Friday, October 17, 2014

CDC Cartoon


Top GOP lawmakers say docs show another gun linked to Fast and Furious found at crime scene


Two top Republican lawmakers said Thursday that newly-released documents show yet another gun connected to the botched Operation Fast and Furious emerged at a crime scene --- this time at a shooting in Arizona.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said in a letter Thursday to Deputy Attorney General James Cole they are demanding the Justice Department “be forthcoming” about the 2013 incident, which happened at an apartment complex in Phoenix. In unrelated news, Cole announced Thursday he plans to step down from his position as the department’s No. 2 official.
“This lack of transparency about the consequences of Fast and Furious undermines public confidence in law enforcement and gives the impression that the department is still seeking to suppress information and limit its exposure to public scrutiny,” the lawmakers said.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment from FoxNews.com.
According to the lawmakers, two people were wounded in the shooting at the complex in July 2013. There were multiple shots fired at an apartment in the building, and soon after the shooting a car fled the scene. The driver of the car then crashed into a fence and several people were seen running from the vehicle. Four people were later arrested in the shooting and the arrests were reportedly connected to a drug trafficking probe, according to the lawmakers. 
The lawmakers state that after Phoenix police officers arrived they found an assault rifle in the vehicle, and later connected the weapon to Fast and Furious.
Grassley and Issa said they were able to confirm the incident through documents obtained by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch as part of a request it made under Arizona’s open records law.
The lawmakers said the Phoenix Police Department report on the incident states that the weapon was traced the day it was recovered. However, the lawmakers said “the department did not provide any notice to the Congress or the public about this gun.”
“The refusal to respond to our standing requests for this information effectively hides the connection between crimes like this and Operation Fast and Furious,” the lawmakers said. “Unless the information becomes available some other way, the public would never know.”
The president of Judicial Watch, a, said in a statement Thursday that the new information shows the “Obama cover-up of Fast and Furious is ongoing.”
“Eric Holder’s Department of Justice is a mess,” Tom Fitton said. “It has endangered the public and is engaged in an ongoing cover-up of its insanely reckless Fast and Furious gun-running operation.”
During Operation Fast and Furious, federal agents permitted illicitly purchased weapons to be transported unimpeded in a failed effort to track them to high-level arms traffickers.
Federal agents then lost control of some 2,000 weapons and many of them wound up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S. Two of the guns were found at the scene of the December 2010 slaying of border agent Brian Terry near the Arizona border city of Nogales.

The son of Vice President Joe Biden says he is “embarrassed” after being discharged from the Navy Reserve earlier this year --- reportedly after testing positive for cocaine.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported Thursday that Hunter Biden’s short-lived military career ended because he failed a drug test after reporting to his unit in 2013. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Navy discharged him in February of this year.  
Biden said in a statement to Fox News that he respects the Navy’s decision but did not specify why he was discharged.
“It was the honor of my life to serve in the U.S. Navy, and I deeply regret and am embarrassed that my actions led to my administrative discharge,” he said. “I respect the Navy's decision. With the love and support of my family, I'm moving forward.”
Biden, 44, made the decision to join the military late in life. According to the Wall Street Journal, Biden was commissioned as an ensign in the Navy Reserve in 2013 after deciding the previous year to join the service as a public affairs officer.
However, Biden was given a drug test after reporting to his unit at Navy Public Affairs Support Element East in Norfolk, Va. and tested positive for cocaine, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the paper, the Navy would not specify what sort of discharge he was given.
Vice President Biden spoke about his son’s decision to join the Navy late in life at the American Legion’s Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball in 2013, joking that his son’s decision was a result of poor judgment.
“We have a lot of bad judgment in my family,” Biden said. “My son over 40 just joined the Navy to be sworn in.”
Hunter Biden is a lawyer who serves as a managing partner for a Rosemont Seneca Partners, an investment firm. He made headlines earlier this year when he was hired to be a director and lawyer for a Ukraine company promoting energy independence from Moscow.
The move raised eyebrows, as Vice President Biden and others in the Obama administration have attempted to influence energy policies and other issues of the Ukrainian government as it battles Russia and pro-Russian separatists to control the county.
The vice president's spokeswoman, Kendra Barkoff, has said that Biden's son is a private citizen and a lawyer, and that Joe Biden "does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company."
Fox News' Ed Henry contributed to this report.

State Department warns US businesses in North Africa of ISIS retaliation


The State Department is warning American businesses operating in North Africa of an increased risk of retaliation by militants over the U.S. military campaign against the Islamic State.
The warning, which is specific to Morocco, is contained in an Oct. 7 dispatch -- obtained by Fox News -- from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and its Overseas Security Advisory Council.
While no specific plot or credible intelligence is cited, the message warns that: "As the U.S. Government extends its anti-ISIL efforts, there is a heightened risk that U.S. private sector and civilian interests may be targeted."
The report with the subject line, "ISIL Outside Iraq and Syria: Morocco," also warns that the North African nation now has one of the largest contingents of foreign fighters -- between 1,500 and 2,000 -- in Syria and Iraq.
The report underscores the reach of the Islamic State, and ties among its members to other countries, as U.S. jets pound ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria.  
The OSAC warning details five incidents between July 11 and Sept. 12 where Moroccan authorities broke up recruitment cells, frustrated plots and efforts to travel to Iraq and Syria, or raised the threat level. Without offering specifics, it says: "Moroccan authorities uncovered plans to attack inside Morocco."
While the State Department privately is issuing warnings about possible retaliation against U.S. interests, it has been slower to publicly acknowledge the threat.
The State Department only recently updated its Worldwide Caution to reflect the concern.  
Three days after the OSAC report, on Oct. 10, the Worldwide Caution reads: "In response to the airstrikes, ISIL called on supporters to attack foreigners wherever they are. Authorities believe there is an increased likelihood of reprisal attacks against U.S., Western and coalition partner interests throughout the world, especially in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Asia."
Asked about the spread of ISIS, also known as ISIL, and the possibility of retaliation against U.S. citizens and businesses, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki spoke in general terms.
"There's more than 60 countries and entities, as you know, who are part of the coalition, some from northern Africa,” she said. “So, I think that speaks to the concern about the threat, not just to countries directly right next to Iraq and Syria, but certainly throughout the region."
A counterterrorism analyst also told Fox News that two Moroccans, both former Guantanamo detainees, took on leadership roles for other extremist groups in Syria.
The Moroccans, Ibrahim Bin Shakaran and Mohammed al'Alami, took on prominent roles with Al Qaeda-linked extremists in Syria -- before their reported deaths. Both men had been released from the military prison under the George W. Bush administration.

CartoonsTrashyDemsRinos