Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy 2015? Newsweek hit piece smears Bible, Christians


Newsweek is launching the New Year with an old school attack on the Bible and Christians. It was just the sort of holiday hit piece that we’ve come to expect from these anti-Christian pinheads.
I imagine the Yuletide season must bring about near celebrations in the hallways of Newsweek as writers giddily try to find new ways to defile the followers of Christ.
This year’s winner was Kurt Eichenwald – and he certainly spun quite a yarn – one truly worthy to be published in a magazine. Mr. Eichenwald is known around literary circles as a man of words – and he certainly used most of them in his verbose essay.
I’m not sure why, but the folks over at Newsweek seem to hold a mighty big grudge against Christians. Maybe somebody spiked their Kool-Aid during Vacation Bible School? Who knows?
The Bible – So Misunderstood it’s a Sin,” was the title of his treatise – of such import that editors demanded it grace the cover of the magazine. 
At first glance, I thought Mr. Eichenwald’s essay was a failed attempt at satire. However, by the end of the first paragraph, I realized it was meant to be a scholarly work. By the end of the second paragraph I was overcome by the fumes from this steaming pile of stink.
Newsweek’s 16-page diatribe portrays Evangelical Christians as homophobic, right-wing fundamentalist hypocrites who believe an unbelievable Bible. And just in case the reader misses the writer’s subtle nuance, the essay was illustrated with images of snake handlers, Pat Robertson and the Westboro Baptist Church.
That’s because in the minds of Newsweek’s esteemed editors, most evangelical Christians spend their weekends dancing with snakes and picketing gay nightclubs. Merry Christmas, America.
“They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnation of homosexuals,” Eichenwald wrote. “They fall on their knees, worshipping at the base of granite monuments to the Ten Commandments while demanding prayer in school. They appeal to God to save America from their political opponents, mostly Democrats. They gather in football stadiums by the thousands to pray for the country’s salvation.”
I’m not sure why, but the folks over at Newsweek seem to hold a mighty big grudge against Christians. Maybe somebody spiked their Kool-Aid during Vacation Bible School? Who knows?
“These are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch,” Newsweek’s writer blathered. “They are joined by religious rationalizers – fundamentalists who, unable to find Scripture supporting their biases and beliefs, twist phrase and modify translations to prove they are honoring the Bible’s words.”
As if Newsweek was trying to honor the Bible.  The magazine goes on to advance theories that some of the New Testament books are forgeries and it calls I Timothy “one of the most virulently anti-woman books of the New Testament.”
That statement then leads to a virulently anti-woman attack on Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – because nothing says “Merry Christmas” to liberals like bashing the Baby Jesus and Sarah Palin.
Get a load of this subheadline: “Sarah Palin is sinning right now.”
Here’s what the magazine had to say about Bachmann: “Well, according to the Bible, Bachmann should shut up and sit down. In fact, every female politician who insists the New Testament is the inerrant word of God needs to resign immediately or admit that she is a hypocrite.”
I don’t know Mr. Eichenwald personally, but it strikes me that he might not have a good time at a Billy Graham Crusade.
Newsweek also wagged its finger at Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for attending public prayer rallies.
“Jesus would have been horrified,” Eichenwald wrote.  
Dr. Albert Mohler is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary – one of the largest seminaries in the world. He’s also one of the nation’s leading evangelicals.
Mohler’s takedown of Newsweek and Eichenwald is brilliant. You can read it here
“Newsweek’s cover story is exactly what happens when a writer fueled by open antipathy to evangelical Christianity tries to throw every argument he can think of against the Bible and its authority,” Mohler wrote on his blog. “To put the matter plainly, no honest historian would recognize the portrait of Christian history presented in this essay as accurate and no credible journalist would recognize this screed as balanced.”
Mohler called the essay an “embarrassment” and correctly noted that the writer had an axe to grind “and grind he does.”
“To take advantage of Newsweek’s title – it so misrepresents the truth, it’s a sin,” he wrote.
The news magazines do this all the time – attacking Christians during the Christmas and Easter seasons. It’s a free country. We have a free press. They can write whatever they choose.
But the national news magazines never seem to target Islam. When was the last time Newsweek or Time published an attack piece on Muhammad during Ramadan?
I wonder if Newsweek would have the courage to publish “The Koran: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin”? 
I wonder if Newsweek would allow a feminist to weigh in on what the Islamic holy book says about women?  Perhaps Newsweek could illustrate their story with cartoons of Muhammad – or maybe photographs of jihadists beading Christians in the name of Allah?
But we all know that won’t happen, right Newsweek?

VA facing new congressional crackdown after Colorado hospital boondoggle



A congressional battle is brewing over the Department of Veterans Affairs' admitted mismanagement of construction projects across the country -- including an over-budget, billion-dollar hospital in Colorado that was, briefly, abandoned by the contractor. 
"VA construction managers couldn't lead starving troops to a chow hall," Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman said in a recent statement. 
Coffman, an Army and Marine Corps combat veteran, plans to introduce legislation stripping the VA of its authority to manage construction projects, and putting the Army Corps of Engineers in charge instead. 
The Republican congressman's district includes the location of the troubled VA hospital project in Aurora, Colo. -- the latest black eye for the agency following the scandal over secret waiting lists. 
The VA's original design in 2005 was estimated to cost $328 million. By 2008, design changes led Congress to authorize $568 million for the project. By 2010, Congress increased the authorization to $800 million. 
With most of that money already spent, the hospital is still only half-finished, leaving area veterans frustrated and angry. 
"It makes no sense to me why the VA is managing the project," one veteran named Mark said while entering the aging Denver hospital which the Aurora project is supposed to replace. "I am one of the many hundreds of thousands who need a better facility to get treatment quicker." 
With costs soaring and the VA falling behind on payments to general contractor Kiewit-Turner, the company sued. 
In December, the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals agreed with the company's assessment that the project could not be completed for less than $1 billion -- and let it out of its contract. 
Kiewit-Turner then initially walked off the half-finished project, leaving 1,400 workers out of a job. 
In a visit to Colorado to negotiate a deal to bring workers back, VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson admitted the agency was at fault. "I apologize to veterans here in Colorado. I apologize to the taxpayers. We have let you down," he said. 
Coffman maintains, "It's not isolated to Aurora, Colorado. Every major construction project that the [VA] has right now is hundreds of millions of dollars over-budget and years behind schedule." 
A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that VA hospital construction projects in several cities were, on average, $300 million over-budget and three years behind schedule. 
During his visit to the construction site in Colorado, Sloan announced an interim agreement for work to resume temporarily. Kiewit-Turner is now back on the job, but with the Army Corps of Engineers overseeing the project. 
"Their role here on-site will be to advise and support VA in the execution of this interim contract," Sloan said. Sloan said the Army Corps will also figure out just how off-track the project is, and negotiate with the contractor on a plan to actually finish it. 
"We don't know, I don't know, quite frankly I don't think KT knows right now, what it will cost to complete the project." He said he hopes it will finally be ready for area veterans, "sometime in 2017." 
While work has resumed for now, Sloan said the VA only has enough money left to keep the project going for a few months. To finish it, Congress will have to come up with more. 
If passed, Coffman's legislation would lift the current $800 million spending cap. "Right now there is nothing that we can do to reverse the costly mistakes that the VA has made," he said. "This project can't be left sitting there half-finished." 
However, Coffman said his legislation will also include the requirement that the VA transfer authority over all its construction projects to the Army Corps. "We cannot expect those who drove us into the ditch at the [VA] to drive us out of the ditch. That's just not going to happen." 
Sloan said the agency wants to stay in control. "Whether or not it makes sense for the Corps to take over all the VA's construction activity, I'm not there yet," he said.  
Colorado veteran John Dennis expressed disgust at the course of the project. "The people that are spearheading this new hospital, which is a much-needed thing, to me are acting like selfish children," he said.

