligent. They will also be held to account. There may even be courts-martial that result. That’s the way it’s always been. It’s the way it has to be. Because the American people must have trust and confidence in the men and women who command their sons and daughters, who lead them into harm’s way. If they don’t – or they can’t – have that trust and confidence, well, we can’t man the ships we put to sea. And the Navy can’t defend the nation. In the same blog post, Bryan cited an editorial from The Wall Street Journal that was written after a 1952 collision between two US Navy warships, which resulted in the loss of 176 lives. It sums this whole ugly business up beautifully and mercilessly: “On the sea there is a tradition older even than the traditions of the country itself and wiser in its age than this new custom. It is the tradition that with responsibility goes authority and with them both goes accountability.” It continues: “It is cruel, this accountability of good and well-intentioned men. But the choice is that or an end of responsibility and finally as the cruel scene has taught, an end to the confidence and trust in the men who lead, for men will not long trust leaders who feel themselves beyond accountability for what they do. “And when men lose confidence and trust in those who lead, order disintegrates into chaos and purposeful ships into uncontrollable derelicts.” I never commanded a ship, never fired a shot in anger or had one fired at me. I remain in awe of those who willingly assume the burden of command, the crushing weight of that responsibility. I am not their equal. Therefore, I am unqualified to hazard a guess at the personal distress Cmdr. Benson and the rest of his crew feel right now. Nor can I imagine the grief of the families now mourning the loss of the seven sailors. All I can do is offer my prayers and take some comfort in knowing that whatever more we learn about this tragedy, whatever wounds must yet heal, the Navy will not let this “cruel scene” diminish from our eyes without first holding itself and its people to account – that it will not permit disintegration into chaos and that it will not shirk from its duty to preserve the trust and confidence placed in it by our elected leaders and the American people. Navy leaders sometimes fail. The Navy as an institution sometimes suffers as a result. But neither those leaders nor that institution will prove afraid and unwilling to answer for that.


A former CIA officer believed to have helped China dismantle a US spy network in the country and identify informants who were later killed or imprisoned was arrested Monday at John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to multiple reports. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a 13-year veteran of the spy agency, was charged with unlawful retention of national defense information and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Lee was not charged with espionage but the arrest, The New York Times reported, capped an investigation dating back to 2012, two years after the CIA began losing its informants in China. Over a dozen informants were killed or imprisoned in the period by the Chinese government, a devastating and confounding setback for the agency, the Times reported. Related article Read the affidavit against former CIA agent accused of stashing secret info Court documents describe two notebooks, a datebook and an address book, that investigators discovered in FBI searches of hotel rooms Lee stayed in in 2012, wrapped in a “small, clear plastic travel pack” inside his luggage. Handwritten in their pages were the names and phone numbers of CIA assets and undercover officers, as well as the addresses of covert facilities and operational notes – pieces of secret and top secret information “the disclosure of which could cause exceptionally grave damage to the National Security of the United States,” the government wrote. The CIA declined to comment beyond the information publicly released on the arrest. Lee, 53, made an initial court appearance in Brooklyn on Tuesday and did not enter a plea, the Justice Department said. A public defender who represented him at the proceeding declined to comment Wednesday. A trained CIA case officer, Lee maintained a top secret security clearance from 1994 through 2007, when he left the agency, court documents say. Lee, a naturalized US citizen currently living in Hong Kong, was in the process of moving to northern Virginia from Hong Kong when the FBI conducted the hotel room searches in August 2012. Lee and his family lived in northern Virginia until June 2013, court documents say. Monday, when Lee was arrested in New York, was his first time back in the country since he moved in 2013, a person familiar with the case said.


Khalid Adem was convicted in 2006 of aggravated battery and cruelty to children in the first degree FGM is a "global concern," the World Health Organization says An Ethiopian man convicted in Georgia of mutilating his 2-year-old daughter’s genitals has been sent back to his home country by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE removed Khalid Adem, 41, on Monday after he served 10 years in prison. ICE officials said the case is thought to be the first criminal conviction in the United States for female genital mutilation, a widely scorned but persistent procedure the World Health Organization calls a “global concern.” “The practice is most common in the western, eastern, and northeastern regions of Africa, in some countries (in) the Middle East and Asia, as well as among migrants from these areas,” WHO said. Related article Help stop female genital mutilation “A young girl’s life has been forever scarred by this horrible crime,” Sean W. Gallagher, field office director for ICE’s Atlanta Emergency and Removal Operations, said in a statement. “The elimination of female genital mutilation/cutting has broad implications for the health and human rights of women and girls, as well as societies at large.” Related video These Kenyan women explain their support for FGM Adem had been convicted in 2006 in Gwinnett County, outside Atlanta, of aggravated battery and cruelty to children in the first degree, ICE said in a statement. “Female genital mutilation/cutting is a federal crime. Any involvement in committing this crime is a serious human rights violation which may result in imprisonment and potential removal from the U.S. Individuals suspected of female genital mutilation/cutting, including sending girls overseas to be cut, may be investigated by ICE’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center,” ICE said. The World Health Organization says the practice has no medical benefits, and the reasons the procedure is done “vary from one region to another as well as over time, and include a mix of socio-cultural factors within families and communities.” “It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue, and interferes with the natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies. Generally speaking, risks increase with increasing severity of the procedure,” WHO says on its website. Many girls and young women die every year from complications associated with genital mutilation, authorities say.


Margaret Thatcher became the United Kingdom’s first female prime minister in 1979; Theresa May now becomes its second. Some things are still the same 37 years later. (Queen Elizabeth still rules the roost in Buckingham Palace, for example.) But here’s what has changed for women worldwide between 1979 and now: Thatcher was one of only two elected women running a country when she became prime minister in 1979. There had been others before her elsewhere in the world –  Indira Gandhi of India and Golda Meir in Israel, for example – and there have been dozens since. But even now, a very small number of countries have women in charge. There were so few women in parliaments in 1979 that the Inter-Parliamentary Union doesn’t even have statistics going back that far. But since they started tracking the information in 1997, the number of female lawmakers has risen from about one in 10 worldwide to just over one in five. This may sound crazy today, but in 1979 several countries didn’t allow women to vote. That includes Lichtenstein, the last country in Europe to grant women suffrage (they came around in 1984). Saudi Arabia was last country in the world to grant women the right to vote, in 2015. The average number of births per women worldwide has fallen steadily for decades. Experts use that statistic as a rough guide for how much control women have over their own lives. The fewer children a woman has, the greater control she is probably exercising.  The U.N. says lower birth rates help women get out of poverty. More good news here. In 1979, there were nearly 80 million school-age girls around the world who were not going to school. The number now is less than half that, even as the total global population has increased by 60%. Life expectancy for both men and women is rising, with women living about five years longer than men both then and now. Not by a long way. Globally, women are only paid 52% of what men are paid, according to the World Economic Forum. The organization has only been tracking the gender gap for 10 years, but the Economic Policy Institute compared pay in the United States in 1979 and now. Back then, American women earned about two-thirds of when men did. Now, it’s a little over 80%. The best-selling single by a  woman in the U.K. this year is Sia’s “Cheap Thrills.” Back in 1979, it was a prediction for women that Gloria Gaynor got right: “I Will Survive.”

