Aggregator

By the time Friday night’s 106-75 Liberty smackdown of the Sun ended, the stat sheet told only part of the story.

Arvell Reese’s college tape passed the lie-detector test. 

Trump Congratulates Incoming Iraqi Leader, Who Moves To Disarm Pro-Iran Militias

Via The Cradle

A committee comprising three senior Iraqi figures is close to finalizing an "executive plan" to disarm factions within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) that enjoy support from Iran, Asharq Al-Awsat reported on 8 May.

Development of the plan, which will be presented to US officials in the next few days, comes amid expected changes to the leadership of key security agencies under the incoming government of Ali al-Zaidi.

Trump congratulates Iraq PM nominee Ali al-Zaidi, eyes stronger ties

Zaidi was nominated by the Shia-majority Coordination Framework (CF) political bloc on April 27 as the consensus candidate to succeed Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. According to sources speaking to the Saudi newspaper, the three-member committee includes Zaidi, Sudani, and the leader of the Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri.

Washington has intensified pressure on Iraq's ruling Shia political parties to disarm the anti-terrorist militias and prevent their representatives from participating in the new government.

The sources revealed that the committee has held secret negotiations with leaders of the factions, providing their leaders with "ideas on how to disarm and integrate fighters."

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Badr Organization leader Amiri, who enjoys close relations with Iran, "was supposed to help build trust with the factions and persuade them to engage with the state." However, some meetings "did not proceed calmly" due to the request to disarm.

A spokesperson for one faction within the PMF said that Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and Harakat al-Nujaba rejected handing over their weapons to any party whatsoever. The spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the three factions were "prepared to pay any price resulting from their refusal to disarm."

The PMF were created in 2014 with support from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force to fight ISIS and were later formally incorporated into the Iraqi armed forces.

During the war between the US and Iran that began on 28 February, the US air force bombed PMF positions across the country, while the resistance factions carried out drone attacks against US bases in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR) and the US embassy in Baghdad.

In a phone call last Wednesday, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth reportedly told Zaidi that Washington that the legitimacy of his incoming government would depend on its ability to distance the armed factions from the apparatus of the state.

A senior political official told Asharq Al-Awsat that the three-man committee had, under mounting US pressure, accelerated its work in recent weeks to disarm the factions. The official added that the executive plan included restructuring the PMF and ensuring it hands over its heavy and medium weapons, while the US is pressuring Baghdad to disband the PMF entirely.

Asharq Al-Awsat reported that former US General David Petraeus may visit Baghdad this week to ensure that "the new government fully severs its ties with the armed factions.

Petraeus, who holds no formal government position currently, commanded the 101st Airborne Division during the 2003 invasion that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. He later became CIA director, overseeing the covert war in Syria in partnership with Al-Qaeda.

In 2004, he worked with some of the leaders of the Iran-backed armed factions, including Hadi al-Amiri, to establish a new Iraqi police force after Iraq's army and police were disbanded by the US occupation head, Paul Bremer.

Iraqi police commandos operating under Petraeus and Iraq's Ministry of Interior, in particular the Wolf Brigade, were known for abducting, killing, and torturing Sunni Muslims. Some of the police commandos were trained by US commander James Steele, who was known for running death squads in El Salvador in the 1980's.

On Friday, Republican Party member Malik Francis told Shafaq News Agency that the US administration "appears so far to be cautious in its dealings with Ali al-Zaidi, but it is not showing a direct hostile stance towards him."

Francis stated that Washington is not yet giving Zaidi a "blank check," but at the same time, it is not treating him as an adversary. On Thursday, the US Treasury Department announced it had imposed new sanctions on a list of Iraqi individuals and companies for their alleged connection to Iran.

Politicians from the CF said the sanctions may have been intended to "block undesirable nominations" to posts in the new government and "steer the process toward other candidates."

The PMU factions are reportedly exploring the possibility of avoiding direct participation in the new government, while backing figures described as independent for ministerial positions to maintain indirect influence over those posts.

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/09/2026 - 21:00

Julie Vanloo made her presence felt within the first 20 seconds of checking into Friday’s season opener.

But unlike other players fitting that description, he doesn’t play multiple positions. Instead, he’s a pitcher who has shown the capability to handle various roles.

