Stranger Than Fiction

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TOP NEWS

• Iran’s top security and intelligence commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, was killed in a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport which the Pentagon said was ordered by Trump.

• The New York Times has live rolling updates on the Iran situation here

• Once again, Iraq is caught in a war between two other countries

• Dexter Filkins wrote an excellent profile on Suleimani for The New Yorker in 2013

THE ELECTION

• The RNC raised half a billion last year, has $200 million left going into 2020

• Who is winning 2024?

• Bloomberg failed to file for Nevada caucuses

THE COMMENT

“Soleimani was a cult hero-like figure among the IRGC and its regional proxies, and a key trustee of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader [Ali] Khamenei," wrote Ali Fathollah-Nejad, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center.

“Through the target killing of [Soleimani], along with senior Iran-aligned Iraqi and Lebanese figures, the U.S. has effectively clipped the wings of Iran’s quite successful expansionist regional policies,” he added.

THE STRANGEST

• Harvard medical student allegedly attempted to smuggle cancer research to China

THE AV ROOM

• GUY AT THE PARTY WHO ONLY KNOWS ONE LINE OF TINY DANCER

• RYAN REYNOLDS SHOCKED BY HOST’S AGE

• PENN AND TELLER MAKE FUN OF CRISS ANGEL