women's rights and gender equality worldwide


Editor’s Note: Kerra L. Bolton is the founder of Unmuted Consulting, a strategic political communications consultancy and online academy that helps individuals, communities and organizations spark and drive change. She also is a freelance writer and former political reporter and analyst in North Carolina. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. President Donald Trump’s comments about Haitian and African immigrants seeking refuge or a better life in the United States and his stated preference for immigrants from wealthy, European (and largely white) countries were breathtaking in their unmasked and unequivocal racism. Those of us appalled by his comments may clutch our pearls on social media or in conversations with like-minded friends and family. But at the heart of it, the President’s statements are not that different than what many of us hear at kitchen tables, water coolers and bar stools across America. Our outrage is, at least in large part, a response to the fact that it’s the President saying it. Outrage is not enough. It’s one thing to point at the words of the President and call him racist. It’s quite another to look at our own actions and take responsibility for the areas where we fall short. As we honor the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., culminating on Monday’s federal holiday, and as we drift into year two of the Trump presidency, here are five things everyone can do to be better Americans than the President. Challenge your beliefs. Racism starts in the mind. It is one result of a cesspool of accumulated and socialized beliefs and judgments about who you are and who others are based on skin color and the associations that come with it. Everyone holds such beliefs along a continuum, regardless of whether you had a black best friend in the sixth grade or your sister is married to a black man. To challenge your beliefs, you must face them. As James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it’s faced.” Related article The immigrants who prove Trump wrong Be willing to be uncomfortable. Many people try to distance themselves from their racist beliefs because they believe they are a “good person.” However, racism has nothing to do with your goodness. You can still go to church on Sunday and be a racist at work on Monday, if you demean or dismiss the contributions of your black colleagues. You must be willing to be uncomfortable if you want to do the hard work of ending racism. You must endure the heat of our own discomfort, the iciness of the fear of saying or doing the “wrong thing” or the scratchiness of annoyance in confronting a racist family member, neighbor or co-worker. Close the minority achievement gap. The average reading score for white, fourth-grade students was 26 points higher than the average score for their black peers, according to the most recent data from the National Assessment for Educational Progress. The 26-point score gap remained unchanged from the score gap in 2013, the previous assessment year. And it was only six points narrower than the score gap in 1992. This means that after more than two decades of policies, lawsuits and funding battles, black children are still not reading at the same level as their white classmates. Related article Donald Trump's enmity for Haiti A plethora of factors both inside and outside of the classroom contribute to the minority achievement gap. However, black educators I’ve worked with say that they are seeing the need for more mental health services for students as many minority and low-income students are showing up at the schoolhouse doors in the morning after experiencing severe trauma – witnessing a painful or harmful incident such as abuse and neglect, domestic violence, and loss of, or separation from, a parent – the night before. We can work to improve the quality of life and educational attainment of students by supporting public funding for mental health professionals in schools. End militarized policing of black and brown neighborhoods. Racism is most damaging when it comes to the use of military tactics in communities of color in the “war on drugs.” While most Americans (67%, according to Pew Research Center in 2014) prefer drug treatment over policing and prosecution, more than 800 SWAT deployments were conducted by 20 law enforcement agencies during 2011 and 2012, according to the ACLU’s statistical analysis. Of those deployments, 62% were used solely to search for drugs. More than 42% of the people affected by SWAT deployment to execute search warrants were black, 12% were Latino. SWAT teams and tear gas have no place in our homes. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook Vote. Mid-term elections will take place on November 6. In Congress, 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 33 seats in the US Senate are up for grabs. Thirty-six states and three US territories will hold gubernatorial races. Many states will hold legislative races. We have seen the impact of the strength of black voter turnout in Alabama with the election of Democrat Doug Jones to the US Senate. We must work to beat back voter suppression laws. At least 99 bills in 31 states were introduced last year to restrict access to registration and voting Why is it important to think about how you might become more American than the President? Because: In the fetishizing of the office of the American president, we have forgotten that the three most important words in the founding of our country are “We the people.” Our greatness has nothing to do with the size of our possessions, it has everything to do with the size of our hearts.


