Massive Bomb Dropped on Afghanistan (Guess Who Authorized Use?), United Passenger to Sue, U.K. Perhaps Does Have Connections to Trump Surveillance: P.M. Links

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  DOD / Polaris/Newscom

  We dropped a gigantic bomb containing 11 tons of explosives of Afghanistan, the first time the Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB), or "mother of all bombs," has ever been used in combat. The target was a system of caves and tunnels used by ISIS fighters. Plot twist! Before yelling solely at President Donald Trump, it turns out the Obama administration gave generals the authority to explore using the weapon back in 2016, according to The Daily Beast.

• An airstrike in Syria went wrong and killed 18 fighters allied with the United States.
• The lawyer for the passenger forcibly dragged off the United flight in Chicago says the man suffered a concussion and broken nose and is probably going to sue. But at least United passengers can feel safer now that the company has changed its policies and … OH, GOD, WHAT THE HELL, UNITED! SCORPIONS?
• President Trump has signed a bill that will allow states to withhold federal funds from clinics that perform abortions if such states are so inclined. This is another case where the president and Congress are unmaking a regulation put into place during President Barack Obama's term. Planned Parenthood is obviously hardest hit.
• Sources are saying that British spies were the first to uncover the meetings between people connected to Trump and suspected Russian agents, warned the U.S. about it, and passed along their intel. Hey, remember when the U.K.'s spying agency expressed umbrage at claims they had been involved in snooping on Trump? Mind you, just as with America's intel agencies, they're saying these communications were being incidentally collected because they were snooping on the Russian agents, not on people connected to Trump. Today's news doesn't contradict their statement that they hadn't targeted Trump.
• North Carolina has gotten more LGBT-focused attention because some conservatives introduced legislation that would cause the state to refuse to recognize same-sex marriage, Supreme Court decision be damned. But leaders say the bill is not going to go anywhere and isn't even going to be considered by the legislature, so I haven't bothered blogging about it.
• Today's demonstration in how our culture is shifting: A contestant on Survivor last night tried to prevent getting voted off the show by outing a fellow contestant as transgender, suggesting this was evidence that he was deceptive. The move backfired completely and the other contestants rallied behind the transgender contestant. CBS is also facing critique for deciding to air the contestant's outing as well.

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