'Severe' flu season could grip US, CDC doc warns


A deadly influenza strain has the U.S. in the grip of what could develop into a "severe" flu season, with widespread cases already reported in 36 states, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert said Tuesday.
The H3N2 strain, the most common flu virus this season, began mutating shortly after U.S. health experts created this year's vaccine -- rendering it less effective compared to past flu vaccines, Dr. Michael Jhung, a medical officer with the CDC's influenza division, told FoxNews.com.
The H3N2 virus was predominant during the 2012-13, 2007-08 and 2003-04 flu seasons, the CDC said earlier this month. Because it's been associated with particularly harsh flu seasons in the past, the CDC believes the 2014-15 season could be a "severe" one, Jhung said.
But he cautioned that this year's flu season -- which began in late November and is expected to continue through April -- won't be "terribly severe."
"We're seeing things that we see every year," Jhung said. "We're not seeing dramatically higher levels of flu activity than we see every year."
The CDC says that those at high risk from influenza include children younger than 5 years (especially those younger than 2 years); adults 65 years and older; pregnant women; and people with certain chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart or lung disease, and kidney disease.
So far, the CDC has recorded 15 flu-related deaths in children across the U.S. this season, though Jhung said it's too soon to make comparisons to past years. Overall, there were 109 flu-related deaths in kids last year, and 171 in the 2012-13 season. There were more hospitalizations so far this year compared to the same time in the previous two seasons, however.
The CDC does not compile similar data for flu-related deaths in adults.
Jhung said that because this year's vaccine might not be as effective as that of past years, people at high risk from the flu, including the elderly, young children and people with underlying chronic medical conditions should obtain flu anti-virals.
And he said Americans who haven't gotten the vaccine yet should get it, adding that only 40 percent of people who the CDC believes should get vaccinated have done so thus far.
"We're not even halfway through the flu season," he said. "It's certainly not too late to get vaccinated."

De Blasio aides reportedly urged NYC mayor's political allies to blast cops for funeral gesture


Top aides to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reportedly urged his political allies to blast the city's police union and rank-and-file officers for turning their backs on the mayor during the funeral for one of two NYPD cops assassinated earlier this month. 
The website DNAinfo.com reported Tuesday that members of de Blasio's government affairs staff began contacting Democratic state and city officials Monday asking them to publicly criticize Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch. 
While this was going on, the website reported, de Blasio himself was setting up a meeting with the heads of five police unions in an effort to repair a relationship that has been stretched close to a total breaking point in recent weeks. 
"City Hall wanted me to blast the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association for turning their backs on him," one legislator told the site. "They ... said they were calling all of us, and that it was our obligation to stand up defending the mayor." The legislator described the tenor of the call as being "because they were calling that we should do whatever they ask."
Another pol told DNAinfo that he did not feel pressured to speak out and did not agree with the police's gestures toward the mayor, but still felt it was "really inappropriate" for the mayor's team to make such a request. 
"The mayor's people said that this had nothing to do with politics," one of the lawmakers added. "So I said, 'then what is the purpose of this call?'"
De Blasio spokesman Phil Walzak denied asking the lawmakers to "'attack' anyone," and claimed the calls were to encourage support for the murdered officers' families, a claim one of the politicians contacted called "preposterous" and "not reality."
Police officers were seen turning their backs on de Blasio during Saturday's funeral for Officer Rafael Ramos, who was ambushed and killed along with his partner Wenjian Liu Dec. 20 in Brooklyn by a gunman who made posts on his Instagram expressing a desire to kill officers in revenge for the July death of Eric Garner. 
Garner, a Staten Island man, died after he was apparently placed in a chokehold by an NYPD officer. Regular protests have occurred in New York City and around the country since a grand jury decided not to indict the officer involved in the confrontation. 
PBA President Lynch said Tuesday's meeting with the mayor had ended with "no resolve", adding that "our thought here today is that actions speak louder than words and time will tell."

Bad weather wreaks havoc on search for victims of AirAsia flight disaster



Stormy weather has hindered the efforts of rescuers to recover the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501, even as a seventh body was pulled from the Java Sea Wednesday. 
Heavy rain, wind, and thick clouds have prevented divers from carrying out their recovery operations and largely grounded helicopters, though ships were still scouring the area. 
Indonesian search and rescue chief Bambang Soelistyo said that the bodies of four men and three women had been recovered as of Wednesday morning. Soelistyo said that one of the women was clad in the distinctive red uniform of an AirAsia flight attendant. Another victim was wearing a life jacket, which may raise questions about whether the passengers may have known that the plane was going down, despite the lack of a distress call from the pilots. 
"One individual with a life jacket doesn’t tell much," Greg Waldron, the Asia managing editor for industry publication Flightglobal, told The Wall Street Journal. "It could be a person who thought that the plane was going down and put the life jacket on. I really don’t know what to make of it."
"If the pilots had ordered passengers to wear their life jackets," Waldron added. "I'd imagine they would have the presence of mind to make a distress call."
Meanwhile, officials said that sonar images had identified what appeared to be large parts of the Airbus A320, but strong currents appeared to be moving the wreckage. Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency predicted that the conditions would worsen, with more intense rains, through Friday.
"It seems all the wreckage found has drifted more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) from yesterday's location," said Vice Air Marshal Sunarbowo Sandi, search and rescue coordinator in Pangkalan Bun on Borneo island, the closest town to the site. "We are expecting those bodies will end up on beaches." Sandi announced that the search for bodies had been expanded to approximately 94 miles of the nearby coastline to allow for that possibility. 
The airliner's disappearance halfway through a two-hour flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore early Sunday triggered an international search for the aircraft involving dozens of planes, ships and helicopters from numerous countries. It is still unclear what brought the plane down.
The aircraft's cockpit voice and flight data recorders, or black boxes, must be recovered before officials can start determining what caused the crash. Items recovered so far include a life jacket, an emergency window, children's shoes, a blue suitcase and backpacks filled with food.
Experts say that the recovery of the recorders would be aided by the relatively concentrated area of wreckage and the shallowness of the water. 
Simple wooden boxes containing bodies, with signs numbered 001 and 002, were unloaded in Pangkalan Bun, with flowers placed on top.
Nearly all the passengers were Indonesian. The country is predominantly Muslim, but most of those aboard were Christians of Chinese descent.
One Surabaya church -- Manwar Sharon Church -- lost 41 members in the crash. On Wednesday, around 100 relatives gathered for a prayer service in an hall at the Surabaya airport where the Rev. Philip Mantofa urged the crowd to hold onto their faith, despite their pain.
"Some things do not make sense to us, but God is bigger than all this," he said. "Our God is not evil ... help us God to move forward even though we are surrounded by darkness."
Before breaking up, those gathered stood together and sang with their hands reaching upward: "I surrender all. I surrender all. I surrender all to God our savior. I surrender all."
About 125 family members had planned to travel to Pangkalan Bun, 100 miles from the area where bodies were first spotted, to start identifying their loved ones. However, Surabaya airport general manager Trikora Hardjo later said the trip was canceled after authorities suggested they stay to avoid slowing down the operation.
Instead, some relatives gave blood for DNA tests in Surabaya, where the bodies will be transported, and submitted photos of their loved ones along with identifying information, such as tattoos or birth marks that could help make the process easier.
Nearly all the passengers from Indonesia were frequent visitors to Singapore, particularly on holidays.
It was 13-year-old Adrian Fernando's first trip to the city-state and was supposed to be a fun vacation with his aunt, uncle and cousin before he went back to school.
"He is my only son," said mother Linca Gonimasela, 39, who could not join them because of work. "At first, he didn't want to go, but later on he was persuaded to join them for the New Year holiday."
Malaysia-based AirAsia's loss comes on top of the still-unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March with 239 people aboard, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine, which killed all 298 passengers and crew.
The jet's last communication indicated the pilots were worried about bad weather. They sought permission to climb above threatening clouds but were denied because of heavy air traffic. Four minutes later, the jet disappeared from the radar without issuing a distress signal.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Jesse Watters