Kerry says this is a "moment of truth" on Syria Lavrov calls on parties to refrain from "emotional comments" Secretary of State John Kerry launched a blistering attack on Russia Wednesday for its actions in Syria, pointing to the bombing of a UN aid convoy that left more than 20 dead and its inability to stop continued Syrian air attacks. Kerry spoke immediately after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York about the five-year Syrian war. Related article Obama outlasts foes at the UN “I listened to my colleague from Russia and I sort of felt like we’re in a parallel universe here,” Kerry said of their differing accounts of the conflict. He called for all planes in key areas of Syria to be immediately grounded and for countries to stop supporting those who sabotage ceasefire efforts. Kerry also questioned how the US-supported opposition can engage in political talks to resolve the conflict when the Syrian regime, backed by Russia, doesn’t halt its attacks. Russia was tasked with restraining Syria during this latest attempt at a ceasefire, undertaken last week. RELATED: US blames Russia for Syria convoy attack; Moscow points to terrorists “How can people go sit at a table with a regime that bombs hospitals and drops chlorine gas again and again and again and again and again and acts with impunity,” Kerry asked. “You’re supposed to sit there and have happy talk in Geneva while the regime drops bombs?” The diplomatic clashing of swords highlights just how hard it has been to take even the first steps toward calming the Syrian conflict enough to begin political talks. The ongoing civil war has given terror groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda fertile recruiting ground, has sucked in regional powers seeking influence over the outcome and has sent ripples through Europe and its allies. Related video Aid convoy attacked in Syria As diplomats sparred at the Security Council, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu said that Moscow was sending an aircraft cruiser to the Mediterranean to strengthen its capabilities there. The Russians have denied that they were behind the attack on the UN convoy and instead have offered a series of explanations that Kerry detailed at the Security Council meeting.. Russia initially said that the strike was a necessary response to an alleged offensive by an al-Qaeda-linked terror group, Kerry said. Then Russia claimed they were bombing elsewhere, then that the aid convoy had been followed by militants with mortars, and then that the trucks caught fire. “The trucks and the food and the medicine just spontaneously combusted,” Kerry said. “Anybody here believe that?” he asked. The bombing attacks on hospitals and children are “flagrant violations of international law,” he added. And attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers continue, Kerry noted. He cited separate air strikes on Monday that killed four aid workers near Aleppo. “There are only two countries that have planes that are flying during the night or flying in that particular area at all,” Kerry said. “They are Russia and Syria.” At the Security Council Wednesday, Lavrov said Russia always put as a top priority the resumption of the inter-Syrian political dialogue without any preconditions. And he called for a “thorough and impartial” investigation into Monday’s bombing, which left the convoy of trucks in a twisted wreck of smoking metal. And he urged his counterparts at the meeting to “refrain from emotional comments.” Related article US blames Russia for Syria convoy attack; Moscow points to terrorists US officials have fingered Russia as the perpetrator of the attack based on intelligence and reports from the ground. Kerry cited eyewitnesses who said that “all of a sudden, the place became hell and the fighter jets were in the sky.” The White House said publicly Tuesday night that it held Russians responsible, regardless of whether it or the Syrian government had launched the strikes, since they have responsibility for the airspace. “We have not seen good faith. This was an outrageous action,” said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes. Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashaar Jaafari hit back, saying it was “laughable” for Kerry to cite eyewitness accounts when, he claimed, “thousands of people” in the area hadn’t seen any jets. He also took the US to task for an airstrike on Satruday that killed 62 Syrian soldiers, calling it a “deliberate and unacceptable aggression.” The US has said it was an accident. Related video Syrian Observatory: Russian airstrikes kill 23 people Kerry’s scathing 28-minute speech to the Security Council also pressed the need to return to a 2012 plan to create a political transition in Syria. He pointed to repeated Syrian attacks on civilians, detailed shifting Russian explanations about the aid convoy attack and ridiculed Moscow’s argument that political talks shouldn’t be burdened with preconditions. The US has said that Russia bears responsibility for the attack on the convoy because they were the only two countries flying planes over the area at that time and Russia had pledged to restrain Syria. “The primary question is no longer what do we know,” Kerry said. “The primary question is, collectively, what are we going to do about it? In other words, this is a moment of truth.” Lavrov needled the US over opposition groups during his address. Washington and Moscow have clashed over Russian targeting of moderate Syrian opposition groups backed by the US. The Russians have claimed that some of these groups are not particularly moderate and have accused opposition groups of violating the ceasefire. Related article Is there any hope left for Syria? On Wednesday, Lavrov called for all members of the International Syrian Support Group to ensure that the opposition groups over which they have influence will comply with the cessation of hostilities. Otherwise, he added, “We can’t preserve Syria as a single, united state.” And he alluded to “geopolitical engineering,” a reference to Russian concerns about US attempts at “regime change.” Syria’s Jaafari echoed the argument, telling the meeting that the International Syrian Support Group was “formed outside international legitimacy” and was “reminiscent of other destructive coalitions that only brought disasters to countries like Iraq and Libya and Yemen.” The only success the US has managed to achieve, Jaafari said, is to level “false accusations” about the “suffering of Syrians to demonize the Syrian government and its allies.” Kerry had left the meeting before the Syrian ambassador spoke, but when Jaafari had finished speaking, Ambassador Michele Sison, the US deputy representative to the UN, asked to address the council. Related article Syrian 'cessation' hangs by thread amid violence, accusations “My colleagues are entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts,” Sison said. “Let’s just keep in mind just who is prolonging the suffering of the people of Syria.” Jaafari’s remarks had been “so full of untruths that I feel no need to say anything further,” she said. For his part, earlier in the meeting, Kerry mocked Lavrov’s argument that there should be no preconditions before political negotiations start. Citing four international-level agreements calling for a cessation of hostilities that could then lead to peace talks, Kerry said, “that’s not a precondition. That’s an international agreement, four times arrived at.” RELATED: Obama at UN warns Americans against walls and nationalism “Four times, it’s been shredded by independent actors,” Kerry said, “by spoilers who don’t want a cease-fire.” Half of Syria’s population has been uprooted, many of them fleeing to Europe, and well over 300,000 men, women and children have been killed, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the meeting. “Those who believe the crisis in Syria cannot become even worse are dead wrong,” Kerry said, “as are those who believe there’s a military solution.”


Why build a bigger cruise ship when you can just cut one in half and add an extra 15 meters to the middle? That seems to be the thinking at cruise company Silversea, which has begun an eye-popping project to stretch its luxury cruise ship Silver Spirit. The elaborate engineering feat, underway at the Fincantieri Shipyard in Palermo, Italy, requires over 500 skilled workers and will take up approximately 450,000 man hours. A prebuilt 15-meter extension (almost 50 feet) has already been inserted with “military precision” to stretch Silver Spirit from 195.8 to 210.7 meters. The 36,009-ton ship is now being carefully reconnected to make it ready for sea travel. Described as a “rarely performed feat of maritime architecture,” the operation is the first of its kind involving a luxury cruise ship, according to Silversea. The renovation requires approximately 846 tons of steel, 110,000 meters of cabling and 8,000 meters of piping and is believed to come with a $100 million price tag. Once completed, the ship’s capacity will increase by around 12%, and Silversea (whose headquarters are based in Monaco) aims to “create more space in public areas” and “enhance Silver Spirit’s facilities.” “Witnessing these breathtaking phases of the Silver Spirit lengthening project has filled us with pride and excitement,” says Barbara Muckermann, chief marketing officer of Silversea. She says the work will upgrade Silver Spirit to more closely match the magic of its newer flagship vessel Silver Muse, which took the sea in 2017. “The lengthening and refurbishment of Silver Spirit will replicate the modern elegance of our latest vessel to make for a more luxurious traveling experience,” Muckermann adds. “We are eager to share the new and improved layout of our cherished ship with our valued guests.’” Related article Suites at sea: The ocean's most exclusive rooms The extra space will make room for a new eight-restaurant formation as well as increased outdoor seating, an expansion of the pool deck and 34 new suites. Silver Spirit’s sky deck will also increase in length and a new aerobics area is to be fitted outside. Other new additions include a spa, a free weights room and two new public spaces. The ship’s current suites are also to be refurbished. Silversea says it’s already donated 11 containers of furniture – including sofas, chairs, curtains and computers – to hospitals, nursing homes and schools in Chania, Crete. Silver Spirit first set sail in 2009 and served as Silversea’s largest luxury ship until Silver Muse was launched in April 2017. The privately owned luxury cruise line’s other vessels include Silver Wind, Silver Shadow, Silver Whisper as well as expedition ships Silver Explorer, Silver Galapagos, Silver Discoverer and Silver Cloud. The Silver Spirit is due to recommence service on May 6, 2018, offering seven-day trips between Civitavecchia (Rome) and Barcelona, with fares starting at $5,600 per person.


Pope Francis played key role in re-establishing diplomatic ties between Cuba and U.S. "Contacts with the Cuban authorities are still in too early a phase," Vatican spokesman says Washington. New York. Philadelphia. Havana? The Vatican says Pope Francis may add another leg to his trip to the United States this September, visiting Cuba just months after he helped negotiate a diplomatic thaw between the two nations. The possibility, which would add a dimension of international intrigue to an already highly anticipated trip, was first reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal. In response to reporters’ questions, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement, “The Holy Father has taken into consideration the idea of making a stop in Cuba” on his way to or from the United States this September. Related video 1998: The politics of survival in Cuba “However, contacts with the Cuban authorities are still in too early a phase for it to be possible to regard this as a firm decision or an operative plan,” Lombardi continued. Francis, the first pontiff to hail from Latin America, played a key role in the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, earning praise from both President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro. The Pope made personal pleas to Obama and Cuban leaders in private letters, writing that the two nations should try to reset their relations after decades of friction. The Vatican also hosted talks between U.S. and Cuban delegations in October, where they hashed out aspects of a new trade policy and discussed the release of jailed American contractor Alan Gross, who was freed as part of the detente between the two countries. “I want to thank His Holiness, Pope Francis, whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is,” Obama said in December as he announced the U.S. policy shift. Related video Pope joins chorus against Armenian 'genocide' Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has displayed a deep interest in international affairs. He repeatedly urged Western leaders not to bomb Syria, hosted a prayer service between Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the Vatican and waded into diplomatic controversy on Sunday by referring to the killing of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago as a “genocide,” a move that deeply upset Turkish leaders, who recalled their Vatican ambassador. The Pope is expected to continue his international activism this July with a trip to South America, where he will visit Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. Just a few months later, in late September, Francis will visit Washington, where he will address Congress; New York, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly; and Philadelphia, where he will celebrate a public Mass that’s expected to draw more than 1 million people. In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday, Archbishop Charles Chaput, the Pope’s host in Philadelphia, said he’d hadn’t heard about the potential for a papal visit to Cuba until he turned on the morning news. Two previous Popes have visited the Caribbean nation: St. John Paul II in 1998 and former Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.


