Russia's military buildup near Ukraine seems to have been a bargaining point.

The US will continue air attacks in Afghanistan after withdrawing ground troops. However, the US may withdraw all its military contractors, including those that act as mercenaries.

*Pentagon review panel recommends taking sexual assault investigations out of commanders' hands.*

I object to the vagueness of accusing a person of "sexual assault" — people have a right to a more specific accusation. However, in this issue we are not talking about any specific person or any specific alleged action. Rather, it is a proposal for how to handle trials for all crimes of a sexual nature. That doesn't constitute vagueness about any individual.

The fundamental problem of military "justice" overall is "command influence" — the fact that your trial is under the control of one of your commanders and the judges also report to that commander. The consequence is that the court has a tendency to rule as that commander wishes.

In the 19th century, with travel so slow, it may have been necessary to hold courts martial locally. That is no longer necessary now. So it is good to see a plan to eliminate command influence, even if it is for just some kinds of charges. If this is adopted, perhaps eventually the US military will do this for all kinds of charges.

The big banks, in the US and elsewhere, continue financing fossil fuels, for all that they talk about wanting to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The big US banks also were behind the recession of 2008, followed by taking the homes of millions of Americans with fraudulent foreclosures.

Afterward, there was a campaign 10 years ago to move our money out of those banks, and I did.

It's not too late to participate in this campaign.

(satire) *Milwaukee Promotes Itself As Hip, Affordable Place To Live With All The Police Brutality Of Chicago.*