Afghanistan-Why did US announce a 30,000 troop surge to Afghanistan in 2009, only to say they’d be pulled out in 18 months, giving al-Qaida and the Taliban a mental stamina to last at least that long and to plan ahead. Afghanistan is awash in wasted aid programs and corruption. The Taliban is more ascendant in the country than any time since 2001. The Islamic State is increasing its presence, and the U.S. only recently razed a 30-square-mile al-Qaida training camp, which was one of the largest ever to be created.

The New York City Police Department released 2015 crime totals for the seven major index crimes. Overall index crime in the city fell by 1.7% when compared to 2014 and crime since January 2014 has decreased 5.8% overall. Based on these preliminary crime numbers, 2015 shows the lowest yearly crime numbers ever.

The past two years have seen record lows in several major crime categories. In 2014, New York City marked the lowest murder and robbery rates in 50 years. Burglary and grand larceny auto were at their lowest levels in more than 50 years in 2015.

The NFL is America’s most profitable television production. It dominates weekly television ratings each fall and completely takes over more than a third of American television sets on a day in early February each year. In 1939, NBC became the first network to televise a live professional football game. The Philadelphia Eagles game against the Brooklyn Dodgers was filmed with two cameras and a staff of 8. They reached 1000 television sets in New York City. Today NFL games drag in an audience of over 17 million viewers for an average regular season game.