The Arkansas senator on the list of potential running mates for Donald J. Trump, the GOP's presumptive nominee, told activists Saturday at the Western Conservative Summit that Hillary Clinton's reckless and criminal behavior disqualifies her to become America's commander-in-chief.

A combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Sen. Thomas Cotton (R.-Ark.) said he was glad to make it on time for his speech after a series of travel delays.

"We were on the tarmac, I thought Bill Clinton might be boarding my plane to talk to me," said the former Army Airborne Ranger officer.

Cotton said it was shocking, but not shocking to him, that the former president would meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch — whose department is investigating both his wife and himself for his handling of the Clinton Foundation.

UK police summoned Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign Minister and acting member of parliament from the Zionist Union, for questioning over links to alleged war crimes committed by Israeli military during operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in 2008-2009, Israeli media reported Sunday.

According the Haaretz newspaper, Livni is currently in London to attend the Israeli conference organized by the media outlet.

On Thursday, Livni received a telephone call from Scotland Yard's War Crimes unit, which asked the lawmaker to confirm her upcoming visit to London and then sent the summons via email, the publication reads.

The Israeli government in coordination with the embassy in London reacted immediately to avoid the summons, though the incident was kept quiet for three days.

FBI documents sought after in Freedom of Information Act requests for the last year are now available, thanks to a leak to the Intercept. They lay out secret rules for collecting phone records of journalists, bypassing normal judicial processes. The documents, published Thursday, outline how FBI agents would utilize National Security Letters in obtaining journalists' phone records. They date back to 2013, the same year the agency's overseer, the US Department of Justice, amended its standards for subpoenaing for such records.

However, the newly leaked papers are marked "last updated October 2011," and they seem to conflict with DOJ policy as well as reveal information that many say never should have been secret in the first place.

The FBI's National Security Letters, or NSLs, are used like search warrants, but unlike a normal warrant, they are not signed off on by any judge or court. They are approved in-house without even a requirement to notify the target. For the purposes of these documents, that means not even the news organization employing the journalist would necessarily be informed. Furthermore, they nearly always come with some form of a gag order, preventing the target from talking about their NSL case.

In a single week, several major events have seemingly radically restructured the geopolitical chessboard. From the surprise of Brexit to Turkish President Erdogan's unexpected apology over the shoot-down of a Russian jet in Syria, people all over the world are wondering what is up. Just a day after the announcement of Erdogan's apology, Istanbul airport was attacked by a trio of assailants. European nations are lining up with complaints about anti-Russian sanctions. The U.S. is scrambling to retain some control over the war in Syria, this time offering to work with Russia, but with conditions attached.

Today on Behind the Headlines, discussed these events in their wider context, as well as the recent duplicitous proposal by the U.S. to 'coordinate' with Russia in Syria, and the latest disturbing U.S. police state stories in our weekly round-up with Brent.

Running Time: 02:11:42

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Last week's UK vote to leave the EU may have come as a shock to many, but the sentiment that led British voters to reject rule from Brussels is nothing unique. In fact it is growing sentiment worldwide. Frustration with politics as usual, with political parties that really do not differ in philosophy, with an economy that serves the one percent at the expense of the rest of society is a growing phenomenon throughout Europe and in the United States as well. The Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump phenomena are but one example of a frustrated public sensing something is very wrong with society and looking for a way out.

What is happening in the UK, in Europe, and in the US, is nothing less than a breakdown of the entire system. The EU was meant to be a customs union where post-World War II Western Europe could rebuild itself through free trade and a reduction in bureaucracy. Through corruption and political ambition it became an unelected bully government in Brussels, where the well-connected were well compensated and insulated from the votes of mere citizens.

Whatever happens in the near future - and it is certainly not assured that the vote to "Brexit" will actually end in the UK's departure from the EU - a line has been crossed that supporters of more personal liberty should celebrate. Rule from London is preferable to liberty-minded Britons than rule from Brussels. Just as Texans should prefer rule from Austin to rule from Washington. That doesn't make either option perfect, just more likely to produce more freedom.

