Saturday, May 31, 2014

Carney to step down as White House press secretary


White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is stepping down, ending a lengthy term in what is considered one of Washington's toughest jobs. 
Carney has served as President Obama's lead spokesman since 2011. The president interrupted Carney's daily press briefing on Friday to announce his departure, calling him one of his "closest friends" and a trusted adviser. 
Noting Carney's background as a reporter, Obama said: "I actually think he will miss hanging out with all of you." 
Obama said he has chosen Carney's deputy, Josh Earnest, to replace him. 
"Today the flak jacket is officially passed to a new generation," Obama joked, announcing Earnest as Carney's successor. 
The announcement, which followed speculation in the media that Carney was preparing to leave this year, came on a tumultuous day in Washington. Hours earlier, Obama announced that he had accepted Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki's resignation amid the scandal at that agency over veterans' health care. 
Carney, as the de facto voice of the White House, has dealt with a barrage of scandals since the start of Obama's second term. He has defended Obama from the briefing room podium on everything from the botched launch of HealthCare.gov to the VA scandal to lingering questions about the Benghazi terror attack. 
Obama said Carney plans to take the summer off before getting a new job, indicating the press secretary role has been a "strain" on his family. 
"It's been a privilege," Carney said of his job after the president left, before continuing with the daily briefing. 
Carney said the transition will be complete around mid-June, but that Earnest will take his place traveling next week on a trip that Obama has scheduled to Europe. 
Carney brought rare but practical experience to the job as a former reporter who once covered the White House for Time magazine. He left journalism to join the White House as communications director for Vice President Joe Biden, and subsequently moved over to serve as Obama's press secretary in 2011. 
The affable Earnest is well-liked within the White House press corps, and reporters applauded the announcement. 
"As you know, his name describes his demeanor," Obama said. "Josh is an earnest guy and you can't find just a nicer individual even outside of Washington." 
Carney said he's made no decision yet on his next step, but is excited about some of the possibilities he's begun to explore. He ruled out rumors that he would serve as ambassador to Russia, after having covered the collapse of the Soviet Empire for Time, saying his wife and two children wouldn't welcome such a move. 
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Fact Check: Clinton’s Benghazi chapter has holes



Excerpts of Hillary Clinton's forthcoming memoir obtained by Politico conflict with the factual record about what happened during and after the 2012 Benghazi terror attack.
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., who sits on the newly formed Benghazi select committee and the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News before the excerpts were released that he is concerned the administration has not fully grasped the impact of the terrorist assault.
"We know that intelligence analysts on the ground knew instantaneously that this was Al Qaeda and its affiliates who had led this attack. And yet it took an awfully long time -- indeed today, it's still not clear this administration has acknowledged the depth and the risks associated with what it means to have an Al Qaeda affiliate actually take down an American [consulate]," he said.
In the limited excerpts published Friday from Clinton’s Benghazi chapter, the former secretary of State continued to defend the administration from what she termed a “political slugfest.”
Specifically, she defended the flawed explanation -- used by then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice five days after the attack -- that an obscure anti-Islam video fueled a protest gone awry in Benghazi.
"There were scores of attackers that night, almost certainly with differing motives," Clinton wrote, according to Politico. "It is inaccurate to state that every single one of them was influenced by this hateful video.It is equally inaccurate to state that none of them were. Both assertions deny not only the evidence but logic as well."
Further, she reportedly wrote that Rice relied on existing intelligence in making her statements.
But former CIA deputy director Mike Morell, who now works for Clinton's principal gatekeeper Philippe Reines at the D.C. consulting firm Beacon Global Strategies, testified in April that it was Rice who linked the video to the Benghazi attack. Morrell, who still faces allegations he misled Congress over the so-called talking points, said the video was not part of the CIA analysis as Clinton seems to suggest.
Morell told members of the House Intelligence Committee that Rice’s claims about the attacks evolving from a protest were “exactly what the talking points said, and it was exactly what the intelligence community analysts believed.”
However, he said: “When she talked about the video, my reaction was, that's not something that the analysts have attributed this attack to."
An independent review of more than 4,000 social media postings, conducted by a leading social media monitoring firm in December 2012, also found the YouTube video was a non-event in Benghazi.
“From the data we have, it’s hard for us to reach the conclusion that the consulate attack was motivated by the movie. Nothing in the immediate picture -- surrounding the attack in Libya -- suggests that,” Jeff Chapman, chief executive with Agincourt Solutions (now Babel Street), told Fox News.
Chapman said his analysts reviewed postings in Libya, including those from Benghazi, over a three-day period beginning on Sept. 11, and saw “no traffic in Benghazi in the immediate lead-up to the attack related to the anti-Islam film.”
The first reference to the anti-Islam film appears to be a retweet of a Russia Today story that was not posted until Sept. 12 at 9:12 a.m. local time. The translation reads, “U.S. ambassador killed in Libya during his country's consulate in Benghazi - Russia Today http://t.co/SvAV0o7T response to the film abuser.”
In addition, the video was also described as a non-event by Greg Hicks – deputy to Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the attack -- in his May 2013 congressional testimony before the House oversight committee.
Clinton went on to write: "Every step of the way, whenever something new was learned, it was quickly shared with Congress and the American people.There is a difference between getting something wrong, and committing wrong.A big difference that some have blurred to the point of casting those who made a mistake as intentionally deceitful."
But the written testimony of Morell shows the administration continued to stick with the “hateful video” explanation long after physical evidence and other intelligence showed there was no demonstration. Morell told the House Intelligence Committee that by Sept. 18, 2012, consulate security video reviewed by the Libyans showed it was a direct assault.
Yet, a week later, before the United Nations on Sept. 25, 2012, President Obama was still relying on the flawed explanation.
“There is no speech that justifies mindless violence. There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents.There's no video that justifies an attack on an embassy,” he said.
As part of its ongoing reporting, Fox News was first to report on Sept. 17, 2012, based on an intelligence source on the ground in Libya, that there was no protest.
Separate from the talking points, Clinton's defense of Rice could also be problematic because Rice inaccurately stated on three network Sunday shows -- ABC’s “This Week,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “Fox News Sunday” -- that security was "strong" or "significant" at the consulate on the day of the attack.
She told “Fox News Sunday” that former Navy SEALs Ty Woods and Glen Doherty, who died in the attack, were there to “provide security,” incorrectly linking them to consulate security.
At a press conference earlier this month, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said the administration should explain who briefed Rice on the talking points as well as the consulate's security status, and the individual or individuals should be fired. And if nobody briefed her on that, Graham said, Rice should resign.
"They're completely incompetent, or they were misleading her about the level of security because we were six weeks before an election, or she made it up on her own,” Graham said.
On requests for additional security, Clinton continued to insist that she never saw those cables, and the fact that they were addressed to her as secretary of State was a “procedural quirk.”
Fox News was first to report on an August 2012 State Department classified cable that said the U.S. Mission in Benghazi convened an "emergency meeting" less than a month before the assault and concluded Al Qaeda had training camps in Benghazi and the consulate could not defend against a "coordinated attack."
The authenticity of the classified cable, addressed to the office of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has never been challenged. It was significant enough that then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told lawmakers during congressional hearings that they were briefed on the cable’s warnings. Clinton, though, claimed it was not brought to her attention.
The cable marked "SECRET" summarized an Aug. 15, 2012 emergency meeting convened by the U.S. Mission in Benghazi. It states that the State Department’s senior security officer, also known as the RSO, did not believe the consulate could be protected.
According to a review of the cable, the Emergency Action Committee was also briefed "on the location of approximately ten Islamist militias and AQ training camps within Benghazi … these groups ran the spectrum from Islamist militias, such as the QRF Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia, to 'Takfirist thugs.'"
In addition to describing the security situation in Benghazi as "trending negatively," the cable said explicitly that the mission would ask for more help. The details in the cable foreshadowed the deadly attack on the U.S. compound.
While the administration’s public statements have suggested that the attack came without warning, the Aug. 16 cable undercuts those claims – as it warned the Benghazi consulate was vulnerable to attack and indicates the presence of anti-U.S. militias and Al Qaeda was well-known to the U.S. intelligence community.
The Clinton book excerpts published Friday represent a fraction of the entire Benghazi chapter, which reportedly is 34 pages long.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Oregon's governor seeks to sue contractor over state's failed ObamaCare exchange



Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber said Thursday he is seeking to file a lawsuit against the contractor who built the state’s failed ObamaCare exchange, but the company says it isn’t to blame.
The Democratic governor asked the state’s attorney general to sue Oracle Corp., the main technology contractor for Cover Oregon, for embarrassing the state and wasting money.
"This is a very serious decision taking on a very large corporation — the second-largest software corporation in the world — but I do not believe they've delivered for the state of Oregon," Kitzhaber told The Associated Press.
Oregon paid Oracle $134 million in federal funds to build what turned out to be a glitch-filled Cover Oregon website, which the state scrapped last month in favor of the federal exchange.
Oregon is the only state that still doesn't have an online portal where the general public can sign up for health insurance in one sitting through a marketplace required under ObamaCare.
In a letter to Attorney General Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, Kitzhaber said he has fired state managers in charge of Cover Oregon, and now it's time to hold accountable the website's main technology contractor.
Kitzhaber said Rosenblum will make the ultimate decision about whether to file a lawsuit, but he believes the state has strong claims. Rosenblum responded in a letter to the governor that her legal team has been reviewing options and developing legal strategies.
"I share your determination to recover every dollar to which Oregon is entitled," she wrote. Cover Oregon and Oracle have agreed not to initiate legal action before May 31.
Oracle, which is headquartered in Redwood City, California, said in a statement Thursday it was not responsible for the failed launch.
"Contrary to the story the State is promoting, Oracle has never led the Oregon Health Exchange project," Oracle's statement said. "OHA (the Oregon Health Authority) and Cover Oregon were in charge and badly mismanaged the project by consistently failing to deliver requirements in a timely manner and failing to staff the project with skilled personnel."
The governor is trying to shift blame from where it belongs, the company said, adding it is confident an investigation would "completely exonerate Oracle."
In a letter to Cover Oregon's temporary leadership last month, Oracle President and Chief Financial Officer Safra Catz wrote that the company provided "clear and repeated warnings" to Cover Oregon that the exchange website would not be ready to launch last October.
The website's failure has been an embarrassment for the Democratic governor, who enthusiastically embraced Obama's health care law and has for decades been a respected voice on health care policy. Kitzhaber's Republican rival in the November election, state Rep. Dennis Richardson, has made the Cover Oregon problems a centerpiece of his campaign.
Kitzhaber declined to say how much money he hoped to recover from Oracle, but he said he's willing to pay for the portions of the website that do work.
A review commissioned by Kitzhaber placed blame on the state's contract with Oracle, which said the company would be paid based on its time and materials rather than specific content delivered. The review also faulted the state's decision not to hire a system integrator to oversee the project.
Kitzhaber acknowledged the state's failings but said Oracle shares the blame.
"I don't think by any stretch of the imagination Oracle or anyone else could assume that we were paying them to produce a website that didn't work," Kitzhaber said.
Kitzhaber also sent a letter to the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services urging the federal agency, which supplied the money that paid Oracle's bills, "to levy the appropriate fines and penalties to hold Oracle accountable.
In 2011, Oracle agreed to pay nearly $200 million to settle charges that it defrauded the U.S. government on a software contract. The Justice Department alleged that Oracle failed to tell the federal government about discounts available to other customers. The allegations initially were raised in a suit against the company under the False Claims Act, which provides financial rewards to private litigants who report alleged fraud against the government.
Kitzhaber urged U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley to also use the authority of their offices to investigate Oracle's culpability. Wyden is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

White guy killer syndrome: Elliot Rodger’s deadly, privileged rage by Brittney Cooper


( Bailey) "I've put this little jewel in my IDIOT section on pinterest."  http://www.pinterest.com/bllsbailey/

 Welp. Another young white guy has decided that his disillusionment with his life should become somebody else’s problem. On Saturday, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger (who, as many commenters have pointed out, had a white father and mother of Asian descent) went on a killing spree on the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara, murdering his three roommates, shooting women outside a sorority house, and hitting people with his car as he attempted to get away from police.
How many times must troubled young white men engage in these terroristic acts that make public space unsafe for everyone before we admit that white male privilege kills? While Mark Cuban is busy crossing the street at any sign of a black male in a hoodie, or clutching his wallet a bit tighter at the sign of a tatted-up white guy, he may find a bullet whizzing by his head from a young, clean-cut white man, child of a Hollywood film director, upset that he does not have a certain level of clout and status with the ladies.
The idea that it is young black men or working-class white men (which is partially what I think Cuban’s invocation of tattoos attempts to encode) who make public space dangerous is belied by the fact that the problems of urban violence, which disproportionately involve young men of color, largely happen on residential terrain. Black men are not rolling onto college campuses and into movie theaters on a regular basis to shoot large numbers of people. Usually, the young men who do that are white, male, heterosexual and middle-class.
And make no mistake: From my standpoint as an armchair therapist — having read transcripts of Rodger’s videos —  his anger is about his failure to be able to access all the markers of white male heterosexual middle-class privilege. He goes on and on about his status as a virgin, his inability to find a date since middle school, his anger and resentment about being rejected by blond, sorority women. In fact, he claims he will “slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up, blond slut I see.” As Jessica Valenti so thoroughly demonstrates: “misogyny kills.” I am struck by the extent to which Rodger believed he was entitled to have what he deemed the prettiest girls, he was entitled to women’s bodies, and when society denied him these “entitlements” he thought it should become the public’s problem. He thought that his happiness was worth the slaughter of multiple people.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Vets died. VA lied. Heads must roll. Congress must act