Soldiers relocate Hawaii wedding so Obama can play golf



Before they could say "I do," President Obama needed to play through. 
Two Army soldiers reportedly had to relocate their Hawaii wedding over the weekend so the commander-in-chief could play golf. 
Bloomberg reports that the Army captains, Natalie Heimel and Edward Mallue Jr., had planned to get married at the 16th tee box at Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course, on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, on Sunday. 
But just as they were finishing their wedding rehearsal on Saturday, they were told they'd have to move -- to accommodate the president's round the following day. 
"It was emotional, especially for her -- she's the bride and in less than 24 hours they had to change everything they had planned," Mallue's sister Jamie McCarthy told Bloomberg. 
The couple reportedly ended up moving to a lush site overlooking the 16th hole, which one of the wedding planners said was more secluded and prettier anyway. 
The White House may not have even known about the wedding in advance. 
And after Bloomberg asked the White House about the incident, Obama apparently tried to make it right. 
McCarthy told Bloomberg the president called the bride to apologize and congratulate them. "Made their day," she said. 
A source familiar with the incident confirmed the phone call to Fox News. 
Still, the incident proved fast fodder for the president's critics. 
"I usually say at least he isn't doing something harmful when he's playing golf..." Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., quipped on Twitter, linking to a story on the relocated wedding.

ObamaCare fines rising in 2015, IRS prepares to collect


Don't have health insurance? Get ready to pay up. 
The ObamaCare-mandated fines for not having insurance are rising in 2015 -- and for the first time, will be collected by the Internal Revenue Service. 
The individual requirement to buy health insurance went into effect earlier this year. But this coming tax season is the first time all taxpayers will have to report to the IRS whether they had health insurance for the prior year. 
The fines for the 2014 year were relatively modest -- $95 per person or 1 percent of household income (above the threshold for filing taxes), whichever is more. 
But insurance scofflaws face a sharp increase if they don't get covered soon. The fine will jump in 2015 to $325 or 2 percent of income, whichever is higher. By 2016, the average fine will be about $1,100, based on government figures. 
The insurance requirement and penalties remain the most unpopular part of the health care law. They were intended to serve a broader purpose by nudging healthy people into the insurance pool, helping to keep premiums more affordable. But the application of fines in 2015 could renew criticism of the law, at a time when Republicans are taking control of Congress and looking at ways to undercut the policy. 
According to government figures, tens of millions of people still fall into the ranks of the uninsured. 
Unclear is how many would actually be assessed a fine. The law offers about 30 different exemptions, most of which involve financial hardships. Further, it's unclear how aggressively the IRS would go after the fines. 
Many taxpayers may be able to get a pass. 
Based on congressional analysis, tax preparation giant H&R Block says roughly 4 million uninsured people will pay penalties and 26 million will qualify for exemptions from the list of waivers. 
Deciding what kind of waiver to seek could be crucial. Some can be claimed directly on a tax return, but others involve mailing paperwork to the Department of Health and Human Services. Tax preparation companies say the IRS has told them it's taking steps to make sure taxpayers' returns don't languish in bureaucratic limbo while HHS rules on their waivers. 
TurboTax has created a free online tool called "Exemption Check" for people to see if they may qualify for a waiver. Charges apply later if the taxpayer files through TurboTax. People also can get a sense of the potential hit by going online and using the Tax Policy Center's Affordable Care Act penalty calculator. 
Timing also will be critical for uninsured people who want to avoid the rising penalties for 2015. 
That's because Feb. 15 is the last day of open enrollment under the health law. After that, only people with special circumstances can sign up. But just 5 percent of uninsured people know the correct deadline, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll. 
"We could be looking at a real train wreck after Feb. 15," said Stan Dorn, a health policy expert at the nonpartisan Urban Institute. "People will file their tax returns and learn they are subject to a much larger penalty for 2015, and they can do absolutely nothing to avoid that." 
In a decision that allowed Obama's law to advance, the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the coverage requirement and its accompanying fines were a constitutionally valid exercise of Congress' authority to tax. 
Sensitive to political backlash, supporters of the health care law have played down the penalties in their sign-up campaigns. But stressing the positive -- such as the availability of financial help and the fact that insurers can no longer turn away people with health problems -- may be contributing to the information gap about the penalties.

