Conservative Blogger
Sunday, May 31, 2015
'Covering Guns': Columbia University's 'workshop' for journalists far from objective
Columbia University
(Go Figure?)
Columbia University would never sponsor an event funded by the National Rifle Association. What’s more, the idea would seem especially outlandish if most of the speakers at the event were NRA supporters.
Yet, gun control advocate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his gun control group Everytown are now funding a two-day workshop in Phoenix on Friday and Saturday sponsored by Columbia University’s Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. The event will bring together journalists from around the country to learn about “covering guns and gun violence.”
Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center, claims that there is “no party line” and calls the workshop “very balanced.”
But gun control advocates make up 15 of the panel’s 17 experts. Aren’t journalism schools supposed to teach journalists to present both sides of a story? Why doesn't Columbia feature other speakers who argue that people should be able to defend themselves with guns?
Columbia’s Dart Center treats Bloomberg and his various anti-gun groups as simply providing objective news.Only two law enforcement officers will be making presentations: Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik of Pima County, Arizona, and Tucson police chief Roberto A. Villaseñor. Both are proponents of stricter gun control. Dupnik, a liberal Democrat, has long attacked Arizona’s concealed handgun laws for being too lax and let people carry in too many places. Villaseñor has been a strong outspoken supporter of President Obama’s gun control proposals.
These law enforcement officers represent a minority view. A 2013 nationwide survey of PoliceOne’s 450,000 members found that 91% of law enforcement support concealed carry laws. Eighty percent believe that a concealed carry permit holder could have reduced casualties from such recent tragedies as Newtown and Aurora. Ninety-two percent think that Obama’s proposed assault weapon ban would either increase or have no effect on violent crime.
Columbia University could easily have found law enforcement officials with an alternative viewpoint.
All five academic researchers also happen to be proponents of more gun control. Roseanna Ander argues that Obama’s proposals are “really important and promising.” Philip Cook maintains that the previous assault weapons ban just didn’t go far enough. Jim MacMillan claims the solution is simple: “Fewer guns would equal fewer deaths.” Garen Wintemute considers Obama’s proposed assault weapons ban to be a “great idea” and states that “Gun policy in the US . . . reflects the priorities of a radical fringe of gun owners.” And Jill Messing advocates stricter gun control as a means of reducing domestic violence.
But the academic research points in exactly the opposite direction. Published academic research by criminologists and economists consistently finds that assault weapons bans have not reduced crime.
Last fall, the Crime Prevention Research Center, where I serve as president, conducted a survey of economists who have published refereed empirical journal articles on firearms, with 88% of those from North America saying that guns are used more often in self-defense than in crime and 91% saying that gun-free zones attract criminals. But Columbia managed not to enlist a single researcher who is skeptical of gun control.
Just two speakers actually support gun ownership, but conservative commentator S.E. Cupp has no particular expertise on the issue. And conservative lawyer David Kopel will speak only about the history of the Second Amendment.
Unfortunately, Columbia’s Dart center treats Bloomberg and his various anti-gun groups as simply providing objective news. Their posts announcing the workshop uncritically repeat claims made by Bloomberg. Among these falsehoods is a gross exaggeration of the number of people who are murdered with guns. “Nearly 12,000 murdered with guns each year,” parrots Columbia. In fact, the FBI reports that the number of murder victims has stayed below 9,000 since 2010.
Similarly, the claim that the U.S. has a firearm murder “rate 20 times higher than other developed countries” is absurd with several developed countries having much higher firearm murder rates that the U.S. (Brazil, Mexico, and Russia).
Columbia also relies on Bloomberg for the claim that “nearly 100 school shootings have occurred since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary only two years ago.” Even liberal-leaning PolitiFact described this claim as “mostly false,” as Bloomberg’s number is five times larger than the actual number. CNN and Fox have also disputed the Bloomberg claim.
Michael Bloomberg is spending over $50 million a year on his anti-gun message and it is overwhelming the gun debate. On television ads alone in 2013, he outspent the NRA and all other self-defense groups combined by 6.3 times. And, he’s just announced a new news agency which will start up in June that will focus on anti-gun stories.