NEW: John Kerry says U.S. has Plan B in case transitional government fails to materialize UK official concerned Syrian Kurds, Syrian regime, Russian air force working together Truce requires all warring parties other than terrorist groups to agree to its terms U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that Russia’s help in creating a plan to cease hostilities in Syria has been critical – and an agreement might not have been reached without those efforts. “Without Russia’s cooperation I’m not sure we would have been able to have achieved the agreement we have now, or at least get the humanitarian assistance in,” Kerry said at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relation Committee. The United States and Russia will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, in the coming days, Kerry said, to make sure moderate opposition forces are not attacked during the truce and to discuss continued strikes against ISIS. Kerry said “a significant benefit” of this plan was that it might “speed up the destruction” of ISIS. The United States has alternative plans in place in case efforts to create a transitional government in Syria do not work, which Kerry said would become apparent in a month or two. “There are certainly Plan B options being considered,” he said. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “is going to have to make some real decisions about the formation of a transitional governance process that’s real.” The truce was announced Monday in a joint statement by Russia and the United States. The “cessation of hostilities” was the result of talks between the two countries as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group. Related video Diplomat: Syria ceasefire to begin at midnight Friday The countries proposed that the truce begin at midnight Friday in Damascus (5 p.m. ET Friday). The deadline for any group in Syria to indicate it is participating in the cessation of hostilities is noon Friday in Damascus. The agreement does not include ISIS, al-Nusra Front or other terrorist groups. The main opposition group in Syria, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, issued a statement expressing “preliminary approval to reach a temporary truce.” The opposition group also called for guarantees that Russia, Iran and sectarian militias would stop the fighting. The United States and Russia said they plan to share information on the groups pledging to put down their arms. Doing so is meant to ensure that U.S., Russian and Syrian forces do not attack groups abiding by the truce. Related gallery Syrian girls: What we want to be “The Russian Federation and the United States will establish a communication hotline and, if necessary and appropriate, a working group to exchange relevant information after the cessation of hostilities has gone into effect,” their statement said. “Russia will conduct the necessary work with Damascus and the legitimate Syrian leadership. We expect that the United States will do the same with regard to their allies and the groups they support,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address published on the Kremlin website. Kerry called the draft document promising but said in a statement that its success requires compliance by all parties involved. “If implemented and adhered to, this cessation will not only lead to a decline in violence, but also continue to expand the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian supplies to besieged areas and support a political transition to a government that is responsive to the desires of the Syrian people,” he said. “This is a moment of promise, but the fulfillment of that promise depends on actions.” Despite the moment of promise, British officials said they were concerned that Syrian Kurds were now working with the Syrian regime and Russia. “What we have seen over the last weeks is very disturbing evidence of coordination between Syrian Kurdish forces, the Syrian regime and the Russian air force, which are making us distinctly uneasy about the Kurds’ role in all of this,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Tuesday in Parliament. The terms of the agreement do not call for a total surrender of arms. Warring parties are asked to commit “to proportionate use of force (i.e., no greater than required to address an immediate threat) if and when responding in self-defense.” Asked at a briefing Monday whether this part of the agreement could be misused to continue attacks, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner acknowledged that setting benchmarks and monitoring the cessation of hostilities would not be easy. “There’s not going to be any force on the ground or monitors on the ground to look at this, other than where we get information from in terms of intelligence, but also through (nongovernmental organizations) reporting on the ground and journalists, frankly, who give feedback as to who’s being hit by whom,” Toner said. “I think the work in front of the task force over the next several days is to work out kind of standard operating procedures and working methods for the task force to implement the ceasefire,” he said. Monday was not the first time a ceasefire date has been agreed upon in the Syrian crisis. On February 12, Kerry announced that world powers meeting in Munich, Germany, had agreed on a target date for a cessation of hostilities in Syria a week later. That date came and went, and the fighting and deaths continued. Syria health care has collapsed, group says The group Physicians for Human Rights expressed skepticism that the latest truce would stop the violence on the ground in Syria. Related video Syria: Dozens killed as bombers strike Homs, Damascus “What Syrians need is a cessation of attacks on civilians, and there is no evidence that this agreement effectively addresses the bombing of civilian facilities such as hospitals, which have been repeatedly targeted by Syrian and Russian forces under the pretext of attacking terrorist groups,” Widney Brown, director of programs for the doctors’ group, said in a statement. Almost 200 people were killed over the weekend in multiple attacks in Homs and on the outskirts of Damascus. ISIS claimed responsibility for those attacks. More than 250,000 people have been killed, more than 1 million injured and more than half of Syrians displaced since the country’s civil war began in 2011, according to the United Nations. CNN’s Yousuf Basil, Tim Hume, Hamdi Alkhshali, Vasco Cotovio and Don Melvin contributed to this report.

United States-Russia Syria ceasefire agreement


North Korea celebrated the 85th anniversary of the founding of its army Tuesday, a significant date in the country’s calendar. The day is marked with a public holiday, and despite the USS Michigan, one of the US’ most powerful submarines, arriving in South Korea Tuesday in an apparent show of force, there was no sign of tension in Pyongyang as North Koreans took to the streets to celebrate. CNN is in the country now and captured some of the holiday activity. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) Mansugyo cafe is buzzing with people enjoying the seven different kinds of beer on offer and making the most of a rare day off. This popular “beer parlour” was famously visited by President Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il in 1974. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) The cafe has been around for decades and offers up local delicacies, like dried pollock, washed down with a beer made entirely of rice. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) In the supermarkets, there’s very little choice in what food people can purchase, with only a few local products available. Most shops carry the same cans, and shelves are largely stocked with goods imported from China. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) And despite North Korea being a socialist country, while some goods are distributed freely, many are still purchased with cash. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) If you’re in Pyongyang and have the cash, “Junko” bar is the place to go. The tropically themed bar and coffee shop is in a hotel that’s popular with Chinese tourists and affluent locals, and a cocktail there can set you back a cool $13.50 US. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) Despite current tensions running high, tourists are still visiting the secretive nation. As is customary on national holidays, students perform an hour-long mass choreographed dance routine to celebrate army day while tourists look on. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) On a public holiday, or any other special occasion, Pyongyang’s citizens also celebrate by dancing in the streets wearing formal, colorful clothing. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) Known as Hanbok in South Korea, this form of traditional dress is called Joson Ot in the North. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) Adults, especially men, traditionally dress very uniformly in North Korea. Children, however, can often be seen in colorful clothing – mostly imported from China. There are signs that some younger people might be trying to modernize their dress, but as a rule, as an adult, there doesn’t seem to be much desire to stand out from the crowd. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) Like everywhere in the world, little boys can be seen sporting small guns as toys. But this is especially true in this militarized nation, where even nurseries are full of toy tanks, missiles and guns, as well as books and stuffed animals. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) There are a number of events and military ceremonies over the course of the day marking the 85th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army, and convoys of military personnel take to the streets, greeted by waving citizens. A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) A post shared by Will Ripley (@willripleycnn) There are also a number of propaganda posters hanging in Pyongyang that celebrate the regime. Some are specifically up for army day, others adorn the streets all year.