Rep. Michael Grimm to resign after admitting to tax evasion


U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm plans to resign, Fox News confirmed Monday, one week after the Staten Island congressman admitted to federal tax evasion.
Grimm, who was re-elected to a third term representing New York's 13th district in November, is expected to resign sometime this week.
"After much thought and prayer, I have made the very difficult decision to step down from Congress effective January 5th, 2015," Grimm said in a statement. "This decision is made with a heavy heart, as I have enjoyed a very special relationship and closeness with my constituents, whom I care about deeply.
"The events which led to this day did not break my spirit, nor the will of the voters. However, I do not believe that I can continue to be 100% effective in the next Congress, and therefore, out of respect for the Office and the people I so proudly represent, it is time for me to start the next chapter of my life."
Grimm, a Republican, pleaded guilty on Dec. 23 in federal court in Brooklyn to one count of aiding in the filing of a false tax return. He had been accused of hiding more than $1 million in sales and wages while running a Manhattan health-food restaurant.
Under the plea agreement, he could face up to three years in federal prison. His sentencing is set for June 8.
Following his guilty plea, Grimm said he planned to continue serving in the Congress.
"As long as I'm able to serve, I'm going to serve," he said last week. "As of right now I'm still in a capacity to serve, and that's exactly what I plan on doing."
The House won't formally recognize the vacancy until after the new Congress convenes on Jan. 6. Grimm's resignation will reduce the GOP majority in the new Congress from 247 seats to 246.
A senior Democratic source tells Fox News that even though Democrats have eyed the seat, the party believes it will be difficult to pick it up in a special election.
The indictment against Grimm alleged the tax fraud began in 2007 after he retired from the FBI and began investing in a Manhattan eatery called Healthalicious. It accused him of underreporting more than $1 million in wages and receipts to evade payroll, income and sales taxes, in part by paying immigrant workers, some of them in the country illegally, in cash.
In court last week, Grimm acknowledged that while operating the restaurant, "we underestimated gross receipts and used money to pay employees off the books. The tax returns were false."
The case stemmed from an investigation of Grimm's campaign financing. He was never charged with any offense related to his campaign, but a woman romantically linked to him pleaded guilty in September to lining up straw donors for his 2010 run. Grimm has denied knowledge of any fundraising improprieties.
Grimm, 44, made headlines in January after telling a local cable TV news station reporter he wanted to throw him off a balcony in the Capitol for asking about the campaign finance inquiry.

US airstrike targets al-Shabab militants, Pentagon says


A U.S. airstrike targeted a senior leader of the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia, the Pentagon said Monday.
Pentagon officials did not identify the leader of say whether the strike was successful.
A senior defense official said the strike did not target Ahmad Umar, who took over as the top leader of al-Shabab when its previous leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Somalia on Sept. 1. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the attack by name.
In a brief written statement the Pentagon said the airstrike took place Monday in the vicinity of Saakow, Somalia. It provided no details, beyond saying it did not believe the attack caused any civilian or bystander casualties.
Al-Shabab is an ultra-conservative Islamic extremist group that is linked to Al Qaeda. The group wants to run Somalia under its interpretation of Shariah law.
Umar, the top al-Shabab leader, goes by several aliases, but intelligence officials in Somalia say they know him as Sheikh Mahad Abdikarim, a militant who once governed Somalia's Bakool region on behalf of al-Shabab.
In 2012 the U.S. offered a $3 million reward for information leading to Umar's arrest. At the time Umar was reported to be al-Shabab's intelligence chief.

Report: More than 40 bodies found in search for missing AirAsia plane



More than 40 bodies have been reportedly found in the area where the missing AirAsia last made contact with air traffic controllers.
Sky News also reports that the "shadow" of a plane has been spotted on the seabed.
The bodies were found in the Java Sea six miles from Flight 8501's last known contact. The plane disappeared Sunday with 162 people on board traveling from Surbaya, Indonesia to Singapore.
The three bodies were initially recovered by an Indonesian navy ship and were not wearing life jackets.
Family members watched the graphic details unfold on local television. Indonesian television showed a half-naked bloated body bobbing in the sea. Many screamed and another man fainted and was rushed from the room on a stretcher.
CEO of AirAsia offered his condolences in a message on his Twitter account.

Indonesia officials confirmed early Tuesday that 'victims' were spotted in the area where the plane disappeared. Officials also said they found a life jacket and an emergency door and were "95-percent" sure that the debris belonged to the doomed plane.
AirAsia Flight 8501, an Airbus A320-200, was carrying 162 people before it disappeared Sunday after seeking permission to divert its course due to impending severe weather.
Indonesia search-and-rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo speculated Monday that the plane was "at the bottom of the sea."

Monday, December 29, 2014

Obamacare Cartoon


NYC Police Commissioner says cops 'feel under attack' from White House, Justice Department


Cops on the beat and their bosses believe they are under attack from President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, New York City’s police commissioner said Sunday.
Commissioner William Bratton said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the president and the attorney general have to see why police have the anxieties and perceptions they have as law enforcement grapples with the fallout from the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases.
“They really do feel under attack, rank-and-file officers and much of American police leadership, that they feel they’re under attack from the federal government at the highest levels,” Bratton said. “So that’s something we need to understand also, this sense of perception that becomes a reality.”
 He added, “We have a lot of talking we’re going to have to do here to understand all sides of this issue. This is not a one-sided issue.”
On the program the commissioner also said the rift between New York City cops and Mayor Bill de Blasio is going to take a lot more time to heal.
“However we will be making an effort to sit down and talk with the (police) union leaders, in particular, to deal with their issues,” Bratton said.
On CBS’ “Face the Nation” Bratton criticized his officers for turning their backs on de Blasio Saturday as the mayor eulogized fallen police officer Rafael Ramos.  Hundreds of police officers standing outside the church where Ramos was being laid to rest turned away from TV screens showing de Blasio as he delivered his eulogy.
“I think it was very inappropriate at that event,” Bratton said. “That funeral was held to honor Officer Ramos, and to bring politics or to bring issues into that event, I think was very inappropriate and I do not support it.”
Ramos and his partner were killed Dec. 20 when a gunman ambushed them in their patrol car on a Brooklyn street.

Hamas turns back Gaza war orphans bound for Israel on goodwill trip




Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip prevented a group of 37 children and their adult chaperones from entering Israel on what would have been a rare goodwill visit meant to foster peace in the region. 
The New York Times reported that the bus carrying the group was forced to turn back at the Erez border crossing, a major checkpoint at the northern end of the Gaza Strip. Hamas spokesman Eyad Bozum told reporters that that the decision was made "to protect the culture of our children and our people" from what he described as "[normalizing] our children with the Zionist occupation." He said Hamas would make sure such a trip "will never happen again."
The children, most of whom have lost at least one parent in fighting between Israel and Hamas were to enter Israel on Sunday and spend a week visiting Jewish and Arab communities and a zoo. They were also going to travel to the West Bank for a meeting with the Palestinian president. Bozum said the children were all between 13 and 16 years old and were to be accompanied by five adults from Gaza.
The two sides fought a 50-day war this summer that caused heavy damage in the coastal enclave. According to the United Nations, the fighting killed more than 2,100 Palestinians, though it is not clear how many of those were civilians. On the Israeli side, the fighting killed 72 people, the vast majority of them soldiers, while rocket attacks disrupted the lives of millions of people.
Yoel Marshak, an Israeli organizer and activist, told the Associated Press that the visit was meant to a show a positive side of Israel and promote peace.
"These children will one day be the leaders of Gaza and they would have remembered this trip and known that we can live in peace, side by side," he said.
Marshak told the Times that a similar trip took place after a conflict between Israeli and Hamas in 2009. On that occasion, Hamas prevented the group from crossing the border twice, but later acquiesced. He said he received written approval for the trip three weeks ago from Hamas and that the cancellation came as a surprise. He said he and other organizers were working to reorganize the trip.
Said Abu Luli, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy whose father was killed in an electrical accident in 2009, said he was disappointed he could not make the trip.
"I was very happy that I will go and was saddened when we were prevented," he said in a telephone interview. "I was hoping to visit the places in the West Bank and our lands in Palestine," he added.