For a man worth $36 billion, Bloomberg can afford to cover all the bases to get his message out. But you would think that Columbia would have the gumption to at least use basic journalistic practices of fact checking and teaching journalists to see both sides of an issue when they offer a workshop.
As nuke deal deadline draws near, US and Iran hold 'intense' talks
As a deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran nears, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Saturday in what officials described as "at times intense" talks as part of the effort to flesh out a framework agreed in April.
The talks between the two countries focused on how to narrow differences over how to ease economic penalties on Iran and to what extent Tehran must open up military facilities to inspections.
The talks between Kerry and Zarif lasted six hours, in what officials described as the most substantive negotiating round since world powers and Iran clinched a framework pact in April. It was unclear what progress, if any, was made by Kerry and Zarif before the Iranian delegation began leaving for Iran.
People involved in the talks told The Wall Street Journal that political pressures could still delay or derail a deal as the two sides scramble to flesh out the agreement. While much of the focus has been on the Obama administration's struggles to prevent Congress from blocking a deal, diplomats told The Journal that growing political pressure in Iran now poses the more significant risk.
Last month's agreement left big questions unanswered, which weeks of subsequent technical discussions have done little to resolve.
Asked about completing the full accord by June 30, Zarif said, "We will try."
His deputy, Abbas Aragchi, said lower-level officials would meet again in Vienna next week.
U.S. officials provided hints of what must have been a difficult dialogue, but told The Associated Press that the encounter ultimately proved fruitful.
World powers believe they have secured Iran's acquiescence to a combination of nuclear restrictions that would fulfill their biggest goal: keeping Iran at least a year away from bomb-making capability for at least a decade. But they are less clear about how they will ensure Iran fully adheres to any agreement.
Various Iranian officials, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, have pledged to limit access to or even block monitors from sensitive military sites and nuclear scientists suspected of previous involvement in covert nuclear weapons efforts.
“This permission will not be granted in any way. Both our enemies and those who are waiting for the decision of the Islamic Republic should know this,” Khamenei said in a recent speech.
“I think there are a number of challenges right now,” Robert Einhorn, a senior member of the U.S. negotiating team until 2013, told The Wall Street Journal. “I think especially in the light of what the [supreme] leader has been saying, there will be a temptation by the Iranians to revisit things which they have already agreed.”
The U.S. says access to military sites must be guaranteed or there will be no final deal. A report Friday by the U.N. nuclear agency declared work essentially stalled on its multiyear probe of Iran's past activities.
The Iranians are not fully satisfied, either.
The unresolved issues include the pace at which the United States and other countries will provide Iran relief from international sanctions -- Tehran's biggest demand -- and how to "snap back" punitive measures into place if the Iranians are caught cheating.
President Barack Obama has used the "snapback" mechanism as a main defense of the proposed pact from sharp criticism from Congress and some American allies.
Exactly how rapidly the sanctions on Iran's financial, oil and commercial sectors would come off in the first place lingers as a sore point between Washington and Tehran.
Speaking ahead of Kerry's talks with Zarif, senior State Department officials described Iranian transparency and access, and questions about sanctions, as the toughest matters remaining, and cited "difficult weeks" since the April 2 framework reached in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Iran insists it is solely interested in peaceful energy, medical and research purposes, though many governments around the world suspect it of harboring nuclear weapons ambitions. The U.S. estimates the Iranians are currently less than three months away from assembling enough nuclear material for a bomb if they chose to covertly develop one.
Kerry breaks leg in Geneva bike crash, flying back to US
IDIOT
Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg in a bike crash outside Geneva Sunday, where he had been holding nuclear talks with Iran’s foreign minister.
Kerry called off the rest of his four-nation trip and will fly back to Boston.
State Department Spokesman John Kirby said Kerry is stable and never lost consciousness.
Kerry should make a full recovery and is in good spirits, he said.
The accident occurred near Scionzier, France, outside the Swiss border. Paramedics and a physician were on the scene with his motorcade at the time.
Kerry was transported to Geneva’s main hospital HUG, where he was being evaluated, Kirby said. A paramedic traveling with his motorcade immediately examined Kerry after his bike apparently his a curb, causing the fall, Kirby said.
X-rays at the Swiss hospital confirmed that Kerry fractured his right femur.