Miller previously called out the "RHONJ" alum over her warm comments about Wilson.

Miller previously called out the "RHONJ" alum over her warm comments about Wilson.

Just four days after suffering a gruesome injury, Jarred Vanderbilt was available to play again.

The battle for the Hudson River at UFC 328 belongs to New Jersey – to the elation of a partisan crowd and the fighter’s teenage son fresh off a successful battle against cancer.

The off-field antics of Bill Belichick's players at North Carolina have started to raise some alarms at the university.

We're down to the final two episodes of Season 51!

"Exponentially Deteriorating": Baltimore's Lawlessness Spreads Into Suburbs As Democrats Lose Control

Maryland is one of many blue states that have transformed into a failed progressive experiment, where net migration flows are negative as productive, working-class taxpayers flee the state, not just because of high taxes and the power bill crisis, but also because they've had enough of left-wing politicians and their failed criminal justice and social reforms that have fueled a decade of violent crime chaos.

We've extensively covered more than a decade of violent crime, riots, population collapse, and the exodus of taxpayers and businesses from imploding Baltimore City, which has been hit hard by a commercial real estate crisis in parts of the downtown area. But rarely have we focused on Baltimore County, just north of the city, where, yet again, left-wing politicians who masquerade as competent managers but are merely DEI activists have unleashed years of lawlessness through failed policies.

FOX45 News spoke with Mickey Hoppert, a retired sergeant with the Baltimore County Police Department who has spent more than two decades on the force, warned about the lawlessness of juveniles in the Towson metro area:

I wouldn't say that it's out of control, but it's getting there. Baltimore County is slowly, actually it's not slowly, it's exponentially deteriorating, and there are more and more pockets of bad elements coming into the county and wreaking havoc.

"I wouldn't say that it's out of control, but it's getting there. Baltimore County is slowly, actually it's not slowly, it's exponentially deteriorating," Mickey Hoppert, retired sergeant with the Baltimore County Police Department, said. "There are more and more pockets of bad… pic.twitter.com/oc7hizFsdt

— FOX Baltimore (@FOXBaltimore) May 5, 2026

Hoppert identified Towson as a major hub for juveniles to meet up and cause chaos over the last ten years.

"It's easy access here," he said. "Bus lines come here. Friends and family can bring them here."

He pointed out that current juvenile laws in the deeply blue county do not support officers and have been nothing but demotivating towards the department.

"When I say nobody supporting them, I mean the judicial system, the judges, they're not supporting them because the laws don't allow them to. The newer laws that have been enacted by lawmakers," Hoppert said. "Revamp the laws. Go back in and look at the laws and see what they can do to change them and make them more, more beneficial to the public and actually make it so that there is a consequence for the action that the juvenile commits."

The current reading of population data in Baltimore County indicates it has lost population since 2020. The decline is modest, but it shows that population growth is quickly losing momentum as residents flee not just the county, but the state, seeking common-sense politicians in red states that offer low taxes and law and order.

At the state level, the failures are piling up for left-wing Gov. Wes Moore, whose polling data has sunk and alarmed the Democratic Party. The governor faces an ongoing trust issue with voters as Sinclair Broadcasting's David Smith wages an informational war on the unhinged leftist in the state.

Since Gov. Wes Moore took office in January 2023, Maryland's fiscal profile has deteriorated sharply. The state entered Moore's first term with a roughly $5 billion surplus, but by 2025, it was facing a $3.3 billion deficit. This swing from surplus to deficit only suggests how Democratic leftists in Annapolis spent taxpayer funds on failed progressive experiments.  

Tyler Durden Sat, 05/09/2026 - 20:25

The pair welcomed an infant son in November before splitting in February.

The pair welcomed an infant son in November before splitting in February.

Freeman smiled often Saturday as he told stories of his first MLB manager, Bobby Cox, whose death was announced earlier in the day by the Braves.

No arrests have been made.

The biggest Yankees workhorse over the past two seasons is ready to get back in the saddle. 

The Stefon Diggs and Cardi B saga continues.

Brown used the regular season to experiment — a major departure from his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau — and it is paying major dividends in the postseason.

CBS released its full interview with Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt hours after the candidate implored them to go beyond the digital article they released about him.