Obama Watergate Cartoon

White House: Obama wants to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016

The United States is making plans to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming budget year, a significant increase from the 1,500 migrants that have been cleared to resettle in the U.S. since civil war broke out in the Middle Eastern country more than four years ago, the White House said Thursday. 
The White House has been under heavy pressure to do more than just provide money to help meet the humanitarian crisis in Europe. Tens of thousands of people from war-torn countries in the Middle East and Africa are risking their lives and dying en masse during desperate attempts to seek safe haven on the continent.
The refugees from Syria, however, would be people who are already in the pipeline and waiting to be let into the United States, not the thousands working their way through eastern Europe and landing in Greece. It was not immediately clear how admitting a larger number of Syrian refugees who are in the processing pipeline would help alleviate the crisis that European countries are grappling with.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said about $4 billion that the administration has provided to relief agencies and others is the most effective way for the U.S. to help shoulder the crisis, but that President Barack Obama has decided that admitting more Syrian refugees in the budget year that begins Oct. 1 would also help boost the U.S. response.
About 17,000 Syrians have been referred over the last few years to the U.S. for resettlement by the U.N. refugee agency. About 1,500 are in the U.S., with another 300 scheduled to be allowed in this month. That leaves about 15,000 Syrians waiting for the clearance process to conclude, according to the State Department.
Obama would like to admit 10,000 of those, according to Earnest's announcement.
Earnest said earlier this week that the administration has been looking at a "range of approaches" for assisting U.S. allies with 340,000 people freshly arrived from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Many are fleeing parts of Iraq that are under the Islamic State group's control. The 1,500 Syrians who are resettling in the U.S. represent a small percentage of the 11.6 million people who have been chased out of the country or uprooted from their homes due to the civil war in Syria.
Secretary of State John Kerry told lawmakers Wednesday that the U.S. will increase its worldwide quota for resettling refugees by 5,000, from 70,000 to 75,000 next year -- and the number could still rise, according to two officials and a congressional aide who requested anonymity to discuss a private meeting.
Kerry said after meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee members that the U.S. would increase the number of refugees it is willing to accept. He did not provide a specific number.
"We are looking hard at the number that we can specifically manage with respect to the crisis in Syria and Europe," he said Wednesday.
Germany is bracing for some 800,000 asylum seekers this year.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kerry's predecessor at the State Department, called for an "emergency global gathering" at the U.N. General Assembly meeting this month, where countries could pledge aid money and to accept some of the migrants.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the U.S. should increase the number of refugees it resettles next year by more than the 5,000 figure to help European countries, saying the figure suggest by Kerry "is far too low." Pelosi, D-Calif., said the U.S. accepted far more refugees after the Vietnam War and could do so again.

Front-runner status challenged? Polls show Clinton trailing Sanders in Iowa, NH

Just days after a New Hampshire poll showed Hillary Clinton slipping further behind Bernie Sanders in the vital early primary state, a fresh survey shows the Vermont senator narrowly edging ahead of her in Iowa as well. 
The Quinnipiac University poll shows Sanders leading Clinton 41-40 percent.
The results are well within the margin of error and represent a virtual tie in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. But together, the polling in New Hampshire and Iowa indicates Clinton's front-runner status is now being challenged in the primary season's two lead-off contests.
"Obviously the campaign is delighted," Sanders Press Secretary Lilia A. Chacon said in a statement. "People and Iowans are responding to a message based on issues. The more people know about Bernie the more they like him."
The Clinton campaign is stressing that they always thought this would be a "close race."
"No non-incumbent candidate other than Sen. Harkin has gotten more than 50 percent in the [Iowa] caucus -- which is why we are working hard to earn every vote," a campaign official said in an email, while touting Clinton's growing ground game in the Hawkeye State.
Despite the latest set of polls, Clinton continues to lead by a comfortable margin in national surveys.
The Iowa contest also is more than four months away. And even if Clinton lost the two lead-off contests, she could soldier on in other early-voting states like South Carolina and gather the delegates needed. She leads by double digits in virtually every poll in South Carolina, and in Florida.
But as with other recent polls, Sanders' rise underscores a potential vulnerability for Clinton who for months was the unquestioned front-runner but lately has faced growing questions about her personal email controversy.
While other rivals -- like former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb -- have failed to catch fire with voters, Sanders is gaining ground and Vice President Biden is still weighing a Democratic bid. The latest Quinnipiac poll suggests the VP has a built-in base of support; in Iowa, 12 percent said they back Biden.
And Sanders' 41 percent marked a major jump from a July survey by the same polling outfit. At the time, Sanders had 33 percent, to Clinton's 52 percent.
The Iowa poll follows an NBC/Marist survey Sunday showing Sanders with a 9-point lead in New Hampshire.
Sanders himself downplayed the daily drip-drip of polling results.
Asked about the Quinnipiac survey on Thursday, Sanders said, "Polls are polls -- today there is one poll, tomorrow there is another poll."
The Quinnipiac poll of 832 likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers was taken Aug. 27-Sept. 8. It had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