Coast Guard says a life ring from the ship has been found The ship with 33 on board left Jacksonville, Florida, for Puerto Rico Somewhere near the Bahamas, a container ship with 28 Americans and five Polish nationals was still missing Saturday, lost in ocean waters roiled by a Category 4 hurricane. More than 48 hours since the U.S.-flagged El Faro was last heard from, the Coast Guard pressed its air search in the ferocious conditions of Hurricane Joaquin, with winds blowing 130 mph, for the massive vessel and its cargo of tightly stacked containers and 33 souls. On Saturday night, the Coast Guard reported one piece of hopeful news. An airplane involved in the search located a life ring from the El Faro about 75 miles northeast of the ship’s last known position, the Coast Guard said in a press release. A Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter recovered the life ring and confirmed it belonged to the missing ship. “It validates our search efforts and while we are disappointed we did not find the ship today we are hopeful,” Coast Guard spokeswoman Marilyn Fajardo said. “Tomorrow, we will have three C-130s flying and the Navy will be assisting again with a P-8 aircraft.” The 790-foot ship and its crew set out Tuesday on what ordinarily should have been a routine voyage from Jacksonville, Florida, to Puerto  Rico. But the El Faro was caught in one of the fiercest storms that Mother Nature can conjure. Its last known location was off the Bahamas. Five aircraft on Saturday searched with radar over the tempestuous seas for the El Faro, which last reported its position and problems Thursday morning. Related gallery Preparing for Hurricane Joaquin “The Coast Guard has been doing search and rescue for more than 200 years, and this is right up their wheelhouse,” Chief Petty Officer Bobby Nash said. Three C-130 planes, an H-60 helicopter and a Navy’s P-8 plane were all airborne, Nash said. Since Thursday, search and rescue crews have covered 30,000 square miles, Fajardo said. On Friday, ship company officials met with families of the missing crew, CNN affiliate WFOX/WSVN reported. The meeting was emotional, said Anthony Chiarello, president and CEO of TOTE Inc., which owns the El Faro. “Met with as many families in person we could that have loved ones on board the vessel  El Faro,” Chiarello told the station. A majority of the crew has ties to Jacksonville, Florida, said TOTE Services President Phil Greene. Family members told the affiliate that they wondered why the ship sailed into what was then a tropical storm in the first place. The vessel departed Tuesday from Jacksonville for San Juan, Puerto Rico. When asked about relatives’ questions, Greene told the station: “The captain knew the conditions and communicated back to our headquarters. The conditions were, as he saw them then, favorable. He was very confident the ship was doing well, the crew was quite up to date. “I think the most critical importance for us is that we share as much information as we have, that we’re upfront about the situations as we possibly can be,” Greene told the station. The company is flying some family members to Jacksonville so the firm can meet with them. Meanwhile, family members are asking everyone to pray, the station reported. The search teams – and hopefully the lost ship crew – have weathered 150 mph gusts, 30-foot waves, and a torrent of rain. #BreakingNews @USCGSoutheast briefed on status of search for the container ship El Faro. 2 HC-130 on scene. #Joaquin pic.twitter.com/K0mkIyXXW7 On Friday, the Coast Guard dispatched a cutter ship, an MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter and a C-130 Hercules airplane, but while the C-130 flew as low as 2,000 feet – far below the normal 10,000 feet for such a storm – it was not able to get close to El Faro’s last known location off the Bahamas. “There’s so much wind, thunderstorms and sea spray that it is difficult to see,” Coast Guard Capt. Mark Fedor told CNN’s Eric Burnett on Friday. “But our hope is that they are either on the vessel or on life rafts, and we can identify them.” CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray noted that the ship may have been able to ride out the storm as it passed, or it might have been dragged northward with it. The problem is that, at this point, nobody really knows. “We know they’re disabled,” Fedor said. “So really, they’re just moving along with the force of the storm.” When the cargo ship set sail Tuesday, its officers were monitoring what was then Tropical Storm Joaquin, according to Tim Nolan, president of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico. But all communications was shut off at 7:20 a.m. ET Thursday. “There are a number of possible reasons for the loss of communications among them the increasing severity of Hurricane Joaquin,” Nolan said in a statement. The Coast Guard received a report Thursday morning that the ship had lost propulsion and was taking on water, but that the flooding had been contained. The ship was reported to be in distress somewhere near Crooked Island in the Bahamas. Track Hurricane Joaquin here CNN’s Ed Payne, Tony Marco, Shawn Nottingham, Joshua Berlinger and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.


