The Week in Review

We made it to the end of the week.

Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan - a whole year after he made a 'gutsy' call to allow the SEAL Team 6 to pop into Pakistan to pop Osama bin Laden. Not only was the vague 'long-term' non-binding agreements with Karzai all for show (all done at 4AM in order to hit the news cycle in the Homeland) but he also delivered a big speech. Mr. Obama got his win of announcing a troop pair down, but he also is keeping troops in Afghanistan through 2024. Now there's no cut-and-run. Instead it's Korea, in a landlocked country in Asia.

Romney was forced to make a Bin Laden defense as he insisted that "even Jimmy Carter" would have ordered the raid. Then good old Donny Rumsfeld came out of a spider hole to say Obama's decision was hardly a "tough call". Funny that the GOP is on the defensive on who's the bigger war hawk.

We haven't heard a whole bunch from the Occupy movement especially after it was evicted Zuccotti Park late last year — until the clamorous anti-bank movement returned this week for a series of nationwide May Day protests. But sadly for the Occupiers, the demonstrations didn't lead to much more than dozens of arrests and inconvenienced commuters. The group to watch is the Occupy the SEC -- that group may do more to change Wall Street than any other... that is, if they can shout over the dollars and influence of the lobbyists.

China and America wrangled over blind activist Chen Guangcheng. Every body Guang-Chen-g tonight... He's coming to America. The activist, kept under house arrest by the Chinese government after exposing abuses, including forced abortions, under the country's one-child policy, has been offered a fellowship at a U.S. university. Before the deal, U.S.-China relations were at risk as Chen hid out in the U.S. embassy, all while the GOP criticized Obama's handling of the case. Well, the Chinese will be happy to have him out of country - as he'll be irrelevant the minute he leaves.

Apple's taxes are suddenly under the IRS's scrutiny. The New York Times reported this week that Apple paid only 9.8 percent in global taxes last year, compared to Walmart's 24 percent. Apple hasn't broken the law — but will their lower than Mitt Romney tax rate play to the hipster ire? Don't count on it.

The One World Trade Center rose above the Empire State Building in height this week — when the tower is complete, it will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

The Avengers - Disney's grand strategy - opened this weekend. Maybe you've heard about it? Will it blow out the record books of iconic comic goodness, or turn off the casual fan? Joss Wheaton to become the next JJ or stay on the sidelines with esoteric wallflower geeks? We'll see by the end of Sunday.

In the meantime, hang in there, hope to see you back here next Sunday.