Thursday was a Big Day in a big week in the #United States and things showed no signs of slowing down. In no particular order: President Trump expressed a newfound appreciate for NATO today, calling it a great alliance which was a complete turnaround on his previous NATO views, since he had once described the international organization as 'obsolete'. Elsewhere on Thursday, there was the shocking death of a prominent high court judge as well as both a misdirected bomb in Syria and a mega blast that the US military issue to ISIS held caves in Afghanistan.
NATO turnaround
President Trump is increasingly known for his changeable thinking, and Thursday was no different. He decided this week to celebrate #NATO as a leading alliance with new thinking and aims, this after disparaging the organization last year when he was running for President.
He met with some #NATO senior leaders in the White House and was seen to be celebrating the newfound common ground between the leaders of Europe and America. The meeting took place between Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of Alliance and Trump at a press conference on Wednesday.
New York judge dies
In New York on Thursday, news spread about the death of #Sheila Abdus-Salaam, a judge on New York State’s highest court, whose body was discovered in the Hudson River in Manhattan on Wednesday.
There were no signs of trauma and later reports spoke of the suicide of her brother a few years earlier, as well as the death of her mother a year ago.
Abdus-Salaamwas a judge at #New York State’s loftiest court and she served justice as the first black woman ever in that position. She was fully clothed when her body was taken out of the Hudson River, and even there was uncertainty surrounding her death but it wasn't being treated as suspicious.
Her surviving husband has clarified and identified that it was her body.
Abdus-Salaam had been one of only seven judges within the #State Court of Appeals since 2013. Mr Cuomo, who had nominated her, spoke of her working lass roots and her deep and compassionate understanding of the issues facing New Yorkers every day. In nominating her, #Cuomo had tried to diversify the court, and a second African American judge, Rowan Wilson, joined her in the court only recently this year.
Abdus-Salaam was a steadfast liberal and was very reliable and trusted, and often saw on level with vulnerable parties, such as immigrants and the mentally ill when they appeared against more powerful New Yorkers.
US airstrike mistakenly kills 18
Elsewhere on Thursday, news came that an airstrike by the United States' coalition bombed and killed 18 Syrian soldiers who had actually sided with the US, the military reported. The Tuesday bombing blast took place in Tabqah, Syria, and it was the third time in four weeks that US coalition strikes had injured or taken down allies or indeed civilians.
This most recent bombing was asked for by coalition allies who are based around the city of Tabqah, according to the US military's central intelligence headquarters where the combat operations in the Middle East are managed and overseen.
Another bomb is dropped
In other bombing news, on Thursday news arrived that the United States set off the “mother of all bombs” on a cave held by the Islamic State in Afghanistan according to the Pentagon. The bomb was the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US's stockpile and it was so huge that it had to be deposited from the back of a cargo airplane.
Technically known as the GBU-43-B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, it struck a deep underground burrow complex within the #Nangarhar Province of #Afghanistan, and the US military didn't state exactly how many deaths resulted but the number is expected to be sizable.