For the past five weeks, America has heard testimony from courageous whistleblowers, seen media exposés, and now has proof from the acting  Inspector General's (IG) report -- all of it pointing to one central and unfortunate truth: the Department of Veterans Affairs is a dysfunctional, corrupt, and severely mismanaged department that is failing America’s veterans.
The Twitter-sphere has aptly dubbed it the #VAscandal.  But at this point, it’s no longer a scandal—it’s a national disgrace of the highest order. The release of Wednesday's preliminary IG report on the Phoenix VA confirms our worst fears and deepest held beliefs—that delayed medical care and manipulating records is “systemic throughout” VA.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is a dysfunctional, corrupt, and severely mismanaged department that is failing America’s veterans.
According to the report, Phoenix VA officially stated that veterans were waiting 24 days on average for care at their facility but they were actually waiting 115 days. The names of 1,700 waiting veterans at the Phoenix VA simply vanished, as if they never existed. Moreover, the IG has expanded the investigation to 42 VA facilities, not just the previously reported 26—underscoring an even more poignant hashtag: #NotJustPhoenix. The IG report goes on for pages upon pages with similar outrageous findings.
Bottom line: VA lied. Veterans died. And now it’s time for heads to roll and Congress to step up.
Just one week ago, the push for greater accountability at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was gaining steam. With more facts emerging, and before this IG report, the House of Representatives passed the VA Management Accountability Act (H.R. 4031) as a first step toward reform at the dysfunctional department.

But now that good start is being jeopardized by a lack of action in the Senate, owing to a cynical political game on the part of the Obama administration and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.  A cynical game that, in light of today’s findings, should have every red-blooded American up in arms.

The bipartisan House vote for H.R. 4031 was stunningly lopsided, something we rarely see in today’s gridlocked Washington. The bill passed 390-33, with 160 Democrats and even Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi voting in favor of more accountability at the VA.

The support for the VA Management Accountability also stems from the bill’s directness, clarity and simplicity. Unlike the typical incomprehensible mishmash of logrolling and favor-seeking we see in most legislative fixes these days, H.R. 4031 is under 3 pages long, and entails a simple common-sense reform: it gives the VA secretary the authority to remove and replace executives who fail to perform. Period.

So after such a remarkable bipartisan endorsement from the House, what happens in the Senate? Sanders has declared he wouldn’t allow a vote on the bill, which would need to go through legislative hearings to study the proposal and determine its “implications.”

As a reminder, the bill is 3 pages long and the House has already held hearings.

As veterans wait on secret lists, have Harry Reid and Bernie Sanders had a chance to read the bill yet?  You bet they have. So why would Sanders slow-walk the bill? Based upon his recent public comments, he appears to be siding with career bureaucrats—i.e., the same people who have driven the VA into a ditch—over the needs of veterans.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has already signaled opposition to H.R. 4031, suggesting the bill would open the government to the threat of litigation from fired employees.

So how can we expect this to play out? The Obama administration’s tepid response—marked by expressions of deep concern and the “firing” of a single VA undersecretary who was already set to retire in just a few weeks—suggests they’re hoping the scandal will burn out if they don’t give it too much attention.

In a few weeks, when the VA scandal drops from the front pages (which won’t happen if the organization I lead has anything to say about it), they’ll dismiss it as “old news” and cynically argue that their critics are motivated by partisan advantage. This has been the administration’s approach to previous scandals, and it’s worked before.

Meanwhile, Sanders will continue to stall the progress of the VA Management Accountability Act, and may even go so far as to reintroduce his own VA “reform” bill that failed in the Senate earlier this year. That bill would have dramatically expanded the VA’s responsibilities and provided billions in new funding—without fixing what’s wrong at the department. That’s a recipe for continued dysfunction and disaster.

The standoff on the VA Management Accountability is a case study in why Americans have lost faith in Washington. Many pundits lament the fact that Washington can’t achieve major accomplishments, but at this point most Americans would be satisfied with basic good governance. When it’s impossible to enact even the simplest and most straightforward of administrative reforms, such as the VA Management Accountability Act represents, it’s clear something is deeply wrong.

Which is why veterans, their families and taxpayers who care about government accountability should take up the cause and contact Harry Reid and Bernie Sanders. Demand that the Senate give the VA Management Accountability Act (sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio) and up-or-down vote. Demand that senators go on record as either being for the bureaucrats or for our veterans.

Let’s not allow Senator Sanders, Senator Reid and the Obama administration to get away with burying this scandal. It’s time to send a clear message: veterans are the ones who are “mad as hell” and we will accept nothing less than action.

This WWII veteran on ultimate wait list: He gets benefits after 68 years


The Veterans Administration is under fire for its long waiting lists, but it's unlikely any of America's service members can match the claim by Milton Rackham: It took 68 years before he was given the benefits he earned in battle.
The 89-year-old Rackham, of Belding, Mich., lived for decades without any benefits because the VA told him his records were lost in a fire in Missouri, the World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient told FoxNews.com.
"They always said, 'we can't help you,'" recalled Rackham, a former engine mechanic with the U.S. Navy who suffered injuries during the war and later struggled to find work.
"It made me feel like I was worthless," he said.
In 2011, Rackham's friend, Myrl Thompson, began writing about Rackham's war stories, and arranged meetings between the veteran and VA officials over the benefits he allegedly never received. Roughly two months ago, Rackham claims he started receiving $822 a month from the VA as well as $7,000 in back-pay.
Perhaps more alarming is the allegation by Rackham that the VA had no new information on his record to prompt the payments some 68 years after he left the Navy.
"What drove me crazy was that they had the same information in 2008 and they denied me," he told FoxNews.com. "That’s what blows me out of the water. Ever since 1974, when I first asked for benefits, they've had the same information."
"Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction," Rackham said. 
Rackham, who grew up herding cattle in Rigby, Idaho, said he enlisted in the Navy when he was 17 years old -- against the wishes of his mother. He fought aboard the PT Boat 81 in the Aleutian Islands for his first year. He later transferred to the South Pacific, where he was severely injured while defending a U.S. ammunition supply ship during a Japanese kamikaze attack. The explosion caused Rackham serious shrapnel wounds that nearly led to the amputation of an arm and leg.
After spending two years in Navy hospitals in Hawaii and Manila, Rackham returned to civilian life in Rigby. 
During his mid-twenties, Rackham, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, set out for work only to be rejected by employers due to his weakened arms and hands.
"He couldn't handle the manual labor of being a mechanic," said Rackham's friend Thompson, 75, of Big Rapids, Mich. 
Rackham, a devout churchgoer, later married and moved to Michigan, where he managed to run an upholstery business from his garage. For years, the father of six struggled financially. It was not until 1974 when he first applied to the VA for benefit consideration. He was denied five or six times over the course of 40 years, according to Rackham, due to "lack of complete information." 
Thompson said he helped Rackham submit to the VA in 2013 detailed documentation of Rackham's service in the Navy. Following that submission, Thompson said Rackham received a letter, stating that his VA benefits had been approved "at the level of 50 percent." Since early this year, Rackham receives monthly checks of $822 that are labeled "VA benefit," which the 89-year-old is able to use to cover his medication and other costs. 
Rackham's wife, Carol, might be eligible for spousal benefits, but has received no money to date, according to the family. 
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had no immediate comment when contacted Thursday, saying they needed time to review Rackham's file. 
While Rackham was elated to receive the money so many years later, his shrapnel wounds remain.
"I still set off the metal detector at the airport," he told FoxNews.com.
Most devastating to Rackham is the emotional scar caused by war and left untreated by a system he claims failed him. 
"I’d go to bed and wake my wife up with my screaming and thrashing around in bed," he said. "The nightmares ... they have been ongoing for 66 years and continue to this day." 
Still, he says, "I was so proud to serve this country. I'm still able to get into my uniform."
Rackham also indicated that he was advised by friends to appeal the $822 and the $7,000, which amounts to 10 months in back pay, but he opted not to, saying, "I won't live long enough to go through the VA process one more time."
He said his message to the VA is simple: "One out of every six homeless people in America is a veteran. For heaven's sake, acknowledge them. They should never be forgotten."

