Few Americans have heard of Qaboos bin Said al-Said, the sultan of Oman. But when he died Friday at 79, the U.S. lost an invaluable interlocutor. In nearly 50 years on the throne, Qaboos time and again helped presidents navigate delicate diplomatic and military challenges.

The sultan kept such a low profile that the adjective "reclusive" was almost obligatory in articles about him. But when President Obama's efforts to restrict Iran's nuclear-weapons program stalled in 2012, the interview I had long requested was suddenly and mysteriously granted. Within days, I was seeing him for a second time—the first was in 1997—at Hisn Al Shomoukh palace, some 90 miles from Muscat, the capital.

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The New York Police Department has boosted security to thwart potential terrorist attacks on the city in response to Iran's threats to punish the United States for killing its top military general, Qasem Soleimani, in Iraq. The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Soleimani was also a key strategist deemed crucial to Tehran's efforts to build a network of operatives and proxies to extend Iranian influence throughout the Middle East and beyond. Though officials say that the NYPD has received no specific credible threats, the history of Iranian operatives has raised concerns that New York could be vulnerable to cyber- or other asymmetric attacks, should Tehran order one.

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Richard Jewell, Clint Eastwood's drama about the security guard falsely accused of bombing the 1996 Olympics, opened Friday in over 2,500 cinemas to a dismal box office of $5 million—one of the worst debuts in the iconic actor and director's career. With luck, word of mouth will overcome this poor debut. Despite one serious misstep, Eastwood's film about the power of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, aided and amplified by the media, is a brilliant, emotional gut punch that raises important questions about the unfettered power of law enforcement, especially the FBI.

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Over the weekend, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham insisted that President Donald Trump's unannounced visit to share turkey dinner with American troops in Afghanistan was "truly about Thanksgiving and supporting the troops." Grisham is right: Trump's trip was all about the season—but not Thanksgiving season. Instead, the president's trip signaled that his reelection campaign is now in full swing. With his approval rating stuck in the low 40s, half the country now favoring his impeachment and removal from office, and suburban Republican women deserting the GOP, Trump is attempting to showcase his foreign policy achievements while conveying the image of a less chaotic presidency.

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Conservative critics of potential presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg complain that the former New York mayor loved skyscrapers, hated cigarettes, trans fats, and Big Gulp sodas, and supported such liberal causes as gun control and battling climate change. But New Yorkers—and other Americans who paid attention to his three terms as mayor—also know that he never lost a political race, and that, during his 12 years in City Hall, New York's crime rates plunged, schools improved, tourism soared, racial tensions eased, and city revenues swelled. His achievements—and failures—for New York are clear.

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