The FBI Director said Monday no evidence was found that Barack Obama wiretapped Donald Trump James Comey addressed the House Intelligence Committee for a hearing James Comey is at it again. The FBI director, in his deadpan way, characteristically unleashed a new chain of political consequences Monday, in hours of steely testimony before a House hearing examining Russian meddling in the presidential election. Just five months ago, Democrats were left fulminating at Comey’s handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s email server. Now, as Comey wades back into the political swamp, it’s Republicans who are left to fret after the FBI chief sensationally dispensed with protocol to confirm his agents were probing alleged collusion between then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign aides and Moscow. By publicly confirming the probe, Comey sentenced the White House to months of uncertainty, potential leaks and distractions that already threaten to sap the President’s political capital at a crucial moment. It is quite possible that no charges will ever be leveled against Trump aides and that the FBI counter-intelligence operation will find that there was no wrongdoing or collusion by Trump aides. But the suspicion will hover for months over former Trump associates like former campaign chairman Paul Manafort — who denied any wrongdoing in a statement on Monday — and foreign policy expert Carter Page — and by extension over the President himself. FBI: Trump campaign, Russia ties investigated, no wiretap evidence found “The longer this hangs out here, the bigger the cloud is,” Republican House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes told Comey as the hearing broke up, urging him to expedite the investigation. “There is a big, gray cloud that you have now put over people who have very important work leading the country,” Nunes said. In a second blow to the President’s credibility, Comey told the House Intelligence Committee that he had “no information” to support claims by the President that Trump Tower was targeted in a surveillance operation ordered by his predecessor Barack Obama. Comey’s deskmate at the House Intelligence hearing, National Security Agency Chief Mike Rogers, torpedoed another Trump claim — that Obama had ordered British spies to eavesdrop on his presidential election campaign. Such has been the disruption and the uproar during Trump’s first two months in office, that the significance of individual events in the torrent of political news often gets overlooked. RELATED: The 4 bombshells of James Comey But the spectacle of two of the most senior intelligence chiefs publicly contradicting the President for whom they work marked another milestone in an administration that is shattering all kinds of conventions. The trio of bombshells put an increasingly beleaguered White House on the defensive. Trump’s recent poll numbers are among the lowest of Trump’s presidency. “Following this testimony it’s clear nothing has changed,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said during Monday’s briefing. “Senior Obama intelligence officials have gone on record to confirm there’s no evidence of a Trump/Russia collusion.” But the new headache for the White House was not the only takeaway of the day of testimony in the House hearing room at the Longworth Office Building, where theater style seating exacerbated the sense of political drama. It also became clear that Trump and the White House will not be chastened by the fact that the President’s claims about wiretapping have now been publicly rebuked by top US intelligence chiefs and bipartisan congressional leaders. His White House and Republicans in the committee introduced a new wrinkle in the Russia saga, raising legitimate questions about whether leaks that exposed former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s name following his conversations with the Russian ambassador breached the law. They also implied that fast practice by the former Obama administration may be to blame, supplying new grist for the conspiracy mill that operates around Trump and his supporters in the conservative media. RELATED: Rebuffed by Comey’s testimony, Trump tweet teases new theory “Director Comey told the House Intelligence Committee that certain political appointees in the Obama administration had access to the names of unmasked US citizens, such as senior White House officials, senior Department of Justice Officials, and senior intelligence officials,” Spicer said. Related video The wiretapping saga in 2 minutes “Before President Obama left office, Michael Flynn was unmasked and then illegally, his identity was leaked out to media outlets, despite the fact that as NSA Director Rogers said, that unmasking and revealing individuals endangers quote, national security.” Comey did confirm that some Obama officials might have had access to the intelligence, but declined to draw any conclusions about them. Spicer also said that Trump would not apologize to Obama for his now debunked claim that the 44th President ordered wiretapping against him — saying there was a lot about surveillance that remained unknown. It was a characteristic response from a White House that is allergic to apologizing even when facts contravene its presentation of events. The tactic worked well for Trump during his campaign. Whether he can adopt a similar stance as President, and retain credibility is more open to question. The White House counter-attack also implicitly called into question the legitimacy of the probe against Trump campaign aides itself. Before Comey testified, Trump branded claims his campaign colluded with Russia as “fake news” and the invention of Democrats still chafing at Clinton’s shock general election defeat. Republicans had hoped going into the hearing that Comey would say that there was no evidence of coordination between Russia and Trump aides. But he pointedly did not do so — citing the need to protect an ongoing investigation — though cautioned no one should read anything into his silence. That fact alone is sure to give Democrats months of ammunition as they try to use the unsolved cloud of rumor and innuendo about Moscow to weaken the presidency of Trump. Related article Trump restrains himself in Kentucky, doesn't respond to FBI testimony “I take congressman Nunes’ point that this has created a cloud over the Trump White House right now,” said Brian Fallon, former spokesman for Clinton’s campaign on CNN on Monday. “That will probably impair their ability to advance their legislative agenda,” he said, arguing that Comey’s confirmation of a probe but refusal to handicap it was the worst possible outcome for the administration. Reflecting Democratic frustration with Comey, Fallon also questioned why he had spoken publicly about the FBI investigation into Clinton’s email server in the final days of the election — but had not told Americans as he did Monday that the investigation into Trump aides and possible collusion with Russia — was opened in July. Questions like those helped to spice the partisan flavor of Monday’s hearing when it often seemed like Democrats and Republicans were attending a different event. GOP lawmakers showed a unity in raising questions about the unmasking of Flynn, suggesting Trump need not worry yet about ebbing support on Capitol Hill. Many Democrats, meanwhile, seemed determined to raise every allegation about Trump and Russia — most of which have little hard evidence in support. “I was a little concerned by both parties,” said Mike Rogers, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who is now a CNN analyst and is of no relation to the NSA chief. “Here we had this opportunity for both sides to come together and lay out what the Russians have been doing. … That was completely lost today, it was Republicans decided ‘hey its all about the leaks’ — which are bad — sure enough, and Democrats decided they were going to make the case because Comey couldn’t make the case publicly,” Rogers added. “I think we both swung and a miss here.” That fractured, partisan approach suggests that even when the House Intelligence Committee produces its own report on the Russian interventions in the election, it is unlikely to cool a furious political storm over the affair.


When she was 12, Muneera Begum was sold into "marriage" with a 70-year-old man Police say there are hundreds of cases like hers in Hyderabad's Old City These crimes involve a network of human traffickers, including agents, brokers, and clerics “That night he took me with him. He forced himself on me. I was crying.  [He said] I’ve bought you, I can do whatever I want.  I’ve given your parents money, I can use you for as long as I like. Keep your mouth shut.” Muneera Begum, now aged 19, lives in Hyderabad, India. She says she was just 12 years old when her parents sold her into a forced marriage with a man from Oman. He was aged 70. She calls the so-called wedding night “torture.” “I wasn’t educated and I couldn’t understand anything that was going on,” she said. I had a childishness in me.” She says that for two months, he kept her locked in a room, using her repeatedly for sex. “If he had to go anywhere he would lock me from the inside, come back later and then again that torture would start,” she said. Police say there are hundreds of cases like Begum’s in Hyderabad’s Old City. Young girls from poor neighborhoods, sold by their parents without their consent, to elderly tourists who come here looking for sex. In our investigation, we visited a number of shelters, meeting victim after victim, all with horrific stories of physical and sexual abuse. These crimes involve a network of human traffickers, with agents, brokers, and clerics all part of the scheme. Agents are located in several countries in the Middle East and Africa. They know brokers in Hyderabad (the city with the largest Muslim population by percentage in India) who approach poor families and convince them to sell their underage daughters because they need the money. The agents have clients, usually elderly men, who then travel to Hyderabad. There, the broker shows them the girls and they choose the ones they want. Read: Girls smuggled into China and sold as brides A religious cleric who is also a part of the criminal network then signs a wedding certificate (which has no legal standing) and a post-dated divorce certificate at the same time. But according to one of the most senior religious authorities in Hyderabad, Islamic law requires a girl’s consent before she can be married. After a few weeks or months of using the girl for sex, the client leaves her, never to come back. Some of the girls are gang raped. Many are given drugs by their buyers, making them helpless, unable to stop what is happening. It’s hard to understand how a mother could sell her daughter, but Begum’s mother explains her decision. She says her family of five live crammed into one tiny room in one of the poorest parts of Hyderabad. She says her husband was an alcoholic and they had no money, and she believed that selling her daughter would improve Begum’s life, as well as the family’s. “We thought by doing it we could afford a small house and live there,” explained her mother. “Our life and our daughter’s life would have become good. That’s what we thought we should do.” Now Begum has a young daughter, fathered by the man she was forced to marry. When she became pregnant after just two months, he divorced her over the phone.  She says she was so distraught, she tried killing herself. “I used to cry a lot,” she said. “I was in so much pain I thought my life was useless. For the last time I tried to cut my wrist.” Then she was taken in by a local NGO called Shaheen, which helps prevent young girls from being sold into forced marriages. Shaheen also rescues girls and helps rehabilitate them, teaching them skills like tailoring, applying henna or how to use computers, all to help them become financially independent. Jameela Nishat began Shaheen more than 20 years ago and says she has helped more than 100 girls directly, and almost 1,000 indirectly. “My dream is that every girl should be happy and enjoy her life to the maximum, and feel free,” she said. After she went to Shaheen, Begum filed a police case and the authorities arrested the middleman involved in selling her. It’s taken years to recover, but now, she’s vowing to never let anything like that happen to anyone else. “The way I got caught up, I don’t want other girls to face the same [thing],” said Begum. “In my heart, I feel the pain I faced; the next person shouldn’t face that pain.”