Ending the trip means Kerry is skipping meetings with Spanish leaders and a conference in Paris on fighting the Islamic State group.
Kerry's cycling rides have become a theme of his diplomatic journeys, often taking his bike with him on the plane.
During discussions in late March and early April between world powers and Iran, he took several bike trips during breaks in the negotiations. Those talks were held in Lausanne, Switzerland, and led to a framework agreement.
Kerry met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for six hours in a Geneva hotel Saturday as the sides now work to seal a comprehensive accord by June 30.
Maryland removes parallel parking from driving test, sparking safety concerns
Maryland has become the most recent state to drop the parallel-parking requirement from its road test, sparking debate about whether the next generation of motorists will be adequately prepared to safely navigate streets.
Buel Young, a Maryland Motor Vehicles Administration spokesman, said the requirement was officially removed May 19 after state officials had determined the maneuvers and skills required to parallel park -- which include backing up, using mirrors and depth perception -- were already being evaluated in other parts of the test.
However, the decision, which follows similar ones reportedly in California, Florida, Virginia and the District of Columbia, is raising concerns among such groups as AAA Mid-Atlantic.
“If you’re driving in a major city, you have to know how to parallel park,” group spokesman John Townsend said Saturday, pointing out that the District has 17,000 metered, curb-side parking spots. “We don’t all go to the shopping mall.”
Townsend also said the parking part of the tryout most "terrified” him and countless other teens, which made everybody practice intensely. And it was a great test of eye-hand coordination, he argued.
Private driving coaches and others have speculated that Maryland ended the parking requirement because too many teens were flunking that part, which resulted in long waits to take the test because so many applicants were reapplying.
The MVA has been trying to shorten the wait. However, Young told The Baltimore Sun that he was unaware of a connection between that effort and ending the parking requirement. And he declined to speculate on whether the change will reduce the time required to take the test.
"We don't have any data right now because we just instituted” the change, he told the newspaper.
USA Today reports at least a dozen other states -- including Illinois, North Carolina and Oregon -- don't test parallel parking.
Officials say the parking requirement in D.C. test has not been permanently removed, despite a failure to test the skill set for several years.
Young says parallel parking will continue to be a teaching requirement in state-controlled driver's education courses in Maryland.
Beau Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, dies of brain cancer
Beau Biden – son of Vice President Joe Biden – died of brain cancer at 46, the White House confirmed in a statement Saturday.
"It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life," the statement from Vice President Biden's office said.
"The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. We know that Beau's spirit will live on in all of us-especially through his brave wife, Hallie, and two remarkable children, Natalie and Hunter," the statement said.
President Obama said he and the first lady were grieving alongside the Biden family.
"Michelle and I humbly pray for the good Lord to watch over Beau Biden, and to protect and comfort his family here on Earth," Obama said in a statement released late Saturday.
Beau Biden was a lawyer and member of the Delaware National Guard and former Delaware attorney general. However, he never would follow in his father’s footsteps as a U.S. senator and perhaps even become governor.
Biden, although was planning to run for governor of Delaware in 2016, was plagued with health troubles throughout his political career.
In 2010, Biden suffered a mild stroke at only 41 years old. Three years later, he found himself in a Texas hospital for cancer treatment.
In August 2013, he would undergo surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston to remove a lesion. That was followed by radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Three months after the procedure, doctors gave him a clean bill of health.
However, Biden suffered a recurrence and was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital in May, officials said. At that time though, it was unaware why he was being treated.
Support for the Biden family poured in from both sides of the aisle Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley both expressed their sympathies to the Bidens.
“My heart is broken for the family of Beau Biden—a wonderful man who served his country with devotion and lived his life with courage,” Hillary tweeted.
“Katie and I are deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Beau Biden. He served his country and the people of Delaware with great honor,” O’Malley said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Biden family in this moment of great loss.”
Senator James Langford (R-OK) also released a statement expressing his remorse.
"I'm incredibly saddened to hear of the death of Vice President Joe Biden's son, Beau Biden,” the statement said. “Our entire nation mourns with the Biden family and the White House during this difficult time. Vice President Biden has endured incredible tragedies during his lifetime. Cindy and I pray for the Biden family, Beau's widow, Natalie, and their two children."