Hundreds await rescue from crippled ferry in Adriatic Sea


Dozens of ferry passengers in the Adriatic Sea remained stranded and adrift between the coasts of Italy and Albania Monday morning, one day after a fire crippled the vessel. 
Meanwhile, Italian and Greek military and coast guard rescue crews battled gale-force winds and massive waves as helicopters plucked small groups of people and whisked them to safety aboard any of ten mercantile ships waiting nearby. One person has died in the risky rescue operations and at least two others have been injured. 
The BBC reported that an Italian air force pilot who participated in the rescue told state television that his helicopter's cabin filled with smoke from the fire, adding another degree of difficulty to the operation. 
A cargo ship with 49 people evacuated from the Norman Atlantic arrived in the Italian port of Bari on Monday, the first big group to reach land after rough seas forced the initial plan of docking down the coast in Brindisi to be scrapped. Greek Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said early Monday that 316 people had been evacuated, leaving 161 more on board.
The first to disembark in Bari was an injured man wrapped in a yellow striped blanket and wearing bandages around his bare feet, helped down the ship's ladder by two rescue workers. Other evacuees, many wrapped in blankets, made their way slowly down the ladder with assistance, some thrusting their hands in a victory sign as they waited their turn. Among them were four children. TV crews and relatives gathered on the docks below in near silence.
The evacuees then boarded bright red fire department buses. Officials have said hotels have been booked for them around town.
The Italian Navy said the man who died and his injured wife were transported by helicopter to the southern Italian city of Brindisi. It was unclear how the death and injury occurred, but the Greek Coast Guard said the pair -- both Greek passengers -- were found in a lifeboat rescue chute.
Other survivors had been taken to southern Italian hospitals in smaller numbers in the hours immediately after the rescue operation got underway. Several were treated for hypothermia, some for mild carbon monoxide poisoning and one woman suffered a fractured pelvis, officials said.
Dr. Raffaele Montinaro at the hospital in Lecce said the three children taken there were in "excellent" condition, and emergency room doctor Antonio Palumbo said a pregnant woman was also in good condition.
"For sure they are scared," said Eligio Rocco Catamo, manager of the Copertino hospital. "But I should say that I was impressed by the calm and the serenity they are showing."
A local convent was housing survivors who were released from the hospital.
 Helicopters rescued passengers throughout the night, completing 34 sorties with winds over 40 knots (46 miles per hour). The Greek coast guard said seven people had been airlifted from the ferry to Corfu.
`'Notwithstanding the weather and the darkness, which is another factor, we persisted throughout the entire night," Italian coast guard Admiral Giovanni Pettorino told Sky TG24.
Those remaining on board were given thermal blankets and found places to wait protected from the elements `'even if the conditions remain very difficult," Pettorino said.
Italian navy Capt. Riccardo Rizzotto said the ultimate destination of the stricken ferry was unclear. Some Italian officials said it would likely be towed to an Italian port, even though it was currently closer to Albania.
"The priority now is to rescue the crew and passengers as quickly as possible," Rizzotto said.
The fire broke out before dawn Sunday on a car deck of the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic, carrying 422 passengers and 56 crew members. All day and night, passengers huddled on the vessel's upper decks, pelted by rain and hail and struggling to breathe through the thick smoke.
The second injury was to a member of the Italian military involved in the rescue operation, Pettorino said.
Pettorino said two Italian tugs tried to attach themselves to the ferry in the evening, but were frustrated by the thick smoke. Eventually the tugs managed to attach the line to stabilize the ferry, ANSA reported.
Passengers described scenes of terror and chaos when the fire broke out as they slept in their cabins.
"They called first on women and children to be evacuated from the ship," Vassiliki Tavrizelou, who was rescued along with her 2-year-old daughter, told The Associated Press.
Dotty Channing-Williams, mother of British ferry passenger Nick Channing-Williams, said she had managed to speak to her son before he and his Greek fiancee were airlifted to safety. She said she had complained to her son that there was no information available for families.
"He said `Well, it's an awful lot worse for us because we're actually standing out here in the pouring rain, and thunder and lightning, and we really just don't know exactly what's going to happen."'

Objects spotted in search for missing AirAsia flight as hope fades for passengers


The search for missing AirAsia Flight 8501 may have received a boost Monday after an Indonesian officials said that Australian planes had spotted objects in the Java Sea search area.
Jakarta's Air Force base commander Rear Marshal Dwi Putranto told the Associated Press that he was informed Monday that an Orion aircraft had detected "suspicious" objects near Nangka island, about 100 miles southwest of Pangkalan Bun, near central Kalimantan, or 700 miles from the location where the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers early Sunday.
"However, we cannot be sure whether it is part of the missing AirAsia plane," Putranto cautioned, "We are now moving in that direction, which is in cloudy conditions."
Air Force spokesman Rear Marshal Hadi Tjahnanto told Indonesia's MetroTV that an Indonesian helicopter in the eastern part of Belitung island spotted two oily spots on the sea about 105 nautical miles east of Tanjung Pandan -- much closer to the point of last contact. He said samples of the oil would be collected and analyzed to see if they are connected to the missing plane.
False sightings of objects and oil slicks that initially appear to be from a missing plane were among the issues that plagued the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 earlier this year. The fate of that plane, which vanished March 8 with 239 people on board, remains unknown. 
As the search for the Airbus A320 resumed Monday morning local time (Sunday evening Eastern Time), Indonesia's search and rescue chief said it was likely that the plane had crashed with 162 people on board. 
"Based on the coordinates that we know, the evaluation would be that any estimated crash position is in the sea, and that the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea," Henry Bambang Soelistyo told reporters.
Flight 8501 vanished Sunday morning in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. The last communication from the cockpit to air traffic control was a request by one of the pilots to increase altitude from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet because of the rough weather. Air traffic control was not able to immediately grant the request because another plane was in airspace at 34,000 feet, said Bambang Tjahjono, director of the state-owned company in charge of air-traffic control.
By the time clearance could be given, Flight 8501 had disappeared, Tjahjono said. The twin-engine, single-aisle plane, which never sent a distress signal, was last seen on radar four minutes after the last communication from the cockpit.
First Adm. Sigit Setiayana, the Naval Aviation Center commander at the Surabaya air force base, said 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships were taking part in the search, along with ships and planes from Singapore and Malaysia. The Australian Air Force also sent a search plane.
Searchers had to cope with heavy rain Sunday, but Setiayana said Monday that visibility was good. "God willing, we can find it soon," he told The Associated Press.
Sunardi, a forecaster at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said Sunday dense storm clouds were detected at up to 44,000 feet in the area at the time.
"There could have been turbulence, lightning and vertical as well as horizontal strong winds within such clouds," said Sunardi, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.
Airline pilots routinely fly around thunderstorms, said John Cox, a former accident investigator. Using on-board radar, flight crews can typically see a storm forming from more than 100 miles away.
In such cases, pilots have plenty of time to find a way around the storm cluster or look for gaps to fly through, he said.
"It's not like you have to make an instantaneous decision," Cox said. Storms can be hundreds of miles long, but "because a jet moves at 8 miles a minute, if you to go 100 miles out of your way, it's not a problem."
Authorities have not said whether they lost only the secondary radar target, which is created by the plane's transponder, or whether the primary radar target, which is created by energy reflected from the plane's body, was lost as well, Cox said.
The plane had an Indonesian captain, Iryanto, who uses one name, and a French co-pilot, five cabin crew members and 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, the airline said in a statement. Among the passengers were three South Koreans, a Malaysian, a British national and his 2-year-old Singaporean daughter. The rest were Indonesians, who are frequent visitors to Singapore.
AirAsia said the captain had more than 20,000 flying hours, of which 6,100 were with AirAsia on the Airbus 320. The first officer had 2,275 flying hours.
"Papa, come home, I still need you," Angela Anggi Ranastianis, the captain's 22-year-old daughter pleaded on her Path page late Sunday, which was widely quoted by Indonesian media. "Bring back my papa. Papa, please come home."
At Iryanto's house in the East Java town of Sidoarjo, neighbors, relatives and friends gathered Monday to pray and recite the Quran to support the distraught family. Their desperate cries were so loud, they could sometimes be heard outside where three LCD televisions had been set up to monitor search developments.
"He is a good man. That's why people here appointed him as our neighborhood chief for the last two years," said Bagianto Djoyonegoro, a friend and neighbor.
Many recalled him as an experienced Air Force pilot who flew F-16 fighter jets before becoming a commercial airline pilot.
The missing aircraft was delivered to AirAsia in October 2008, and the plane had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours during some 13,600 flights, Airbus said in a statement.
The aircraft had last undergone scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, according to AirAsia.
The airline has dominated budget travel in Southeast Asia for years, highlighting its low fares with the slogan, "Now everyone can fly." It flies short routes of just a few hours, connecting the region's large cities. Recently, it has tried to expand into long-distance flying through sister airline AirAsia X.
"Until today, we have never lost a life," AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes, who founded the low-cost carrier in 2001, told reporters at Jakarta airport. "But I think that any airline CEO who says he can guarantee that his airline is 100 percent safe, is not accurate."
The A320 family of jets, which includes the A319 and A321, has a good safety record, with just 0.14 fatal accidents per million takeoffs, according to a safety study published by Boeing in August.
Flight 8501 disappeared while at its cruising altitude, which is usually the safest part of a trip. Just 10 percent of fatal crashes from 2004 to 2013 occurred while a plane was in that stage of flight, the safety report said.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Santa never Showed Cartoon


