Trump welcomes home three Americans released by North Korea

President Donald Trump welcomed three Americans who had been held prisoner in North Korea back home on Thursday, thanking its leader Kim Jong Un for their release and sounding upbeat about a planned U.S.-North Korea summit. 

The former prisoners, freed after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang for a second meeting with Kim in less than six weeks, landed at 2:42 a.m. ET at Joint Base Andrews near Washington. 

Trump and his wife, Melania, boarded the plane for about five minutes before the three men stepped out, shaking hands with the president and waving to media and military personnel. Vice President Pence and his wife were also there to greet the prisoners 

Andrews was decorated for the occasion with a massive American flag hanging from the ladders of two fire trucks. Trump joked with reporters that the event “probably broke the all time in history television rating for three o’clock in the morning.” 

North Korean state media said the three were arrested either for subversion or “hostile acts” against the government. A North Korean official told Pompeo that Kim had granted the three “amnesty,” a senior U.S. official said. Trump thanked Kim Jong Un for releasing the Americans by saying, “We want to thank Kim Jong Un. We very much appreciate that he allowed them to go before the meeting. He was nice in letting them go before the meeting … That was a big thing, very important to me.” 

The 3 Americans appeared to be in good health but were taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for further medical evaluation. 

Trump also tweeted today saying he will meet Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, “The highly anticipated meeting between Kim Jong Un and myself will take place in Singapore on June 12th. We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!” 

Israel strikes ‘nearly all’ Iranian infrastructure in Syria after Iran rocket attack, minister says

Israel has been on heightened alert in recent days in anticipation of an Iranian attack. The Israeli military said Iran had fired rockets at soldiers in the Golan Heights, apparently the first time Iran has done so, though all were intercepted or fell short of their targets. Israel pinned the suspected Iranian strikes on the Quds Force, a unit of special forces. 

Israel then conducted retaliatory strikes against dozens of Iranian facilities in Syria, also taking out Syrian air defense systems. Tehran has vowed retaliation for recent Israeli strikes in Syria which targeted and killed at least 13 Iranian nationals.  

The Israel Defense Forces said 20 missiles were fired by the Iranian Quds Force at its positions in the Golan Heights border area, several of which were intercepted by Israel’s missile defense systems. No Israelis were injured. 

Overnight, Israel said it carried out one of its most extensive strikes in the region in decades hitting “all Iranian targets on its list.” Russia said Israel used 28 warplanes, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets to fire 60 air to surface missiles and 10 surface to surface missiles. 

The raid lasted 2 hours and targeted dozens of sites where Iranian advisors are based in Syria after Iran blasted 20 rockets into the Golan Heights. The early morning bombardment killed 23 people, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.

Chicago sees its most violent week of the year: 9 killed, 76 wounded

The last seven days in Chicago (Monday April 30 –Monday May 7) have been the most violent week of the year, with just three police districts on the West Side bearing the brunt, according to data kept by the Chicago Tribune. At least 85 people were shot between Monday, April 30, and this past Sunday. Of those shot, at least nine have been killed. 

The city had been averaging about 42 shootings each week this year, according to Tribune data. With last week’s shootings, the average rises to almost 45 people a week. 

The least violent period was the week of Feb. 5, when 16 people were shot in Chicago. The recent burst of violence brings the number of people shot in the city this year to at least 804, according to data kept by the Tribune (updated every SUNDAY). 

That's below the previous two years, when violence hit record levels. Last year at this time, 1,087 people had been shot.  In 2016, the number was 1,199.

Mob of Teens Allegedly Responsible For Water Tower Brawl Saturday Night

Police say a mob of teens is responsible for robbing and pushing people on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile Saturday night. As many as 150 youth hopped off at the Chicago red line stop. According to Alderman Hopkins, it caused major chaos between there and the Water Tower. 

“They started immediately making a lot of noise, shouting and yelling, pushing pedestrians,” said Hopkins. “So clearly this was designed to frighten people and intimidate people.” Hopkins says some of the young people stole cell phones and purses, and says with so many cameras in the area, police should have seen what was about to happen that night. He promised an internal review into why the police response was delayed. 

The teens appear to have organized themselves on social media, Hopkins said. But unlike some other groups, Hopkins said the group did not target high-end retail shops. Officials are still trying to figure out the motive for the incident. 

There were “no serious injuries and no weapons recovered, but this was a group that was intent on creating chaos and mayhem,” Hopkins said. 

Chicago Police confirm only one arrest was made for a felony assault to a police officer. They say someone threw a cup of liquid at an officer. Police said a 16-year-old boy was charged with felony aggravated battery after he splashed an “unknown liquid substance” on an officer’s face. The officer was taken to a hospital for medical evaluation and was released the same night, a police spokesman said.

Who is paying Michael Avenatti?

So exactly who is paying Michael Avenatti? And is he a lawyer, an opposition researcher, a journalist, or a campaign operative? 

He wants to make the discussion all about where Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, got his money but, to have clean hands, Avenatti needs to come forward with exactly who is financing his operation, who his sources were for detailed banking information, and whether he really is an attorney solely representing Stormy Daniels or just using her as cover to wage a political operation. 

From the beginning, this has been fishy. Daniels’ previous lawyer advised her to stick to her agreements. In contrast, Avenatti okayed her violating with impunity her non-disclosure agreement on “60 Minutes” despite a binding arbitration judgment against her. She acknowledged on Twitter that she is not paying for her lawyer. So who is? And did he indemnify her against all multimillion-dollar penalties? 

The New York Times story recently published that Cohen had invested heavily in New York City taxi medallions and, thanks to Uber, those medallions were losing as much as 80 percent of their value and cash flow. There is a much more logical explanation for Cohen needing cash in that these investments were going south, and he needed funds to shore them up or face foreclosure. 

But this release of a “report” by Avenatti also raises the question of where and how did he get this detailed financial information because he didn’t find it on Google. This is the kind of information that would have been known only by the Treasury Department, his banks or by prosecutors, raising some serious questions about what kind of operation Avenatti is running.

Mail Time!

• Bill, I am very concerned for the US, I read in today's newspaper that Comcast has made an offer to purchase 21st Century Fox which would include Fox News Corporation. If that were to happen all news reporting organizations in the US would be run by the Far Left and their propaganda. What say you?
• Bill, you said that teachers are not a protected class. I have not ever heard of a "protected class" before your podcast tonight, what or who is a protected class? Thanks for doing these podcasts-we get all of our information from you and your website.

• One thing Trump said that was very scary was that if the Iran Deal was left in place it would cause an arms escalation in the Middle East. Could you explain this further?

Word of the Day: Miscreant