The news of Beau Biden’s death also caught the Delaware political establishment off guard and also renewed questions about his health. Beau Biden kept a low profile and declined any interviews abou his health.
"I think he would have run. I think he would have won," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, a fellow Democrat. Markell said he last spoke to Biden in February, when he invited him to a meeting of Democratic governors in Washington, D.C.
"He was serious" about running for governor, added New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon, a longtime friend and political ally of Joe Biden who described Beau Biden as the most popular politician in Delaware. "He thought he was going to win this battle."
Gordon said he last spoke to Beau several weeks ago, when Biden participated in a conference call on crime issues in Wilmington.
"He was a rock star," Gordon said. "He had a great image, great character."
Beau Biden left office earlier this year and joined a Delaware law firm run by Stuart Grant, a prominent Democratic campaign donor and plaintiffs lawyer specializing in corporate litigation. The first announced in late April that Biden was expanding his work on behalf of whistleblower clients, but was not available to clients.
Biden, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, earned a law degree from Syracuse University in 1994. He served as a law clerk for a federal judge in New Hampshire before working for the U.S. Department of Justice from 1995 until 2002, including five years as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia. In 2001, he volunteered for an interim assignment helping to train judges and prosecutors in postwar Kosovo.
With his father, then Delaware's senior U.S. senator, at his side in 2006, Biden launched his campaign for attorney general. He promised to reorganize the state Department of Justice to better combat identity theft, Internet stalking by pedophiles, street crime and abuse of the elderly.
Biden won with 52.6 percent of the vote.
"He's supped at this table since he's been 3 years old," a beaming Joe Biden said after the victory. Beau Biden was a toddler when his father was first elected to the Senate.
"I'm just proud of him," the elder Biden added. "I think he will make the state proud."
The young Biden sidestepped questions about his own political ambitions during the campaign.
"Sometimes, it's not good to look too far down the road," said Biden, who remained similarly cautious about discussing his long-range plans in an interview with The Associated Press after suffering the stroke in 2010.
"Having long-term dreams is a good thing ... but having a plan has never worked for me, because life always intervenes," Biden told the AP at the time. For Biden, his initial health scare was also a reminder to balance his job with family time — advice he encouraged others to follow.
"It's kind of reinforced how I've operated my life," he said.
As attorney general, Biden established a child predator unit, joined other attorneys general in taking on mortgage lenders over foreclosure abuses, proposed tougher bail restrictions for criminal defendants, putting him at odds with some fellow Dems.
But a spate of shootings in Biden's hometown of Wilmington went largely unabated during his tenure, and his office stumbled in some high-profile murder prosecutions, including two cases in which murder charges were dropped. Biden also faced scrutiny over how his office handled the case of Earl Bradley, a pediatrician who sexually assaulted scores of young patients over more than a decade before being arrested in December 2009.
Biden cited his focus on the Bradley case in announcing in January 2010 that he would not run for the Senate seat that his father vacated in 2008 when he was elected vice president.
The younger Biden's decision stunned political observers, including many fellow Democrats who thought Joe Biden's former chief of staff, Ted Kaufman, had been appointed to the Senate on an interim basis to keep the seat warm for the son. A fellow Democrat, New Castle County Executive Chris Coons, won the seat after Castle, who had been considered the odds-on favorite, was upset by tea party-backed Christine O'Donnell in the GOP primary.
"I have no regrets," Biden said after O'Donnell's stunning primary victory scrambled the political calculus surrounding the Senate seat.
Biden coasted to re-election as attorney general in 2010 after Republicans declined to field a candidate against him.
In addition to his work as a lawyer and attorney general, Biden was a major in an Army National Guard unit that deployed to Iraq in 2008.
He was married and the father of two children.
Markell ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in Delaware in honor of Biden.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Unions seek exemption from LA minimum wage law they helped pass
Union leaders in Los Angeles are being accused of hypocrisy after being caught trying to exempt themselves from a new minimum wage law they tried to impose on others.
For months, organized labor went after companies like McDonalds and Walmart, shaming any business that paid the old minimum wage. Carrying signs saying, "We see greed" and "We are worth more," union members marched outside businesses and appeared at City Council meetings demanding Los Angeles raise the minimum wage from $9 to $15 by 2020.