Former Vice President Cheney: Obama is a 'very, very weak president'



 Former Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Wednesday that he believes President Obama is a “very, very weak president” who does not understand America's obligations around the world.
Cheney said on “Hannity” he has spoken with many people in the Middle East who believe Obama’s leadership has reduced American’s influence overseas. 
“They all are absolutely convinced that the American capacity to lead and influence in that part of the world has been dramatically reduced by this president,” he said. “We’ve got a problem with weakness, and it’s centered right in the White House.”
Cheney said Obama’s plan to remove all troops from Afghanistan by 2016, instead of negotiating an agreement to keep some troops in the country, is an example of his weakness.
“That’s stupid, it’s unwise, and it will in fact just reinforce the notion that we’re weak, that we’ve got a leader who doesn’t understand U.S. obligations and commitments around the world and is not prepared to act on them,” he said.
Cheney said Obama is “totally ignoring” why the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.
“It’s as though he wasn’t even around when 9/11 happened,” he said.
Cheney said Obama’s choice to not continue the presence in Afghanistan was also disrespectful to the military members who served there.
The former vice president also turned to the VA scandal, calling it an “outrage.” He said the Obama administration needs to take responsibility, despite the fact that some prominent Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have blamed the agency’s problems on the Bush administration.
“Six years out since we left office and we are still blamed by Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama for their current troubles,” he said.

American Killed In Mexican Border City Hours After U.S. Issues Travel Warning


Mexican authorities discovered the body of an Arizona man killed execution-style on the main highway south of the dangerous border city of Nogales on Monday, hours after the U.S. Consulate General in the city issued a travel advisory for the region.
Police said that the body of Jorge Luis Soto, 25, was found at the wheel of a 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe with gunshot wounds to his face and chest. The SUV’s engine was still running and was parked under an overpass on the highway.
Police in Tucson and neighboring Nogales, Arizona said they had not been notified by Mexican officials about the murder.
Soto’s death is one of five murders in the last three days in Nogales. Four of the victims were found shot dead in cars, but Mexican authorities have not confirmed if the slayings are related.  
Late on Sunday evening, the U.S. Consulate General in Nogales – which is located in the state of Sonora – issued a warning for U.S. citizens traveling in the region.
“Due to multiple and ongoing credible threats, the Consulate cautions Americans traveling in Nogales or surrounding areas to defer unnecessary travel at this time,” the warning said. “U.S. Citizens are urged to take the highest precautions regarding their safety and personal security in and around Nogales.”
The U.S. State Department has had a travel advisory for Nogales and surrounding areas in Sonora for a number of years, warning that the region is a hotspot in the international drug and human trafficking trades. The State Department hasn’t updated its travel warning in Sonora since January.
"Don't go. Three things you can consider if you choose to go: Number one, go in a group. Number two, stay in downtown shopping district. Number three, leave before it gets dark," E. Dwayne Tatalovich, a security consultant told Fox 10 about travel to Nogales.
Nogales is a popular destination for medical tourism – many Americans head to the border town for cheap plastic surgery, inexpensive dental procedures and low-priced prescription medicine that can be purchased in Mexico without a prescription.
After the Sinaloa Cartel took control of key drug-trafficking routes in Sonora from the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel in 2010, the region has experienced tenuous peace as the two cartels have operated under a supposed truce that has seen violence spike in other parts of Mexico such as in Matamoros and Nuevo Laredo.
But the spate of killings, along with a December 2013 gun battle between Mexican authorities and drug traffickers in Puerto Penasco, have raised concerns that widespread drug violence is rising in Sonora.
There is speculation that the recent capture of Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán could create a new round of cartel fighting as a power struggle ensues for the trafficking routes. So far, however, Mexican authorities have remained quiet about the motive of the recent murders or if they were drug-related.

Marine sergeant jailed in Mexico on gun charges speaks exclusively 'On The Record'

 (Bailey) "I've got a good idea, how about us trading back all their eleven million citizens that are over here illegally for our Marine."

A U.S. Marine who has spent nearly two months in a Mexican prison following his arrest for mistakenly crossing the border with registered guns in his pickup truck has spoken exclusively about the case to Fox News' Greta Van Susteren.
Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi spoke to Van Susteren by phone from prison Wednesday evening. He had spent part of the morning at a court hearing. Earlier in the day, Tahmooressi fired his attorney Alejandro Osuna, who had earlier advised Tahmooressi to claim that he had never been to Tijuana. 
Tahmooressi was arrested March 31 at the San Ysidro checkpoint, where he realized that he was about to enter Mexico with his weapons after taking a wrong turn. He claims that he acknowledged that he had weapons in the car and told officials at the checkpoint that he had no intention of entering Mexico. He described what happened next to Van Susteren.
"[A Mexican border guard] got on the walkie-talkie and was communicating what was going on," Tahmooressi said. "I think what he said was, 'Hey we've got a guy down here with three guns.'" 
That message brought a Mexican Marine to the scene. 
"He just took control," Tahmooressi said of the officer. "He didn't seem to care at all about anything that I had to say. It was like a math equation in his head. Three guns, man equals prison."
Watch the full interview with Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi on 'On The Record with Greta Van Susteren" Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern on Fox News Channel.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

State Department calls for all US citizens to leave Libya

 (Bailey) When Obama did not act on the murders of our people in Benghazi it made America look weak, and this is the results of his stupidity.

The State Department Tuesday urged all U.S. citizens to immediately leave Libya due to security concerns.
The evacuation warning came shortly after the USS Bataan, with about 1,000 Marines aboard, sailed into the Mediterranean Sea to assist Americans in leaving if necessary, according to U.S. military officials. The officials made clear the ship has received no formal orders to conduct new missions.
Officials said the Navy amphibious assault ship sailed from the Arabian Sea and was already scheduled to go to the Mediterranean to participate in a multi-county military exercise in the region. 
The State Department issued a statement Tuesday night saying,"The Department of State warns U.S. citizens against all travel to Libya and recommends that U.S. citizens currently in Libya depart immediately. The security situation in Libya remains unpredictable and unstable. The Libyan government has not been able to adequately build its military and police forces and improve security following the 2011 revolution."
The unrest has caused the State Department to limit staffing at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, and it is "only able to offer very limited emergency services to U.S. citizens in Libya," according to the release.
The statement added that "various groups" have called for attacks against U.S. citizens and U.S. interests in Libya, and said military-grade weapons remain in the hands of private individuals, including those that are capable of attacking civilian aircraft.
The warning was issued in light of fighting taking place earlier this month in the capital of Tripoli, where renegade Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter is waging an offensive against Islamists.
Hifter began his so-called "Dignity Operation" more than 10 days ago to crush Islamist militias and their political backers.
Hifter has the support of politicians, diplomats, army units and tribes that want him to impose order and rein in the country's unruly militias, three years after they toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi.
However, the Al Qaeda-inspired group Ansar al-Shariah has now vowed to fight Hifter, whom it accuses of being an "American agent."
Ansar al-Shariah is believed to have played a role in the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Rural hospitals: on the critical list?