America to mark 14th anniversary of September 11, 2001 attacks

From New York City to Shanksville, Pa., from the White House to baseball stadiums around the nation, America will pause once again Friday to mark the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The largest ceremony will take place at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum near the site of the World Trade Center's twin towers, which were brought down when two hijacked passenger jets slammed into them that day. Families of the victims will gather at the memorial's plaza for what has become a tradition of tolling bells, observing moments of silence, and reading the names of those who died.
The plaza is reserved for victims' relatives and invited guests for the morning ceremony, but will be open for the public to pay their respects in the afternoon. An estimated 20,000 people flocked to the site last year, the first year the public was able to visit on the anniversary.
"When we did open it up, it was just like life coming in," National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum President Joe Daniels told the Associated Press this week, adding "the general public that wants to come and pay their respects on this most sacred ground should be let in as soon as possible."
The Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville in western Pennsylvania is marking the completion of its visitor center, which opened to the public Thursday. At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and other officials will join in remembrances for victims' relatives and Pentagon employees.
President Obama is scheduled to observe a moment of silence with the first lady and White House staff on the mansion's South Lawn before visiting Fort Meade in Maryland, in recognition of the military's work to protect the country.
Ohio's statehouse will display nearly 3,000 flags — representing the lives lost — in an arrangement designed to represent the World Trade Center towers, with a Pentagon-shaped space and an open strip representing the field near Shanksville. Sacramento, Calif., will commemorate 9/11 in conjunction with a parade honoring three Sacramento-area friends who tackled a heavily armed gunman on a Paris-bound high-speed train last month.
Major League Baseball will pay its own tribute to mark the anniversary of the attacks. At every stadium where a big league game is played Friday, there will be moments of silence, as well as other remembrances. Players, managers, coaches and umpires will wear caps with flag patches
In Washington, some members of Congress plan to spend part of the anniversary discussing federal funding for the ground zero memorial. The House Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing Friday on a proposal to provide up to $25 million a year for the plaza.
The memorial and underground museum together cost $60 million a year to run. The federal government contributed heavily to building the institution; leaders have tried unsuccessfully for years to get Washington to chip in for annual costs, as well.
Under the current proposal, any federal money would go only toward the memorial plaza. An estimated 21 million people have visited it for free since its 2011 opening.
The museum charges up to $24 per ticket, a price that initially sparked some controversy. Still, almost 3.6 million visitors have come since the museum's May 2014 opening, topping projections by about 5 percent, Daniels said.
Any federal funding could lead to expanded discounts for school and other groups, but there are no plans to lower the regular ticket price, he said.
This year's anniversary also comes as advocates for 9/11 responders and survivors are pushing Congress to extend two federal programs that promised billions of dollars in compensation and medical care. Both programs are set to expire next year.
But some of those close to the events aim to keep policy and politics at arm's length on Sept. 11.
Organizers of the ground zero ceremony decided in 2012 to stop letting elected officials read names, though politicians still can attend. Over the years, some victims' relatives have invoked political matters while reading names — such as declaring that Sept. 11 should be a national holiday — but others have sought to keep the focus personal.
"This day should be a day for reflection and remembrance. Only," Faith Tieri, who lost her brother, Sal Tieri Jr., said during last year's commemoration.