"We say, 'Don't leave anybody out, don't cut anybody out, a wage raise for all workers!'" Mary Elena Durazo, the longtime leader of the 600,000-strong Los Angeles County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, told a cheering crowd of supporters at a recent council meeting.
Yet after pushing through the new wage law, union officials are asking for a waiver that would allow any company that unionizes to avoid paying the minimum wage.
"It was a real surprise that in the 11th hour that labor was saying, 'well, we basically support a sub-minimum wage if a company decides to enter into collective bargaining,'" Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell said. "And that really is a complete contradiction to what they've been saying the last couple of months."
Councilmen Mike Bonin and O'Farrell are opposing the move.
"It is not acceptable to expect the L.A. City Council to become a vehicle for union organizing," said O'Farrell. "That is not what we were elected to do and that is not what I will engage in."
Bonin agreed, telling the Los Angeles Times, "For me, the point of the minimum wage in Los Angeles was to raise wages and lift [everyone] out of poverty."
What especially angered opponents was unions' attitude toward others who asked for waivers. Restaurants, nonprofits and businesses with fewer than 25 employees asked for a one-year delay. Unions opposed it, calling the 'loophole' unfair to the working poor.
Rusty Hicks -- current president of the L.A. Federation of Labor, who replaced Durazo after she left to head a casino-and-hotel worker union -- argued, "it is critical that no Angeleno, whether they're workers or owners of small businesses and nonprofits, is left behind."
But Wednesday night, Hicks changed his position, telling the council that workers who collectively bargain for wages below the minimum shouldn't be penalized. He and labor attorney Margo Feinberg say federal law protects workers who choose collective bargaining.
"This is a standard clause to protect basic worker rights," Hicks said in a statement.
He's right. Minimum wage ordinances in Chicago, Milwaukee, Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose contain provisions similar to the one labor sought in Los Angeles. The municipal code in San Jose says, "all or any portion of the (ordinance) may be waived in a bona fide collective bargaining agreement."
Business groups, however, claim it's a blatant double standard.
"When unions do something like this, it demonstrates that their rhetoric about low wages is hollow," said the National Federation of Independent Business' Andrew Wimer. "They seem perfectly willing to see workers paid less if it means getting more power for themselves."
"The unions are being too cute by half," added Jot Condie of the California Restaurant Association. "They spent the last few months table-pounding against any exemptions or mitigations to the minimum wage increase -- suggesting no one should get special treatment. Now it is clear they recognize the need for those mitigations and have asked for special treatment for themselves."
O'Farrell said the law is likely to go through without any exemptions, though unions are expected to try again. The local AFL-CIO declined to answer questions submitted by Fox News.
The day President Bush's tears spilled onto a Marine's face at Walter Reed
Editor's note: The following column is excerpted from Fox News anchor and political analyst Dana Perino's new book, "And the Good News Is... Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side" (Twelve, April 21, 2015).
News of America’s military men and women [who] were wounded and killed in Iraq and Afghanistan almost overwhelmed me on some days. I may have sounded strong when I was talking to the press, but sometimes I had to push my feelings way down in order to get any words out of my mouth to make statements and answer questions.
The hardest days were when President Bush went to visit the wounded or families of the fallen. If it was tough for me, you can only imagine what it was like for the families and for a president who knew that his decisions led his troops into battles where they fought valiantly but were severely injured or lost their lives.
He regularly visited patients at Walter Reed military hospital near the White House. These stops were unannounced because of security concerns and hassles for the hospital staff that come with a full blown presidential visit.
One morning in 2005, Scott McClellan sent me in his place to visit the wounded warriors. It was my first time for that particular assignment, and I was nervous about how the visits would go.
The president was scheduled to see 25 patients at Walter Reed. Many of them had traumatic brain injuries and were in very serious, sometimes critical, condition. Despite getting the best treatment available in the world, we knew that some would not survive.
We started in the intensive care unit. The chief of naval operations (CNO) briefed the president on our way into the hospital about the first patient we’d see. He was a young Marine who had been injured when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. After his rescue, he was flown to Landstuhl U.S. Air Force Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany. At his bedside were his parents, wife, and five-year-old son.