 (Bailey)
The Affordable Care Act sucks but no Democrat will admit it, as in doing so will make them racist.



It’s been “probably a decade” since 68-year-old Tom Howell last saw a doctor. A nagging cough and some chest pain finally prompted him to drive 30 miles from his home in Iowa to the closest medical facility, Midwest Medical Center in Galena, Illinois.
"I've been coughing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. My wife said I had to see the doc, so here I am” Howell said
He said part of the reason he avoided seeing “the doc” for so long was because he didn't have health insurance. As a self-employed farmer in Iowa, he couldn’t afford it and said he didn’t see a need for it.
But he’s now on Medicare, so doctors bills are less of a concern.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates more than 46 million Americans live in rural areas, working on farms or in small factories that provide resources for the rest of the country.
Often in these less populated areas, there is only one medical facility for the entire community.
Much of the funding for rural hospitals, about 60 percent, comes from Medicare. The rest comes from Medicaid or from general health insurance.
Budgets are so tight for these smaller hospitals, where patients are often older and sicker than the general population, that any changes to these programs -- even slight changes -- can have drastic effects on their budgets.
That's why recent cuts by the Obama administration for Medicare reimbursement funding are a grave concern to rural healthcare administrators. In addition, there's an October deadline for upgrading to electronic medical records. If the deadline isn't met, hospitals risk penalties.
But making the upgrades is not as simple as it sounds, especially for smaller medical offices that are still on pen and paper.
“Going from paper to electronic medical records is a big process," said Dr. Michael Wells of the Midwest Medical Center in Galena. "It takes a lot of personnel and staff and support for information technology just alone, so it's a huge task for a smaller hospital when we don’t have the number of employees to support that."
Midwest Medical Center CEO Tracy Bauer agreed. "It's a huge undertaking. We'll have invested over two million dollars in the project…The expense has been huge, the resources needed for it have also been huge”.
The combination of Medicare cuts and the added expense of transferring to electronic records is part of the reason there has been an epidemic of rural hospital closures. Eighteen have shut their doors since the beginning of 2013, more than closed in the entire decade before then.
“Regulations are always changing, and you look at additional cuts, you look at the federal budget, you look at the state budget and you don’t know when that next cut is going to be" said Bauer. "It’s the difference between you being able to provide access in a rural area to not being able to.”
When rural hospitals close, residents are left with no easy alternative for medical care. Often a drive to a doctor for a checkup can take more than an hour. In an emergency situation, the distance can be a matter of life or death.
"We've saved lives by being here and providing that access here, and a lot times if we're not here, those people unfortunately would not make it in time to the stop that they need to be at, so it's really critical that we're here, able to provide that care," said Bauer.
Care is provided to anybody, regardless of their ability to pay, at many of the critical care centers, which is another reason finances are so tight.
The Affordable Care Act was supposed to alleviate that problem by providing the poor with health insurance and reducing the number of uninsured going to emergency rooms for expensive treatment.
But health experts claim that's not always working out so well.
Brock Slabach from the National Rural Healthcare Association said often poorer people choose the least expensive option among the plans provided under ObamaCare, but still can't afford to pay the deductibles required before doctor visits are covered. As a result, those patients don't go to the doctor regularly, but instead run to the emergency rooms when a medical issue becomes a crisis.
It is the same costly problem that existed before ObamaCare went into effect.
Rural hospital administrators worry the trend of closing hospitals will continue as rules and regulations continue to change.
It is not just the loss of healthcare providers in a community when a rural hospital closes, there also is an economic impact. Medical facilities are often the biggest employer in the countryside, so when one closes, a downward financial spiral for the community begins that could quickly spread into more populated areas.
The National Rural Health Association warned the fate of rural hospitals is a bellwether for the nation's healthcare system.
"I think your rural hospitals are going to be the canaries in the coal mine that lead to disaster for hospitals all over if we continue some of our current trends" Slabach said.
He called it a domino effect: when rural communities suffer, the whole country suffers. "The sustenance of our country's health and well being is produced in the rural areas of our country," he said. "The second we begin to dismiss that is the second that we're going to be very regretful of having lost those resources."

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

GOP hopes renewed probes into Benghazi, IRS will fire up conservatives and not annoy centrists



Republican strategy for the fall elections seemed set: hammer Democrats on the health care law and "jobs, jobs, jobs."
As Democrats show increasing confidence on those fronts, however, House Republicans are gambling that ramping up new inquiries into old controversies involving the Internal Revenue Service and Libya will energize conservative voters without turning off moderates.
Over Democrats' heated objections, House Republicans voted this month to hold an IRS official in contempt for refusing to testify. They also launched a new investigation into the September 2012 terrorist attack on a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, which killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
Democrats say the moves reek of political opportunism and desperation.
Criticizing the president's health care law "has run its course," said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, and Republicans "have to find something else to talk about." She called the new Benghazi inquiry a "political stunt."
Republicans say their actions are serious and justified, even if they also might be good politics.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the select committee on Benghazi will not be partisan or involve political "sideshows." But he declined to tell Republicans to stop using the Benghazi tragedy to raise campaign money.
Republicans acknowledge the hearings could backfire if their select committee members appear overly zealous.
"There's a real burden on us," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. "We need to not overreach" and simply "figure out what the truth is." He predicted the select committee chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., will "lean over backward to be fair."
Democrats spend little time defending the Obama administration's role in Benghazi or the IRS' actions in scrutinizing conservative groups that sought tax-exempt status. Instead, they cite the multiple hearings and inquiries already conducted into the matters, which were fading from national headlines except on outlets such as Fox News.
An inspector general's report blamed poor management in an IRS office that gave special scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. But it found no evidence of political conspiracy.
The division's director, Lois Lerner, infuriated Republicans a year ago by proclaiming her innocence at a House Oversight Committee hearing and then declining to answer questions, citing her constitutional right against self-incrimination. In a mostly party-line vote, the House voted May 7 to hold Lerner in contempt. It wants a U.S. attorney to take steps to force her to testify.
As for Benghazi, at least half a dozen inquiries have probed the terrorist assault of Sept. 11, 2012, generating more than 25,000 pages of documents. Main questions include: Did the Obama administration do enough to get military relief to those under attack? And did it try to mislead Americans about the attack's origins to protect President Barack Obama's record on terrorism with two months left in his re-election campaign?
Opinions mostly fall along partisan lines, although some Republicans express more outrage than others. House Armed Services Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., said the military did what it reasonably could.
The attack's origins were murky at first. At the time, Egyptians were rioting over an amateur American-made video mocking Islam's prophet Mohammad.
Then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice cited Islamic outrage over the video when she appeared on talk shows the Sunday after the Benghazi attack. Administration officials later said the assault was a calculated terrorist action, not a direct response to the video.
House Republicans have seized on a recently divulged White House "talking points" memo written to help Rice prepare for her TV appearances. The memo said one goal was "to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video and not a broader failure of policy" by the administration.
Republicans say the White House deliberately hid the memo from investigators.
Many Democrats say congressional Republicans want to injure Hillary Rodham Clinton, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, who was secretary of state during the Benghazi tragedy.
Several GOP political strategists said revived inquiries into Benghazi and the IRS will probably do their party more good than harm, provided their lawmakers appear more professional than partisan.
Undecided voters might not get excited about GOP accusations regarding the IRS and Benghazi, said Dan Schnur, a former Republican consultant who teaches political science at the University of Southern California. But given the administration's questionable behavior in both areas, he said, "They certainly don't line up on the other side."
GOP strategist Terry Holt agrees. The Benghazi assault, he said, was "the phone call Hillary Clinton warned us about in 2008 when she was running against Obama. They both blew it."
Democrats are banking on public revulsion.
"To make use politically and financially of the tragedy of the loss of four great Americans is beneath contempt," said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.
___