The US-led coalition has its sights set on Raqqa, ISIS' capital Washington plans to arm Syrian Kurdish rebels US-backed rebels said they “liberated” the strategic Syrian city of Tabqa and a nearby dam from ISIS. Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of mainly Kurdish and Arab fighters, took the city on Wednesday, SDF spokesman Talal Silo said. The push is part of Operation Euphrates Wrath, which is designed to seize control of key territory from ISIS. US Air Force Col. John Dorrian – the spokesman for the US-led coalition against ISIS called Operation Inherent Resolve – earlier tweeted that almost all of the city has been seized and that fighters were clearing two neighborhoods. After #Tabqah is completely liberated, the #SDF and coalition forces will continue operations to isolate and seize #Raqqah. Troops continued to close the net around Raqqa, ISIS’ self-declared capital. Raqqa is the latest major city targeted by coalition forces in their attempts to rid Iraq and Syria of the extremist group. The city, the militants’ operational command headquarters, is now largely surrounded – its main supply routes cut off by advancing forces. The seizure of Tabqa and the nearby dam is a key stride toward taking Raqqa and grabbing key infrastructure away from the terror group.. The dam supplies electric power to a wide area of Syria. Mass killings in the Syrian conflict by government forces and militants affiliated with ISIS and other groups have been long reported. During its control of Tabqa and a nearby airbase since 2014, ISIS released video footage of militants parading dozens of Syrian soldiers handcuffed through a desert in their underwear and then executing them. The presence of Syrian Kurdish fighters on the battlefield could complicate the mission. The People’s Protection Units, or the YPG, is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The presence of the group has caused tension between NATO members the United States and Turkey and stoked concerns that differences over the aims and activities of the Kurdish fighters could undermine the battle against the Islamic State. Related article Turkey slams Trump plan to arm Kurds The United States sees the 50,000-strong Syrian Democratic Forces as the most effective force fighting ISIS in Syria and has armed the non-Kurdish Arab elements of that group for some time. Syrian Kurds make up just over half of the SDF, according to the US military. On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that President Donald Trump had authorized arming the YPG. Ankara considers the YPG a terror threat to Turkey and an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK – a group that has waged an insurgency in southern Turkey. The United States views the PKK and YPG as two separate groups. The arming of the YPG that has long been under consideration at the Pentagon but has been delayed due to strong opposition from Turkey. Next week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is visiting Trump at the White House. Erdogan is expected to urge Washington to drop its support for those Kurdish forces.


Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said Tuesday “there should be no doubt” that Russia sees the 2018 US elections as a target. Coats and the other top national security officials told the Senate Intelligence Committee that they still view Moscow as a threat to the 2018 elections, a stance that appears at odds with President Donald Trump’s repeated dismissals of Russian election meddling. “We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokesmen and other means to influence, to try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States,” Coats said at a hearing on worldwide threats. “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 US midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.” Tuesday’s hearing touched on a wide array of threats, from North Korea to China to weapons of mass destruction. But Russia’s interference into US and other elections loomed large amid the committee’s investigation into Russian election meddling and the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russian officials. Related article US intel chief says risk of global conflict highest since Cold War Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the committee’s top Democrat, warned that the US was not prepared to handle the Russian threat to US elections heading into the midterms. “We’ve had more than a year to get our act together and address the threat posed by Russia and implement a strategy to deter future attacks.  But we still do not have a plan,” Warner said. Warner questioned Coats and the other officials testifying — CIA Director Mike Pompeo, FBI Director Chris Wray, NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo — about how the government was addressing the threat to both the US election systems and through social media. He asked all six of the US officials testifying to reaffirm the intelligence community’s findings last year that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and that the Kremlin will continue to intervene in future elections. All said yes. Democrats pointed to that unanimous assessment to criticize Trump for maintaining a contrasting view to his own intelligence community. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, urged the intelligence chiefs to persuade the President to accept their findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. “My problem is, I talk to people in Maine who say the whole thing is a witch hunt and a hoax ‘because the President told me,’” King said. “There’s no doubt, as you all have testified today, we cannot confront this threat, which is a serious one, with a whole of government response when the leader of the government continues to that deny it exists.” Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, asked whether the efforts to counter Russia’s election activities in 2018 had been directed by Trump. “Not as specifically directed by the President,” Wray responded. Pompeo told the committee that the CIA had already “seen Russian activity and intentions to have an impact on the next election cycle here.” He also raised the prospect that the US could respond to election meddling with offensive cybercapabilities. “We do have some capability offensively to raise the cost for those who would dare challenge the United States’ elections,” Pompeo said. Related article Pakistan still not cracking down on militants, US intel chief says Warner also questioned the government’s response to the Russian social media influence efforts. Warner has been critical of the response of companies like Facebook and Twitter to the Russian activity on their social networks. Coats responded that multiple government agencies are working on the social media effort, and they are trying to work with companies to help them address the threat. “We cannot as a government direct them what to do, but we are certainly spending every effort we can to work with them to provide some answers to this question,” Coats said. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, however, took issue with Warner’s assertion that the US was not prepared for Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2018 elections on social media. Risch said that the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the intelligence community were not surprised at Russia’s efforts in 2016. And he argued that the public has become more educated too. “With all due respect to my friend from Virginia, I think the American people are ready for this,” Risch said. “The American people are smart people, they realize there are people attempting to manipulate them, both domestically and foreign. And I agree with everyone on the panel this is going to go on. This is the way the Russians have done business, this is no surprise to us.” Another issue related to Russia’s election interference is the US voting systems themselves. The Department of Homeland Security has said there were Russian efforts to try to hack into the voting systems in 21 states, and several lawmakers have raised concerns states and localities are unprepared for the 2018 election cycle. “Voting begins in March, that’s next month,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican. “If we’re going to have any impact on securing that voting system itself, it would seem to me, we need to be acting quickly.”


Here’s what you might have missed Thursday on CNN. – The Senate Judiciary chairman said he wants the public to see Donald Trump Jr.’s testimony on the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer. – President Trump kicked off his meeting with global elites by praising allies and digging his heels in on “America First” at the World Economic Forum. – Disturbing video emerged showing kidnapped Sudanese migrants being tortured for ransom in Libya. – More harrowing stories came to light after the shooting at a Kentucky high school that left two dead. A student who was shot called her mom right before she died.– Missing text messages between FBI employees had some Republicans up in arms. They say the messages could show an anti-Trump bias at the FBI. Now the DOJ’s inspector general says the trove of messages have been found. – Atomic scientists set the Doomsday Clock ahead 30 seconds. The message they are sending humanity: Our time is nearly up. – A man wearing a t-shirt with a message asking for a kidney went to Disney World. And he found a match!– NASA’s Mars rover named Curiosity sent a new selfie.