“What’s his prognosis?” the president asked.
“Well, we don’t know sir, because he’s not opened his eyes since he arrived, so we haven’t been able to communicate with him. But no matter what, Mr. President, he has a long road ahead of him,” said the CNO.
The Marine’s young child tugged on the president’s jacket and asked, “What’s a Purple Heart?” The president got down on one knee and pulled the little boy closer to him. He said, “It’s an award for your dad, because he is very brave and courageous, and because he loves his country so much. And I hope you know how much he loves you and your mom, too.”We had to wear masks because of the risk of infection to the patient. I watched carefully to see how the family would react to President Bush, and I was worried that they might be mad at him and blame him for their loved one’s situation. But I was wrong.
The family was so excited the president had come. They gave him big hugs and thanked him over and over. Then they wanted to get a photo. So he gathered them all in front of Eric Draper, the White House photographer.
President Bush asked, “Is everybody smiling?” But they all had ICU masks on. A light chuckle ran through the room as everyone got the joke.
The Marine was intubated. The president talked quietly with the family at the foot of the patient’s bed. I looked up at the ceiling so that I could hold back tears.
After he visited with them for a bit, the president turned to the military aide and said, “Okay, let’s do the presentation.” The wounded warrior was being awarded the Purple Heart, given to troops that suffer wounds in combat.
Everyone stood silently while the military aide in a low and steady voice presented the award. At the end of it, the Marine’s young child tugged on the president’s jacket and asked, “What’s a Purple Heart?”
The president got down on one knee and pulled the little boy closer to him. He said, “It’s an award for your dad, because he is very brave and courageous, and because he loves his country so much. And I hope you know how much he loves you and your mom, too.”
As they hugged, there was a commotion from the medical staff as they moved toward the bed.
The Marine had just opened his eyes. I could see him from where I stood.
The CNO held the medical team back and said, “Hold on, guys. I think he wants the president.”
The president jumped up and rushed over to the side of the bed. He cupped the Marine’s face in his hands. They locked eyes, and after a couple of moments the president, without breaking eye contact, said to the military aide, “Read it again.”
So we stood silently as the military aide presented the Marine with the award for a second time. The president had tears dripping from his eyes onto the Marine’s face. As the presentation ended, the president rested his forehead on the wounded warrior's for a moment.
Now everyone was crying, and for so many reasons: the sacrifice; the pain and suffering; the love of country; the belief in the mission; and the witnessing of a relationship between a soldier and his Commander in Chief that the rest of us could never fully grasp. (In writing this book, I contacted several military aides who helped me track down the name of the Marine. I hoped for news that he had survived. He did not. He died during surgery six days after the president’s visit. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery and is survived by his wife and their three children.)
And that was just the first patient we saw. For the rest of the visit to the hospital that day, almost every family had the same reaction of joy when they saw the president.
But there were exceptions. One mom and dad of a dying soldier from the Caribbean were devastated, the mom beside herself with grief. She yelled at the president, wanting to know why it was her child and not his who lay in that hospital bed.
Her husband tried to calm her and I noticed the president wasn’t in a hurry to leave—he tried offering comfort but then just stood and took it, like he expected and needed to hear the anguish, to try to soak up some of her suffering if he could.
Later as we rode back on Marine One to the White House, no one spoke.
But as the helicopter took off, the president looked at me and said, “That mama sure was mad at me.” Then he turned to look out the window of the helicopter. “And I don’t blame her a bit.”
One tear slipped out the side of his eye and down his face. He didn’t wipe it away, and we flew back to the White House.
Senator: IRS paying private lawyers $1,000 an hour, despite ‘underfunding’ complaints
Despite repeated cries of agency poverty from IRS leaders, a top Republican senator says the nation's chief revenue collector is paying private attorneys more than $1,000 an hour to help conduct a high-profile audit.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, fired off a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen airing his concerns earlier this month. Hatch questioned not only the cost of the contract, but the decision to use an outside contractor for an investigation involving potentially sensitive tax information.