Dems race to back Clinton even before 2016 announcement

What a Joke.

High-profile Democrats are jumping on the “Ready for Hillary” bandwagon, supporting Clinton for president before she even enters the race -- boosting her presumptive candidacy and potentially their own political fortunes.
Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Al Franken, D-Minn., are among the biggest names to get on board -- positioning themselves in a familiar game in which early supporters are often rewarded with plum administration jobs or some political favor if their candidate wins.
“It’s a time-honored tradition,” said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor. “And a lot of candidates remember who was there early, who was willing to take the leap.”
What makes Clinton’s case so remarkable is the number of soft endorsements from A-list Democrats before she has officially announced whether she will run.
Kaine was among the first, telling a gathering of female Democrats in South Carolina this spring that Clinton is “the right person for the job.”
“So I’m doing my bit now to encourage Hillary Clinton to run,” he said. 
Clinton appears to have plenty of encouragement, including extraordinary early-polling numbers. 
A recent averaging of polls by RealClearPolitics.com shows her leading all potential Democratic White House candidates with 61.5 percent of the likely vote -- 49.2 percentage points ahead of her closest potential challenger, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Though Clinton also enjoyed the lead in early polls in her 2008 presidential run, such numbers appear enticing for politicians, donors and others looking for perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime chance to have a friend in the White House and even land a top appointment.  
Franken is among the most recent to give his support. 
“I think that Hillary would make a great president,” he told MSNBC. “I think that I’m ready for Hillary.”
Franken, whose politics appear closer to those of Warren’s, said she is also “great” but “not running.”
The phrase “Ready for Hillary” appears to have started in January 2013 as a political action committee that organizers say “quickly became a nationwide grassroots movement” encouraging Clinton to run.
The PAC now boasts more than 2 million supporters and 50,000 donors. It has so far collected $4.43 million in donations with $875,626 in available cash, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission filings.
Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor and 2004 presidential candidate, also is backing Clinton, a former first lady, secretary of State and New York senator.
Earlier this month, Dean wrote a 660-word op-ed piece in Politico in which he touted his long-time political association with Clinton and listed her professional accomplishments, declaring her “by far the most qualified person in the United States to serve as president.”
“If she runs, I will support her,” he wrote.
Dean was chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2008 when Clinton and Barack Obama competed for the party’s presidential nomination and his job was to get a Democrat in the White House.
His successful effort led to speculation, particularly after he resigned from his chairmanship days after the general election, that Obama would offer him a Cabinet or other high-level administration post. However, such a deal never materialized.
Clinton appears as if she’s already running a campaign, considering she published a book and spent the past several months fulfilling a full slate of speaking engagements and stumping for fellow Democrats during the elections that concluded last month.  
However, she has given no specific deadline on announcing whether she will indeed run in 2016.
That several Democratic politicians have already signed on might seem unusual. But Trippi points out that those who wait often get passed over in the game of low-risk, low-reward.
“And if an endorsement comes after the nomination it’s like ‘ehh,’ ” he said.
Among the other Democrats also throwing early support to Clinton is Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who worked in the Bill Clinton administration and later served as Obama’s chief of staff.
In June, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin joined Emanuel as a headliner for a Ready for Hillary fundraiser in the Chicago area.
And California Rep. Brad Sherman, a 2008 Clinton supporter, is encouraging her to run again.
“Millions of Americans are ready for Hillary to run -- and ready to support her if she does” he said recently. “She was an outstanding senator and secretary of State. I know she will be an outstanding president.”

Pre-empted release of Jeb Bush emails shows former Florida gov's handling of several high-profile issues


A sampling of emails set to be released by Jeb Bush from his years as Florida governor provides a glimpse of how he handled a range of high-profile issues -- from the state to the international level.
The emails to staffers and residents show how he dealt with such issues as the 9/11 terror attacks to the contentious 2000 Florida recount vote that decided the presidential election for brother and Republican nominee George W. Bush.
Bush said 11 days ago that he would release 250,000 emails, presumably to show Americans his leadership ability in times of crisis. The promise was part of a larger announcement that he will “actively explore” a 2016 White House bid.
Some of the emails were made public Friday by The Wall Street Journal and American Bridge, a liberal group that in recent months has targeted such potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates as Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
“I believe my brother will win if the law is adhered to,” Bush wrote to a man days after the Nov. 7, 2000 vote.
Bush also writes about the international crisis involving Elian Gonzales that started in 1999 when the young Cuban boy, now 21, was found floating on an inner tube off the Florida coast. His mother had died during the journey to the United States. Gonzales was given to Miami relatives until taken by armed federal agents and returned to his father in Cuba.
“I am heartbroken over the federal government’s actions this morning,” Bush wrote to a correspondent on April 22, 2000, hours after the agents raided the Miami home.