Donald Trump Jr.'s testimony on the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer


Lawmakers want to question Kushner about meeting with Russian banker and ambassador Russian banker who met with Kushner has deep ties to the Russian government The Russian bank chairman who met with Jared Kushner in December isn’t your ordinary banker. His state-run bank has been under US sanctions for nearly three years. He was appointed to his job by Russian President Vladimir Putin after eight years at Russia’s biggest state-owned commercial bank. And he graduated from the Russian academy of Federal Security Service, which trains people to work in Russia’s intelligence and security forces. Sergey Gorkov’s meeting with Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and one of his closest advisers, will be scrutinized by congressional investigators probing links between Trump associates and the Russian government. Gorkov is chairman of VneshEconomBank, or VEB, a Russian development agency that has been under US sanctions since July 2014. The meeting is raising questions both because of the sanctions and because Kushner spent years as a real-estate developer and was trying to attract financing for a building project of his in Manhattan. The White House said Kushner was acting as a Trump adviser – not as a private developer – when he met with Gorkov. “He was a conduit and to – to leaders and that’s until we had a State Department, a functioning place for people to go,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday. VEB confirmed the meeting with Kushner in a statement to CNN, though described Kushner in his role as head of Kushner Companies, not as a representative of Trump. “During 2016 the bank’s management repeatedly met with representatives of the world’s leading financial institutions in Europe, Asia and America … including the head of Kushner Companies, Jared Kushner,” the VEB statement said. A spokesman for the Kremlin said Tuesday the Russian government was not aware of the meeting, calling it “absolutely the bank’s prerogative” and stressed that the discussion was one of dozens held to discuss the bank’s long-term strategy. Senate Intelligence Committee member Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, told CNN’s “New Day” Tuesday morning that it was “interesting” that VEB “seemed to contradict” Kushner’s statement that he was acting as a campaign official when he met with the bank president. “I’m sure that that will be an issue that we’ll try to clarify,” Collins said. The meeting between Kushner and Gorkov does not violate the US sanctions, and it is not unusual for businesses under sanctions to meet with US officials, experts said. “I don’t see any problem in having a meeting,” said Paul Saunders, executive director of the Center for the National Interest, a Washington, DC, think tank. “The prohibitions relate to doing business with the banks, not to talking to them.” Trump said during his presidential campaign that he was open to reconsidering the sanctions against Russia. The sanctions weakened much of the Russian finance sector by barring Americans and US companies from buying the debt of Russian financial institutions, which limits their ability to raise money. Related article Kushner, Senate investigators to meet in wake of Russian ambassador meetings “Right after the election, there was an expectation on the part of Russia that sanctions will be lifted,” said Alevtina Guseva, a Boston University expert on Russian finance. VEB is a state-owned Russian corporation formed in 2007 that is closely tied to the Russian government. Its chairman is appointed by the Russian president. The Russian prime minister is chairman of the bank supervisory board. The bank has helped rescue financially troubled oligarchs and has financed infrastructure projects such as the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi that are too risky for commercial banks. Last year, the bank restructured 200 billion roubles (roughly $3.5 billion) in debts that were affiliated with Sochi projects. It was disclosed on Monday that Kushner agreed to speak to the Senate Intelligence Committee for its inquiry into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government in its effort to sway the 2016 election toward Trump. Lawmakers also want to question Kushner about his meeting in December with the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak. President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russian financial institutions in 2014 after Russian annexed part of neighboring Ukraine. CNN’s Simon Ostrovsky, Matthew Chance, Emma Burrows and Antonia Mortensen contributed to this report.


Editor’s Note: Peggy Drexler is the author of “Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family” and “Raising Boys Without Men.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. Peggy Drexler: How much pull could we expect Ivanka Trump to have with a man who refers to himself as her "Daddy"? Drexler: By parading her in this way, Trump not only risks people not taking her, or women in general, seriously -- he does the same to himself. “Daddy, can I go with you?” That’s the question President Trump says his 35-year-old daughter, Ivanka, posed to him before his trip this week to North Dakota, where he talked to a crowd about tax reform. “Yes,” he says he told her, “you can.” With that introduction, little Ivanka took the stage. Among the many confounding aspects of the Trump presidency has been the role of Ivanka, his elder, and clearly favored, daughter. (When’s the last time you heard him talk about Tiffany, his daughter with ex-wife Marla Maples, never mind trot her out before a crowd of voters?) Ivanka and her husband are official White House advisors – and two of the President’s closest. Ivanka Trump presents herself on social media and elsewhere as socially progressive. And she has been pegged by many as a (notably female) counter to Trump’s more openly conservative stances on everything from immigration and national security to, yes, women. Related video Jared & Ivanka silent after Charlottesville But whether she’s actually succeeded in pulling her father away from the strongest impulses of the right remains up for debate. This was perhaps never more clearly seen than in her father’s bumbling post-Charlottesville attack statements. After all, if ever there was a time for Trump’s Jewish daughter to sway her father to moderation, it was then. Instead, he chose to defend the “good” people among the white supremacist crowd. But then, how much pull could we actually expect her to have with a man who refers to himself as her “Daddy?” The moniker, used in relation to a person on one’s senior staff, is unprofessional at best, demeaning and infantilizing at worst. Trump is known for off-the-cuff, ill-worded remarks, even when it comes to his daughter. (“If Ivanka weren’t my daughter perhaps I’d be dating her,” he declared in 2016.) And if he does, in fact, view her as his eternal little girl in some way, it wouldn’t be all that uncommon among fathers, even the most evolved of whom can have a hard time seeing their girls as women. One could argue that sometimes, “Daddy” is just a name, a term of endearment – not an indication of some perceived immaturity. Related video Ivanka Trump sits in for dad at G20 meeting The difference, of course, is that Trump has made his little girl one of the more powerful women in Washington, at least by title. When you do that, you don’t get to bring your family nicknames, especially if they can be read as juvenile, onto the national stage. The Trumps don’t have the luxury of not being examined. Having a Commander in Chief refer to himself as the “Daddy” of a 35-year-old woman, having him assert that she – one of his most important advisors – pleadingly called him that as she asked be taken along on a trip, is off-putting to say the least. We don’t know how she felt about being a character in his “Daddy” story – many daughters would be mortified. But by parading her in this way, he not only risks people not taking her, or women in general, seriously – he does the same to himself. Behind every powerful woman is her … daddy? What a great message to be sending to our young girls. Daddy-in-Chief? Not comforting. Related video Ivanka Trump urges action on human trafficking To be fair, Ivanka has assumed a role that, while not uncommon between generations of powerful people, is far more common between men and their adult sons. Consequently, there is an element of progress, and progressiveness, in all of this, deep down. And, as she has shown in her ability to find herself in the presence of world leaders – “popping in” on meetings with congressional leaders to push her child tax credit, as she did Wednesday to GOP leaders’ reported annoyance – she is not without an agenda, and the will to see it fulfilled. The catch-22 for Ivanka, of course, is that her ability to make change is both enabled, and threatened, by her father. Or, that is, her daddy. Can she overcome? It’s a tough job for a little girl.