Raises all around? Federal agency scraps employee rating system




America's new consumer watchdog agency has come up with a unique solution for its troubled employee-rating system: Give almost everyone a gold star. 
The independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- created under the 2010 "Dodd-Frank" financial industry overhaul to serve as a consumer watchdog -- says it's scrapping its system of employee ratings in response to concerns that it was discriminatory. 
That rating system assigned workers a score of between one and five. Due to concerns with the system, everyone who scored a three or above, regardless of performance, will now be getting the top rating of five -- along with the corresponding retroactive pay raises that the top rating brings. 
Those raises will likely cost more than $5 million, according to the American Banker, which first reported on the ratings troubles in a March 6 article
Going forward, the bureau is looking at using a new two-tiered rating system for at least two years while officials evaluate the old system. 
But the retroactive payments raise the possibility that workers who slacked off could be rewarded the same as top performers. 
“To give an across-the-board raise slaps the face of the people who deserve it,” said Linda Swindling, author of “Stop Complainers and Energy Drainers: How to Negotiate Work Drama to Get More Done,
The changes come after American Banker found that minority employees were likely to receive lower evaluations than their white counterparts. A 2013 internal agency report found 74.6 percent of white employees received ratings of four or five compared with 65.2 percent of Hispanics and 57.6 of black employees. 
In a May 19 email sent to staff members and made available to FoxNews.com, CFPB Director Richard Cordray said the agency conducted a thorough audit of how employees were given raises.
He said “broad-based disparities” in the way employees were rated in 2012 and 2013 had been uncovered in several areas including: race/ethnicity, age, bargaining unit membership eligibility, location in the field or at headquarters, and tenure as a CFPB employee.
“These differences indicate a systemic disadvantage to various categories of employees that persisted across divisions, offices and other employee characteristics,” Cordray wrote. 
The changes are being billed as a way to correct the wrongs of 2012 and 2013. Every rank-and-file CFPB worker who received a three or four summary performance rating in 2012 or 2013 under the previous program will be given raises as if they had received the highest rating at the time of evaluation. Senior management is excluded from the process.
But others aren’t buying it.
Swindling recommended the agency work to let employees know that managers are working toward changing the office culture and rating system -- not pay off employees who may or may not have deserved a merit raise.
Bankstocks.com columnist Thomas Brown called it “a pathetic bow to political correctness.”
“Hard-working, conscientious workers (and, yes, the federal government does have those) deserve to be treated better and paid more than workers who, say, persistently show up late and turn in shoddy work,” Brown said.
Cordray said the agency recognizes the change does not address the underlying system itself. Describing this as a temporary change, he said the agency is committed to rooting out problems but it will take time.
The CFPB was created as a new-era regulator responsible for keeping consumers safe, rather than nursing big banks back to health. The sign outside its Washington office even looked edgier than the typical D.C. office -- with the name “cfpb” in lowercase letters on a bright green background.
The bureau was championed early on by Harvard University professor Elizabeth Warren, before she was elected to the U.S. Senate.

White House scrambles to contain damage after outing CIA chief in Afghanistan


The White House is scrambling to contain the damage from inadvertently outing the top CIA official in Afghanistan, a rare blunder that potentially puts that individual at risk. 
The official's name, identified as "chief of station," was included in the White House press office's basic list of senior officials President Obama met with during his surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday. The list of 15 names apparently came first from the military, and was circulated by the White House press office. 
The list then went to a much wider audience when it was included as part of what's known as a "pool report," which in this case was filed by The Washington Post's Scott Wilson. 
It was only after Wilson raised the issue with the White House, according to the Post, that officials sought to circulate a new list without the officer's name. But by that point, the mistake already had been noted on Twitter. 
"There's simply no excuse for it," John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News on Tuesday, saying the blunder left him "speechless." 
"In a White House that is filled with press flacks ... was there no one who understood the significance of what they were doing?" he said. "Somebody's head should roll for this. ... This is utter incompetence." 
FoxNews.com is not publishing the name of the chief of station. 
The fact that it was circulated at all, though, raises security concerns -- and distracts from Obama's visit to Bagram air base meant to honor troops in advance of Memorial Day. 
Several CIA station chiefs in Pakistan have been exposed during the course of the war in Afghanistan. One of them had to be removed from the country in 2010. 
It's unclear whether the administration will be forced to take that step here. Bolton noted that the official's identity would have been known to some in the Afghan government anyway -- though the exposure could also damage intelligence operations. 
The most recent high-profile incident of a U.S. official exposing a CIA agent was the outing of operative Valerie Plame's identity in 2003. 
In this case, the original list circulated by the White House included several names of well-known public officials, including National Security Adviser Susan Rice and U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham, as well as that of the chief of station. 
According to the Post, Wilson noticed the reference to the station chief after he had already sent out the pool report. 
When he raised the issue, the press office did not raise any objection, according to the Post. But the office later reportedly scrambled to send around a new list, without the officer's name -- apparently realizing the error. 
"Soon after, I think that they talked to their bosses, and realized that it was not OK," Wilson told The Guardian. "And they tried to figure out what to do about this, if there was a way to kind of un-ring the bell." 
Wilson said it appeared "very junior people" were just trying to follow an order without realizing the "ramifications." 
Wilson also said he wishes he had caught the mistake before sending out the list in the pool report. 
"I wish I had, I regret it," he reportedly said.