"In my experience as chairman, I know that both the IRS Office of Chief Counsel and Justice Department employ excellent attorneys who should be more than able to conduct an examination without turning over interviews and document requests to private contractors," Hatch wrote.
His letter said the contract inked last year with law firm Quinn Emanuel is worth $2.2 million, and allows for attorneys to reap over $1,000 an hour "to carry out functions that are more properly carried out by Treasury officials."
The contract reportedly is to help audit Microsoft. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that investigators are looking at whether Microsoft used improper tactics to shift profits offshore and reduce taxes -- and the IRS might have turned to the private firm to turn up the pressure.
But Hatch said in his letter that taxpayer examinations can only be conducted by Treasury officials unless Congress says otherwise.
Hatch wrote that Congress created "safeguards" around confidential taxpayer information by prohibiting U.S. officials from disclosing it in most cases -- it follows, he argued, "that certain revenue functions may be carried out only by specified officers of the Treasury Department and that taxpayer data can only be disclosed in limited circumstances."
The Quinn Emanuel contract, he wrote, "marks the first time, to the Committee's knowledge, that the agency has hired a private contractor to take such an involved role in an examination."
Hatch noted the Treasury Department and IRS issued a "temporary regulation" after retaining the firm allowing contractors to take "compulsory, sworn testimony" for IRS investigations, and to get access to confidential taxpayer information.
Hatch called this an "unprecedented expansion of the role of outside contractors in the examination process, and one that violates" federal provisions.
He wrote: "The IRS's hiring of a private contractor to conduct an examination of a taxpayer raises concerns because the action: 1) appears to violate federal law and the express will of the Congress; 2) removes taxpayer protections by allowing the performance of inherently governmental functions by private contractors; and 3) calls into question the IRS's use of its limited resources."
The hourly fee was reported earlier in The Daily Caller.
Leaders at the IRS, which has faced intense congressional scrutiny ever since it was revealed that conservative groups seeking nonprofit status were targeted for additional scrutiny, have maintained their agency is struggling with declining budgets.
Commissioner Koskinen said in February that cuts have "deeply eroded our ability to provide critical services for taxpayers."
In March, he called "underfunding" the biggest challenge facing the IRS.
The roots of IRS go back to the Civil War when President Lincoln and Congress, in 1862,
created the position of commissioner of Internal Revenue and enacted an
income tax to pay war expenses. The income tax was repealed 10 years
later.Nov 4, 2014
Brief History of IRS
www.irs.gov/uac/Brief-History-of-IRSInternal Revenue ServiceI.R.S. :
For The Real Facts http://www.afn.org/~govern/IRSkinny.html
Hundreds of protesters gather outside Phoenix mosque under close police watch
Nearly 500 protesters gathered outside a Phoenix mosque Friday as police divided the two groups sparring about Islam.
A Phoenix man who says he is a former Marine who fought in the Iraq war organized the event and believes Islam is a violent religion. He led about 250 people who carried pistols, assault rifles, American flags and drawings of the Prophet Muhammad to the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.
The group was met by another group of similar size, some holding signs promoting love and peace, who came to show their support for the Mosque and Muslim community.
As the two sides argued and yelled at each other, dozens of police officers formed a line separating the groups. There were no reports of injuries or arrests at the protests, which lasted a few hours and gained attention around the country on social media. Phoenix police estimate about 500 protesters showed up, roughly 250 on each side.
The protest came about a month after a shootout outside a Prophet Muhammad cartoon-drawing contest in a Dallas suburb. Two Phoenix men showed up at the Dallas event with assault rifles and were killed by police. The men formerly worshipped at the Phoenix mosque where Friday’s protest was held.
Murder capital: Baltimore’s homicide explosion in wake of Freddie Gray case dwarfs rate of similar cities
The double murder Thursday of a young mother and her 7-year-old boy brought Baltimore's bloody monthly homicide tally to 38, a figure that dwarfs that of similar-sized cities and even exceeds the total for the same period in New York.
Jennifer Jeffery-Browne, 31, and her son, Kester, were found shot to death in their southwest Baltimore home, leaving friends and family heartbroken and city officials scrambling to reverse a tide of carnage that began following the racially-charged death of a black man in police custody. Police say the way City Hall and the local prosecutor handled the Gray case, which sparked several days of rioting and looting and led to the indictments of six cops, has handcuffed them and emboldened criminals.