US Chamber of Commerce to push immigration reform, tax breaks in Congress


The U.S. Chamber of Commerce flexed its muscle in the midterm election, winning 14 of 15 Republican primaries in which it was involved and helping the GOP recapture the Senate. Now it wants the Republican majority in Congress to get to work.
Chamber Chief Executive Tom Donohue said in an interview that the GOP has two years to enact “a vigorous program aimed at meeting the needs of the American people” or risk losing their majority. The Chamber wants Congress to act on business priorities such as an immigration overhaul, transportation funding, tax breaks and trade agreements.
Mr. Donohue warned lawmakers to move beyond intraparty skirmishes and partisan bickering that paralyzed the last Congress, hinting that his group might look to oust lawmakers who try to derail the legislative process.
The Chamber played a central role in the midterm campaigns, spending more than $70 million, according to an official. After backing a number of losing candidates in 2012, the goal for the group—and the Republican party—in 2014 was to nominate candidates with the best prospects of winning a general election, and an aptitude to govern once they arrived in Washington.
“We had candidates who were fundamentally more interested in turning over the apple cart than they were in governing,” Mr. Donohue said of the congressional elections in 2010 and 2012.
Of 268 candidates the Chamber endorsed in the 2014 election, 249 won, including 22 in the 30 most contested races in which the group was involved. In the eyes of Mr. Donohue and other Chamber officials, the results sent a clear message: “People want Congress and the Senate to govern,” Mr. Donohue said. “They want them to be competent.”
Polls support that view. Public-opinion surveys taken before and after the election showed a much higher share of the electorate wanted to see lawmakers compromise than in 2010, when the tea-party wave swept Republicans to power in the House.

Singapore-bound AirAsia plane with 162 on board missing


Indonesia and Malaysia have launched a search-and-rescue operation after an AirAsia flight disappeared over the Java Sea with 162 people on board early Sunday. 
Flight 8501 was scheduled to make a relatively short early-morning flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore but lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:24 a.m. local time (6:24 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday), approximately an hour before it was due to land.
Eleven minutes earlier, according to Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia's acting director general of transportation, the pilot had "asked to hinder cloud by turning left and go higher to 34,000 feet." Murjatmodjo said that there was no distress signal from the plane. AirAsia Indonesia had earlier confirmed that the pilot had asked to change course due to weather in the area. 
"We don't dare to presume what has happened except that it has lost contact," Murjatmodjo told reporters. 
The single-aisle Airbus A320-200 had an Indonesian captain and a French co-pilot, five cabin crew and 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, AirAsia Indonesia said in a statement. Among the passengers were three South Koreans and one each from Singapore, Malaysia. The rest were Indonesians.
The airline's statement added that the plane's captain had a total of 6,100 flying hours, while the first officer had flown 2,275 hours. 
At Surabaya airport, dozens of relatives sat in a room, many of them talking on mobile phones and crying. Some looked dazed. As word spread, more and more family members were arriving at the crisis center to await word.
Flightradar24, a flight tracking website, said the plane was delivered in September 2008, which would make it six years old. It said the plane was flying at 32,000 feet, the regular cruising altitude for most jetliners, when the signal from the plane was lost. AirAsia said that the plane had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16. 
Murjatmodjo, the Indonesian official, said the plane is believed to have vanished somewhere over the Java Sea between Tanjung Pandan on Belitung island and Pontianak, on Indonesia's part of Kalimantan island.
Transport Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters in Surabaya that the position was believed to be near the coast line. He said search and rescue efforts now involved the Indonesian army, the national Search and Rescue Agency as well as Singapore and Malaysia. But that effort will focus on the area around Belitung island.
Air Force spokesman Hadi Tjahjanto said three aircraft, including a surveillance plane, had been dispatched to the area. The Singapore air force and the navy also were searching with two C-130 planes.
The Singapore aviation authority said it was informed about the missing plane by Jakarta ground control about half an hour after the contact was lost.
Founder Tony Fernandes, who is the face of AirAsia and an active Twitter user, sent out a tweet saying: "Thank you for all your thoughts and prays[sic]. We must stay strong." He tweeted later that he was heading to Surabaya.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, expressed solidarity with AirAsia. In a tweet he said: "Very sad to hear that AirAsia Indonesia QZ8501 is missing. My thoughts are with the families. Malaysia stands ready to help."
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement that President Obama had briefed about the missing flight and officials would continue to monitor the situation.
According to the website FlightAware.com, Flight QZ8501 was scheduled to depart from Juanda International Airport, near Surabaya on the Indonesian island of East Java at 5:30 a.m. local time, with arrival in Singapore scheduled for 8:20 a.m. Singapore time (7:20 p.m. Eastern Time Saturday). It had last flown the route on Dec. 26. 
The Airbus A320 is a workhorse of modern aviation. Similar to the Boeing 737, it is used to connect cities anywhere from one to five hours apart. There are currently 3,606 A320s in operation worldwide, according to Airbus. The A320 family of jets, which includes A319 and A321, has a very good safety record, with justá0.14 fatal accidents per million takeoffs, according to a safety study published by Boeing in August.
AirAsia, which has a presence in several Southeast Asian countries, has never lost a plane before. AirAsia Malaysia owns 49 percent of the Indonesian subsidiary. The airline typically flies short routes of just a few hours, connecting large cities of Southeast Asia. However, recently it has tried to expand into long-distance flying through its sister airline AirAsia X.
Earlier this year, national carrier Malaysia Airlines lost two planes. Flight MH370 vanished on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew on board. On July 17, Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. 
The crew's request for an unusual route is curious since the weather "didn't seem to be anything unusual," William Waldock, an expert on air crash search and rescue with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, told the Associated Press.
Severe weather is the reason pilots usually request a different route, but in this case the "winds were light, there were a few thin clouds, but that's about it," he said in an interview.
Waldock cautioned against drawing comparisons to the disappearance of flight MH 370.
"I think we have to let this play out," he said. "Hopefully, the airplane will get found, and if that happens it will probably be in the next few hours. Until then, we have to reserve judgment."
The circumstances bode well for finding the plane since the intended flight time was less than two hours and there is a known position at which the plane disappeared, he said.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