$15 Hour


Justice Department price-fixing probe rattles auto industry worldwide


An investigation into price-fixing and bid-rigging in the auto parts industry has mushroomed into the Justice Department's largest criminal antitrust probe ever, and it's not over yet.
The investigation, made public four years ago with FBI raids in the Detroit area, has led to criminal charges against dozens of people and companies, stretched across continents and reverberated through an industry responsible for supplying critical car components.
The collusion has also saddled U.S. drivers with millions of dollars in extra costs.
"It's a very, very safe assumption that U.S. consumers paid more, and sometimes significantly more, for their automobiles as a result of this conspiracy," Brent Snyder, a deputy assistant attorney general in the antitrust division, said in an interview.
So far, 34 individuals have been charged and 27 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to do so, the Justice Department says.  Collectively, they have agreed to pay more than $2.3 billion in fines. New cases have arisen with regularity, with Attorney General Eric Holder promising last September that investigators "would check under every hood and kick every tire."
The most recent development came Thursday, when an executive from a Japanese company was charged with conspiring to fix the prices of heater control panels sold to Toyota and with persuading workers to destroy evidence.
Officials say the investigation stands out not just for its scope but also for the cooperation the authorities have received from Japan, Australia and other countries. Despite the challenges of prosecuting foreign nationals, the Justice Department has won guilty pleas from a series of Japanese executives who opted to get their punishment over with rather than remain under indictment in their home countries and subject to career-crippling travel restrictions.
Though the techniques and strategies sometimes differed, the executives generally carried out the collusion by trading coded emails, meeting at remote locations and destroying documents to avoid paper trails.
With an eye toward eliminating competition and maximizing profits, they exploited an industry that experts say is in some ways vulnerable to collusion: There are a finite number of purchasers and suppliers, there's steady pressure among companies to cut prices -- and car parts, unlike certain products that have a great deal of variability, are generally standardized and homogeneous.
"The firms will just make more money if they're able to reach and stick to an agreement to collectively charge higher prices so that customers can't get them to bid against each other," said Spencer Weber Waller, director of the Institute for Antitrust Consumer Studies at the Loyola University Chicago law school. "The problem is, of course, it's a felony in the United States."
The Justice Department first publicly surfaced aspects of the investigation when FBI agents in Detroit raided the offices of Denso Corp, Yazaki North America and Tokai Rika. All three companies have pleaded guilty to their roles in price-fixing and bid-rigging schemes.
Since the raids, the probe has broadened to encompass about $5 billion worth of auto parts, including seat belts, ignition coils, steering wheels, air bags, windshield wipers and rubber parts that dampen vibration.
Similar cartels have formed in industries ranging from oil and gas to cement and vitamins, though there's debate among economists about how long they can last, given the constant incentive for one member to cheat the others and the tendency to collapse under their own weight as they keep growing, said Daniel Crane, a University of Michigan law professor.
But the collusion in these cases, which in some instances lasted more than a decade, was "deftly done," said Joe Wiesenfelder, executive editor of Cars.com, who has followed the auto parts investigation.
"If they get too greedy and they make their prices too high, then someone smells a rat," he said. "When they set their prices and fixed their prices, they had to do it in a way that wasn't obvious and that took into account the entire market, including suppliers that weren't involved."
Wiesenfelder said that while the collusion affected car consumers, it's hard to tell how much the investigation has been noticed by the average driver.
"It's kind of abstract to consumers," he said. "It's not that prices were fixed on cars. That would really hit home."
But there are indications the industry is chastened.
For instance, Bridgestone Corp., a tire and rubber company that pleaded guilty this year, announced that it would strengthen its compliance, discipline employees and that certain board members and executives would forfeit a portion of their compensation.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department says it's looking into additional misconduct in an investigation that bears all the hallmarks of classic antitrust law-breaking.
"This one," Snyder said, "has it all."

Unions, employers square off over ObamaCare costs in collective bargaining


Disputes between unions and employers over paying for new costs associated with the Affordable Care Act are roiling labor talks nationwide.
Unions and employers are tussling over who will pick up the tab for new mandates, such as coverage for dependent children to age 26, as well as future costs, such as a tax on premium health plans starting in 2018. The question is poised to become a significant point of tension as tens of thousands of labor contracts covering millions of workers expire in the next several years, with ACA-related cost increases ranging from 5 percent to 12.5 percent in current talks.
In Philadelphia, disagreement over how much workers should contribute to such health-plan cost increases has stalled talks between the region's transit system and its main union representing 5,000 workers as they try to renegotiate a contract that expired in March.
Roughly 2,000 housekeepers, waiters and others at nine of 10 downtown Las Vegas casinos voted this month to go on strike June 1 if they don't reach agreements on a series of issues, the thorniest of which involve new ACA-related cost increases, according to the Unite Here union.
Flight attendants at Alaska Airlines voted down a tentative contract agreement with management in February, in part because it didn't provide enough protection against a possible surge in ACA-related costs, union members said. They are still without a new contract.
Labor experts on both sides say the law doesn't take into account that health benefits have been negotiated by employers and unions over decades, and that rewriting plans to meet new requirements can affect wages and other labor terms.
"It's been a challenge for even some of the stronger unions to maintain the quality health plans that they have offered over the years," said Daniel Murphy, an attorney in New York who represents employers in labor talks.
Among the earliest supporters of the health-care law, unions have unsuccessfully tried to win concessions from the Obama administration on some issues now involved in the labor talks.
An Obama administration official said: "We have worked hard to smooth implementation" of the health law.
One pressure point is the higher costs of new mandates, especially the requirement that health plans expand coverage for dependents. For Unite Here, adding that coverage for 14,000 dependents raised costs in the health-care fund run by the union's Las Vegas local by $26 million since 2011, said union spokeswoman Bethany Khan.
The union plan covers 55,000 workers and 120,000 people in total. Casinos on the Strip have agreed to pay more to meet the higher health-care costs, according to contract summaries. Unite Here President D. Taylor called the rising costs tied to the health law the biggest hurdle to reaching settlements in Las Vegas.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Nation honors veterans and the fallen on Memorial Day



Across America Monday, citizens will mark Memorial Day with ceremonies and parades honoring those who gave their lives in war, as well as with less solemn events like barbecues with family and friends. 
Despite the day's solemn ethos, Petty Officer 1st Class Brian McNeal told the Associated Press that the fun events should be enjoyed.
 "I'm in the service so that they can enjoy that," said McNeal, 39, who is stationed in Suffolk, Virginia, and was in New York for Fleet Week. "They made the sacrifice so everyday citizens don't have to worry about the evils of the world."
Monday is the climax of a weekend of events honoring America's military. On Sunday, Marine Corps chaplain Rear Admiral Margaret Kibben lauded the sacrifice of veterans around the world in a service at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan.
"What they have done has allowed us to be here," Kibben told the the roughly 200 worshippers Sunday at the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, including active duty servicemen and women. Memorial Day, she said, was a time to remind ourselves of the meaning of sacrifice and to put personal struggles and difficulties in perspective.
Also Sunday, President Obama arrived at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan to speak with troops and visit soldiers being treated at a base hospital. At least 2,181 members of the U.S. military have died during the nearly 13-year Afghan war and thousands more have been wounded.
Obama has directed all government agencies in the United States to fly their flags at half-staff on Monday in observance of Memorial Day.
On Saturday, Democratic congresswoman Tammy Duckworth served as grand marshal of Chicago's Memorial Day Parade and struggled to hold back tears during a wreath-laying ceremony to honor fallen soldiers. She lost her legs and partial use of an arm when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting in Iraq in 2004.
More than 300 Junior ROTC students from Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville marched in the city's parade. Afterward, still dressed in their uniforms, they chatted, bantered and ordered ice cream from a vendor's truck while waiting for a bus that would take them back home.
Their instructor, 1st Sgt. Stephen Roberts, an Army veteran, said the students practice all year to march in the parade.
"They enjoy it a lot," Roberts said. "We tell them about it at the beginning of the year. Our rifle, our drum teams, our flags, they practice every day. They come in on their own accord. They do their own practices. It means a lot to them. They're very proud to do this."
In Massachusetts, Boston Marathon survivor Jeff Bauman and his rescuer, Carlos Arredondo, helped plant tens of thousands of flags Saturday at a cemetery to honor soldiers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Leave no man behind: Why is Team Obama unable to bring home Marine held in Mexico?


