Pentagon officials have concluded that hundreds more trainers, advisers and commandos from the United States and its allies will need to be sent to Iraq and Syria in the coming months as the campaign to isolate the Islamic State intensifies. In meetings with President Obama’s national security team in recent weeks, military officials have told the White House that they believe they have made significant progress in the fight against the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria, administration officials said. But to deal a lasting blow to the extremist Sunni militancy, also known as ISIS and ISIL, they believe that additional forces will be needed to work with Iraqi, Kurdish and Syrian opposition fighters on the ground in the two countries.

BUSTED – Dozens of Cartel Members Arrested:

At least two dozen suspected members of the Sinaloa cartel were arrested on Friday in an all-day sting that took place at the border between Arizona and Mexico. The sting was referred to as Mexican Operation Diablo Express and involved the cooperation between Homeland Security agents, a unit of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and Mexican authorities. The operation also resulted in the seizure of hundreds of pounds of drugs and some assault-style weapons.

*LBN-INVESTIGATES:
Dating and Relationships

1. Couples usually wait until six to eight dates before they are willing to enter into an exclusive relationship.

2. Speed dating, invented by a rabbi from Los Angeles in 1999, is based on a Jewish tradition of chaperoned gatherings of young Jewish singles.

3. The most common time for breakups is around three to five months.

4. One in three teenagers have experienced violence in a dating relationship.

5. In a survey conducted by MSNBC.com and Elle magazine, more than 31% of men said they dumped an overweight partner compared to 12% of women.

6. On average, it takes between 12 to 14 dates before couples will trade house keys.

7. Women who post a photo on Internet dating sites receive twice as many email messages as women who don’t. The same study found that men who reported incomes higher than $250,000 received 156% more email than those with $50,000.

8. Match.com reports that 44% of its members in the United States have children.

9. On free dating sites, at least 10% of new accounts are from scammers.

10. If a man can’t decide what to wear on a date, he might want to wear blue. Studies show that women are attracted to men in blue.

*LBN-HOLLYWOOD INSIDER:   ***Setting up an expected 2017 Oscar run, “The Birth of a Nation,” a searing slave-revolt drama, swept the top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night in Park City, Utah. “The Birth of a Nation,” directed and written by Nate Parker, who also plays the film’s leading role, won the grand jury prize for a narrative film and was voted the best movie by audiences at the festival, which concludes its 11-day run on Sunday.

*LBN-INVESTIGATES: Dogs can smell about 1,000 times better than humans. While humans have 5 million smell-detecting cells, dogs have more than 220 million. The part of the brain that interprets smell is also four times larger in dogs than in humans.

*LBN-VIDEO LINK:

Bill Maher Slams The Internet For Killing The Truth

*LBN-SPORTS INSIDER:   ***The Grand Slam was there for the taking last September in New York, and though Serena Williams faltered there and also faltered in the final here in Melbourne on Saturday, the Grand Slam is still very much on the table. To watch Novak Djokovic sweep aside Roger Federer and Andy Murray – the two men closest to him in the rankings – in the closing rounds of the Australian Open was to watch a man in command.

*LBN-MY REVIEW: “LBN is a strong cup of coffee! It wakes me up with intensely independent information and news.”——Carlton U., an LBN reader from Baltimore, Maryland.

*LBN-COMMENTARY by Maureen Dowd: The White House has a strange, mind-warping effect on its occupants. Presidents are exalted and fawned over. Their every whim is indulged and their image is endlessly and lovingly replicated on every wall. Reaching the pinnacle of power, raised up on the shoulders of Americans to the highest office, often has the perverse consequence of making presidents more paranoid, introverted, insecure, reckless or downright nuts. So what would happen if Donald Trump, a clinical narcissist with a thin skin, touchy temperament and taste for flattery, got into the Oval Office? I call Trump to tell him my fears. Given that he already likes to start sentences, “Here’s the beauty of me,” wouldn’t we be risking a narcissistic explosion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

*LBN-COMMENTARY by Adam Grant: Child prodigies rarely become adult geniuses who change the world. We assume that they must lack the social and emotional skills to function in society. When you look at the evidence, though, this explanation doesn’t suffice: Less than a quarter of gifted children suffer from social and emotional problems. A vast majority are well adjusted — as winning at a cocktail party as in the spelling bee. What holds them back is that they don’t learn to be original. They strive to earn the approval of their parents and the admiration of their teachers. But as they perform in Carnegie Hall and become chess champions, something unexpected happens: Practice makes perfect, but it doesn’t make new.

*LBN-A DIFFERENT VIEW:….