King Prez Cartoon


Perry touts ‘Texas model’ after historic term, eyes 2016



Governors come and governors go, but Rick Perry is leaving a mark on Texas that won't soon be forgotten. 
With the new year, Texas' longest-serving governor will leave the office he's held for more than three consecutive terms. Handing the reins to Attorney General Greg Abbott, his transition marks the end of an era in Texas politics. 
And yet, Perry doesn't sound like a man hanging up his spurs. 
Already, he's stoking chatter of another White House run, reportedly courting donors and taking heed to brush up on his policy to avoid the stumbles of 2012 should he run again. The governor formed a political action committee, in support of fellow Republicans, earlier this year. And he recently confirmed he'll attend a high-profile conservative forum, the Iowa Freedom Summit hosted by Rep. Steve King, in politically important Iowa next month. 
Meanwhile, he's been spending his final days in the Governor's Mansion burnishing his legacy: what his supporters call the "Texas miracle." In an extensive interview with FoxNews.com, the outgoing governor said he has no regrets. 
"If I had any regrets I'd stick around for another four years," Perry said. "I'm ready to go." 
The "Texas miracle" refers to his state's steady job growth and sturdy economy. But Perry tamps down the buzz phrase just a little. 
"Miracles I can't explain, I'll leave those to the good Lord," he said. "This is not a miracle. We know how this happened." 
To hear Perry tell it, the "Texas model" is a proven blueprint that can work across the country. (Yet another Texas-sized hint he's seriously considering a White House run.) 
It's a mark even his critics can't ignore. 
"Governor Perry established in the national mind that Texas is the place for jobs and freedom where entrepreneurship thrives and the American dream is alive," said Cal Jillson, SMU political science professor and author of "Lone Star Tarnished." 
Indeed, Texas under Perry has outpaced any other state on the employment front, creating three out of 10 of all U.S. jobs. Forbes magazine recently named Texas as the leading state for economic climate and future job growth while Chief Executive Magazine readers have named Texas as the number one state to do business for 10 years running. Over 100 of America's top companies -- including AT&T, Fluor, Dell and ExxonMobil -- are based in Texas. Toyota, Apple, Charles Schwab and SpaceX are expanding operations in the state. Perry has crisscrossed the globe with missionary zeal, from Beijing to London, touting a flourishing Texas brand that looks a shade brighter against the national economy. Texas, in turn, is America's top exporting state averaging more than $1 billion in exports every working day. 
"I was always intrigued with economic development and an economic climate that frees people," Perry said. "It was innate, something I derived from watching people I admired like my father, and it wasn't something I read or studied in school." 
But Perry still has plenty of critics, who would no doubt pipe up should he try and bring the "Texas model" to the rest of the country in a 2016 presidential campaign. Plus, he continues to face an indictment for alleged abuse of power, after allegedly pressuring a Democratic prosecutor to resign after a drunk-driving conviction. Perry and his supporters blast the case as baseless and describe his own actions as lawful, but it's an undeniable wild card in his political future. 
Wealth inequality is a big beef with his detractors who prefer to cite other statistics on the state's economy. "Perry leaves everyday Texans with the 13th highest poverty rate in the country, limited access to affordable health care and underfunded neighborhood schools," Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Rachel Boyer said. 
"If you're white and wealthy, Texas is a great place," said Jillson. "However, no Texas governor Republican or Democrat is eager to raise taxes and without that you can't expand access to health care or decrease the cost of higher education." 
Texas is still considered the uninsured capital of the United States. 
Perry counters that Texas has the lowest percentage of citizens on welfare in America and says the quality of Texas health care is substantially better than elsewhere in the nation. "I basically disregard the critics," he said. "They are most likely political hacks who don't have a real interest in having a legitimate conversation about reality." 
Among those realities, according to the Dallas Fed, is a state that leads the nation in job growth across all wage levels. There are almost 1 million more women in the workplace since Perry took office. In education, the on-time graduation rate for the class of 2012 was the highest in the nation. Perry championed in-state tuition for undocumented students during his first term, despite some pushback from his party. Now, undergraduate degrees and certificates awarded to Hispanics have increased 228.2 percent, and financial aid has increased 900 percent under Perry's watch.   
The nature of Perry's legacy, somewhat unavoidably, depends in large part on which stats one chooses to read. 
However, former Republican state legislator Brian McCall sums up that legacy in one word: Power.   
"Rick Perry has made every possible appointment in Texas government," said McCall, the author of "The Power of the Texas Governor: Connally to Bush." "This is the first time this has happened in Texas history." 
Another pillar of the Perry era has been the consolidation of the GOP majority in Texas. 
Ironically, Perry began his political career as a Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives in 1985. He changed parties shortly afterward. 
He has since won every statewide election he ran beginning in 1990 for agriculture commissioner, where he served for eight years before winning the number two spot as lieutenant governor. He became governor when then-Governor George W. Bush became the 43rd U.S. president -- and then went on to secure three elections, even fending off primary challenger Kay Bailey Hutchison, then a senator. 
"No Democrat has won or come within 15 points on Rick Perry's watch," Jillson noted. "Perry locked this down." 
But whether his legacy translates into a White House bid -- and a successful one at that -- is an open question. The last time around, he flamed and then fizzled amid attacks from his primary rivals and an embarrassing debate blunder where he forgot a federal agency he wanted to abolish. 
"Whoever the Republican nominee is, whether it's me or someone else, I hope we will have a legitimate intellectual conversation with the American people about federalism and how to make Washington inconsequential in people's lives," Perry told FoxNews.com. "The Texas model is a blueprint that works and I would suggest to you how to make your citizenry happier." 
An announcement could come in May or June. McCall said, "Rick Perry is a man with the wind at his back." 

Eric Garner’s daughter posts address of cop at his death

Real Classy.


One of Eric Garner’s daughters marked Christmas Day by spreading personal information about an NYPD cop who was present during the chokehold death of her father — outraging officers still reeling from last weekend’s execution-style slayings of two policemen in Brooklyn.
Erica Garner tweeted that cop Justin D’Amico was “another officer that helped killed [sic] my dad,” and directed her 5,000-plus Twitter followers to a Web page that lists ­addresses for D’Amico and five possible relatives.
The information was viewed about 500 times before Garner’s stunning tweet was deleted following inquiries by The Post.
The move came less than a week after a gunman fatally shot cops Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, following the shooter’s online post that said he planned to avenge the police killings of Eric Garner on Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
It also came as cops were on high alert over dozens of copy-cat threats this week that have led to more than a half-dozen arrests.
An NYPD source said Erica Garner’s “disgusting” tweet “poses grave danger” to D’Amico.
“She clearly wants someone to go to the officer’s house and assassinate him in cold blood just like Ramos and Liu,” the source said.

N. Korea blames US for internet shutdown, hurls racist comment toward Obama


North Korea blames the U.S. for the country’s internet shutdown amid allegations of the country hacking Sony Pictures as retaliation for releasing a movie featuring the assassination of the Kim Jong-un.
The country’s National Defense Commission also hurled a racial insult toward President Obama calling him a “monkey inhabiting a tropical forest.”
The regime has vehemently denied any involvement in the cyberattack on Sony, but has expressed its displeasure of the movie.
It is not the first time North Korea has hurled insults toward Washington. Earlier this year, the North called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous" lantern jaw and then called South Korean President Park Guen-hye a prostitute
The defense commission also accused Washington for intermittent outages of North Korea websites this week, which happened after the U.S. had promised to respond to the Sony hack. The U.S. government has declined to say if it was behind the shutdown.
According to the North Korea commission's spokesman, "the U.S., a big country, started disturbing the Internet operation of major media of the DPRK, not knowing shame like children playing a tag."
The commission said the movie was the results of a hostile U.S. policy toward North Korea, and threatened the U.S. with unspecified consequences.
North Korea and the U.S. remain technically in a state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The rivals also are locked in an international standoff over the North's nuclear and missile programs and its alleged human rights abuses. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea as deterrence against North Korean aggression.

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