This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day in honor of our American servicemen and women who have sacrificed their lives defending us both at home and abroad. Many of our troops enlist in the military upon adulthood and have served in wars before their classmates have even graduated from college. These men and women are true American heroes and we must protect them just as well as they protect us.
Unfortunately, despite President Obama’s Memorial Day proclamation that we shall “never forget” the sacrifices of our soldiers, he and Secretary of State John Kerry have forgotten about a living American hero in dire need rescue: U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi.
Tahmooressi, only 25-years-old, is currently jailed in Tijuana, Mexico, after he accidentally drove across the border with three legally owned guns.
During the four years he served in the Marines, he did two tours in Afghanistan. While on the battlefield, he saved eight Marines from the Taliban, and in a separate incident he saved a Marine from bleeding to death after he stepped on an IED and lost his legs. Tahmooressi also suffered a concussion when his vehicle hit an IED.  
On March 20, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs diagnosed Tahmooressi with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Though he is from Florida, Tahmooressi chose a facility in San Diego for treatment, and he moved there shortly after his diagnosis. He had friends in the area and began dating a girl he met at church.

On the night of March 31, he drove alone to meet some friends near the Mexican border.  Because he was in transition, his truck was filled with his possessions, including a ladder strapped to his roof.



As midnight approached, Tahmooressi says he got lost due to border checkpoint closures, redirected traffic and lack of signage. Because he was unfamiliar with the area, he wound up at the El Chaparral inspection area at the Tijuana border.  

He was granted entry into Mexico but was stopped by Mexican border agents when he tried to turn around and re-enter the U.S. He was cooperative with the agents and immediately disclosed that he had three legally owned firearms in his truck. Fearing the Mexican authorities would seize his guns, he called 911.

“My problem is I crossed the border by accident and I have three guns in my truck and they’re trying to take my guns from me,” he told the dispatcher.

“So you’re in Mexico…There’s nothing I can help you with, sir…You’re not on American soil anymore,” she responds.
He answered, “I don’t know if I’m really on …I’m not sure if I’ve crossed yet.” 
Tahmooressi went on to say that there was not a “turn around point," and then the call ended.  
No one disputes that Tahmooressi violated Mexican law by entering the country with firearms, and the U.S. respects Mexico’s right to autonomously prosecute suspected criminals.

But the U.S. and Mexico also share mutual goals and work together as partners to eradicate drug cartels. In fact, the U.S. recently assisted Mexico in capturing the notorious drug lord known as "El Chapo" Guzman, the kingpin of the Sinaloa drug cartel. We provided intelligence, boots on the ground and even a surveillance drone.
Unfortunately, the Mexican government has chosen to unreasonably prosecute an American. The only thing Tahmooressi is guilty of is making an honest mistake by unknowingly entering Mexico while in possession of his legally owned firearms.

The Mexican government has chosen to criminally charge a member of our military who has no criminal record, who was not in possession of drugs or other illegal contraband, who was not engaged in suspicious activity that suggested his alignment with a cartel and who suffers from a serious yet treatable mental disorder. Tahmooressi was diagnosed with PTSD after fighting in an international war on terror aimed not only at protecting Americans, but also Mexicans.

According to California Rep. Duncan Hunter’s deputy chief of staff, Joe Kasper, Mexican prosecutors initially discussed charging Tahmooressi with gun trafficking, despite a complete lack of evidence.

In defense of Mexico's prosecution of Tahmooressi for three charges of firearms possession, Alejandro Gonzalez Guilbot, head of Mexican customs in Tijuana, stated that Tahmooressi never claimed he was lost. This is nothing less than a lie. The 911 recording, obtained by Hunter, clearly proves that Tahmooressi was lost.  

It should not go without mentioning that Guilbot, a lifelong public servant to Mexico, is under investigation by the Ministry of Public Service because of his lavish possessions, including a 2012 Rolls Royce Phantom valued at over $300,000, a BMW, a Lexus, many other luxury cars, a million-dollar home in a gated community in Houston and another property in Texas.

The Mexican government’s tactics also included telling Tahmooressi’s lawyer that he could not consent to an interview because there was no paper or pen in the entire jail. After an unreasonable delay, authorities eventually found writing materials.

In the United States, most states require a “preliminary hearing” 30 days after arrest if the defendant is in custody. In Mexico, however, the delay is considerably longer. Tahmooressi's evidentiary-type hearing is not scheduled until May 28, almost two months after his arrest.

Not only should Tahmooressi be released in the interest of reasonableness and justice, but also to show compassion for his mental health and safety.

Mexico has failed to treat Tahmooressi for his PTSD. In March, while in a Tijuana jail cell, he slit his throat and tried to escape because of he feared for his safety.

After he was treated, officials chained all four of his limbs to his hospital bed. Now back in jail, he remains chained to his bed by one leg.
Equally egregious is our own government’s lack of desire and priority to negotiate Tahmooressi’s release.
Hunter has worked tirelessly, and essentially single-handedly, to get the help of our top officials. He has written numerous letters to Secretary of State John Kerry and has yet to receive a response. Kerry was in Mexico earlier this week and "raised" the issue, but to what extent is unknown. Despite Tahmooressi's condition, the U.S. Consulate has not visited him since May 9, and it has told Hunter that it has not scheduled any future visits with him.

Hunter has asked Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to suspend all funding to Mexico for equipment transfers and training. In 2013, we trained over 3,000 Mexican troops. Between 2008-2011, the Department of Defense gave $428.7 million worth of equipment to Mexican security forces, including planes, Blackhawk helicopters, and scanners. Hunter has yet to receive a response from Hagel.

It is not in Mexico’s best interest to prosecute a man who indirectly fought to protect the lives of Mexicans while representing the United States in Afghanistan.

Tahmooressi was not the first person to mistakenly enter Mexico, and he will not be the last.

President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry, you must not allow the wrongful prosecution of an American hero. You must not allow Mexico to hold our solider hostage for an honest mistake. You must not allow a young man, who suffers from PTSD as a result of protecting you, your families and fellow Americans, to be chained to a bed and continue to go untreated. 

Now is the time for you to demand Mexico release Andrew Tahmooressi or face serious consequences. 
Time is of the essence.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/05/23/why-is-team-obama-unable-to-bring-home-marine-held-in-mexico/#

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