Is Brexit the first victory in a larger freedom movement?

Can we get out of a system that creates money out of thin air to benefit the ruling class while impoverishing the middle class? Can we get out of a central bank that finances the wars that make us less safe? Can we exit Executive Orders? Can we exit the surveillance state? The PATRIOT Act? Can we exit NDAA and indefinite detention? Can we exit the US worldwide drone program, that kills innocents overseas and makes us ever-more hated?

Getting out of NATO would be a good first move.

This Cold War relic survives only by stirring up conflict and then selling itself as the only option to confront the conflict it churned up. Wouldn't it be better to not go looking for a fight in the first place? Do we really need still another NATO military exercise on the Russian border? It should be no surprise that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was fear-mongering on the eve of the Brexit vote, warning UK citizens that if they vote to leave they could face increased terrorism. Likewise, the US would do well to exit the various phony "free trade" agreements that provide advantage to the well-connected elites while harming the rest of us.

The act of exit is liberating. We should make a longer list of those things we would like to get out of. I am only getting started.

The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity is a special project of the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, a non-profit established by Ron Paul in 1976.

Sliding Into Absurdity

Stock markets continued their rebound on Wednesday. The Dow rose 284 points... or just over 1.5%. London's FTSE 100 Index was up 3.6%. And Europe's equivalent of the Dow, the Euro Stoxx 50, was up 2.7%.

Investors have realized Brexit isn't the end of the world. First, because they think it won't really happen. After all, elites can fix elections, buy politicians, and control public policy... surely, they can fix this!

A letter in the Financial Times reminds us that Swedish voters cast their ballots against nuclear power in 1980. The government just ignored them, doubling nuclear power generation over the next 36 years.

Second, because investors see the panic over Brexit leading to more spirited intervention by central banks! The EZ money floodgates - already wide open - are to be opened wider.

The U.S. has its QE program on hold, but Europe's scheme is gushing like Niagara. Mario Draghi at the European Central Bank buys $90 billion a month in bonds. And he's not only buying government bonds; he's buying corporates, too.

The Syrian army regained control over the Mallah farms and has cut off the terrorists' supply route running along the Castello road in the north of Aleppo, according to a military source.

The Syrian army has captured farms near the Syrian city of Aleppo, cutting off the Jaysh al-Islam Islamist group's supply routes in the north of the city, a military source told Sputnik on Sunday.

"The army has regained control over the Mallah farms and has cut off the terrorists' supply route running along the Castello road in the north of the city, thus blocking the militants in Aleppo itself," the source said.

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andrey Parubiy said that Ukraine defeated Russia in the information war. He stated this in an interview with "Apostrophe".

Answering a journalist's question, the politician noted that in favor of Ukraine leading in the information space is the fact that the EU has again taken the decision to extend the anti-Russian sanctions.

"The media also needs to understand that if sanctions will continue, it will be a great victory of Ukrainian diplomacy against the much larger resources of Russian diplomacy, which demonstrates the ability to convince European partners from different countries. I believe that Ukraine has won," he stressed.

The Syrian army's Air Force destroyed three Daesh command centers in Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor and Homs provinces, local media said Sunday.

According to SANA news agency, Air Force bombed one command post near the al-Tabqa airbase in Raqqa, and the second IS position near the Deir Ezzor military airport.

In the province of Homs, near the villages of Mseieed, al-Msheifeh and al-Sukhneh, Syrian Air Force destroyed convoys of vehicles with military equipment.

Daesh is a designated terrorist organization that is outlawed in Russia and numerous other countries.

The Iraqi army has liberated several locations to the southeast of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, local media said Sunday

Iraq's army and militias continued to advance on the Daesh-held city of Mosul, capturing three villages and killing 29 terrorists during the operation, the Al Sumaria television channel reported, citing an army officer.

Iraqi forces are carrying out operations in the Nineveh governorate in preparation for an assault on Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city that has been under Daesh control since 2014.

On June 26, the Iraqi army announced the liberation of Fallujah from Daesh, while Prime Minister Haider Abadi vowed to raise the country's flag in Mosul.