11 confirmed shootings in Arizona prompt serial shooter fears

Authorities in Arizona are investigating 11 confirmed shooting incidents within two weeks—most reported along the I-10— that include a confirmed gunshot early Thursday that left a hole in the side of a commercial tractor-truck.
The shootings have rattled nerves and heightened fears of a possible serial shooter, and some motorists have started avoiding using the freeways, instead taking city streets. No one has been seriously hurt in the shootings, although one bullet shattered a windshield and the broken glass cut a 13-year-old girl.
Authorties say that eight of the damaged vehicles were hit by bullets and three by projectiles such as BBs and pellets.
Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead has called the incidents "domestic terrorism crimes."
"Anytime that you have multiple shootings against American citizens on a highway, that's terrorism," Milstead said. "They're trying to frighten or kill somebody." He did not elaborate.
The latest incident happened just before 6 a.m. local time Thursday, when a commercial truck driver found a bullet hole in his cargo area after making hours of deliveries, so it was impossible to know where or exactly when it happened.

"Anytime that you have multiple shootings against American citizens on a highway, that's terrorism"
- Frank Milstead, director of Department of Public Safety

Milstead's agency brought in the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and local police to assist in the investigation. Authorities have been conducting surveillance and deploying undercover detectives and members of the SWAT team and a gang task force.
Investigators are also appealing for help via social media, news conferences, TV interviews and freeway billboards. The messages have morphed from "report suspicious activity" to "shooting tips" to the more ominous "I-10 shooter tip line" on Thursday. Earlier this week, police quadrupled the reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction to $20,000.
Thousands of tips have come in, many proving to be false leads based on road hazards routine in Arizona, like windshields cracked by loose rocks sent airborne by the tires of other vehicles. On Thursday alone, drivers reported possible shootings of an armored truck, two cars and two tractor-trailers. Authorities and TV crews scrambled to these scenes, only to discover minor damage.
Juan Campana works at an appliance business near where many of the shootings occurred. He was surprised to look up and see helicopters on Wednesday after the 10th reported shooting.
Campana said he's not taking the freeway anymore.
"I go through the streets when I go home," he said.
Raul Garcia, a state trooper public information officer, told FoxNews.com that anyone who witnesses a shooting should call 911. He did not describe the firearm used and would not confirm media reports that there may be copycats.
"What we have is a very dangerous situation and somebody knows something," he said. "You need to let law enforcement know."
Milstead said drivers are fortunate that no one has been killed or seriously hurt, but if the incidents continue,"it's just a matter of time before there is a tragedy."
The shootings haven't fit any obvious pattern. Most happened on Interstate 10, a main route through Phoenix. Bullets have been fired at various times of the day, striking a seemingly random assortment of vehicles, from an empty bus to tractor-trailers to pickup trucks, cars and SUVs.
Helicopters flew up and down Interstate 10 on Thursday as an officer monitored a wall of TV monitors carrying live surveillance video from every freeway in metro Phoenix. The Arizona Department of Public Safety has enlisted the help of the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, local police and undercover law enforcement officers.
"We have a number of officers ... both uniformed, non-uniformed, plainclothes, undercover vehicles, marked vehicles on the road patrolling, looking for the suspect, looking for leads," said Bart Graves, another DPS spokesman.
Many longtime Phoenix residents still remember the random shootings that terrorized the public a decade ago. Nearly 30 people were shot, and eight killed, including a cyclist who was riding down the street and a man who was sleeping at a bus stop. Two men were eventually caught and convicted.
These shootings also recall other random highway and roadside shootings, most notably the sniper attacks that terrorized the nation's capital more than a decade ago before two men were captured there.
The Phoenix shootings have brought back memories of other random highway and roadside shootings in recent years, most notably the sniper attacks that terrorized the nation's capital more than a decade ago.
A series of apparently random roadside shootings in northern Colorado earlier this year raised alarm that a serial shooter might be trolling areas roads.
A member of the task force investigating the northern Colorado shootings that left a cyclist dead and a driver injured called authorities in Arizona to see if there were any similarities, said David Moore, a spokesman for the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. Investigators found no links, he said.
A man was convicted last year of terrorism charges after opening fire on a busy Michigan highway because he believed the drivers were part of a government conspiracy against him. An Ohio man took shots at several cars and houses over several months in 2003, killing one person, before being caught and sent to prison.
Making an arrest in such cases requires a large number of officers who are ready to flood an area immediately after shots are fired, said Lt. Ron Moore, who commanded a Michigan task force that investigated the 2012 spree in which 23 vehicles were shot on or near Interstate 96.
"You have to bring all the resources you can to bear on the problem - and that's exactly what we did," said Moore, an officer in Wixom, Michigan.