"Criminals feel empowered now. There is no respect. Police are under siege in every quarter. They are more afraid of going to jail for doing their jobs properly than they are of getting shot on duty."“The criminals are taking advantage of the situation in Baltimore since the unrest,” Lt. Gene Ryan, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3, which represents officers in Baltimore, said in a statement provided to FoxNews.com. “Criminals feel empowered now. There is no respect. Police are under siege in every quarter. They are more afraid of going to jail for doing their jobs properly than they are of getting shot on duty."
- Lt. Gene Ryan, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3
With two days remaining in the month of May, the 38 homicides seen in Baltimore, whose population is about 622,000, is cause for alarm. Year-to-date homicides stand at 111, up from 71 for the same period last year, and this year on pace to be the Charm City’s deadliest since 2007. If May's pace cannot be slowed, all bets are off.
Compared to other U.S. cities of similar size, the May homicide rate is truly staggering, according to data compiled by FoxNews.com. Nashville, Tenn., with a population of about 658,000, has only seen six homicides this month and 21 for the year so far. Louisville, Ky., whose population is about 20,000 less than Baltimore's, has only had three homicides for the month and 28 for the year.
Las Vegas (603,488) has recorded 12 homicides in May 2015 and 41 for the year; Denver, Colo., (663,862) has logged just two homicides this month and its yearly total matches Baltimore's monthly tally.
Boston, which has a population 645,966, has had just one homicide for the month of May and 15 for year-to date.
Related Image
Police
pick up a pair of shoes after a double shooting in Baltimore. Residents
in West Baltimore.One month after riots erupted, homicides and
shootings are up and residents feel like they've been left to fend for
themselves.(Colin Campbell/The Baltimore Sun via AP)
Law enforcement experts say police cannot be proactive if they believe politicians and prosecutors are treating them unfairly. In Gray's case, the career criminal suffered fatal injuries while being transported in a police van. Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, in announcing indictments that included murder charges against one of the of six police officers involved in the case, struck a tone that many in the police department considered anti-cop.
“This is going to be a fairly routine occurrence – double digit shootings, high homicide rates over the course of the next three months,” said one Baltimore police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity to Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity earlier this week. "It’s a definitely direct result of the indictment of the six officers. When you have officers out there… and those that are doing their jobs are indicted for murder… you couldn’t help but have repercussions where police are afraid to go out there, that they are apprehensive about putting their hands on people…”
Police morale across the nation has reeled in the wake of several racially-charged incidents, including the shooting of an unarmed black man, Michael Brown, last August in Ferguson, Mo., followed by a grand jury's decision not to indict an NYPD cop in the death of Eric Garner and most recently the death of Gray.
“In case people ever needed a reminder, the increase in Baltimore’s murder rate shows how important police are," John Lott, president of Crime Prevention Research Centerand a Fox News contributor said. “As police are worried about being called criminals themselves, the sudden increase stands in sharp contrast to how murder rates are changing in the rest of the country."
Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn
Mosby
(Miss Goofy)
Friday, May 29, 2015
Fiorina making splash on campaign trail with counter-Clinton ops – but still behind in polls
She's an accomplished businesswoman, a media-savvy campaigner and the only woman in the Republican presidential field.
But so far, Carly Fiorina is still struggling to translate that into a voter following.
The latest sign of the high hill she has to climb was a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. It showed Fiorina at just 2 percent, tied with Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who unlike Fiorina has not announced a 2016 bid. The silver lining for Fiorina is that she wasn't in last place and did crack the top 10 -- an important measure for which candidates will be allowed in the Fox News and other debates later this year.
But perhaps more than any other candidate, there remains a big gap between the attention she's getting -- not to mention the energy she brings to the stump -- and the standing in the polls.
To date, the former HP exec has been zig-zagging across the country, stressing her business experience and squaring her record up against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's -- a central part of her campaign strategy.
On Wednesday, she even piggybacked off a Clinton appearance in South Carolina by holding an impromptu press conference outside the event. Underscoring the counter-Clinton approach, her campaign also unveiled a new website, www.ReadyToBeatHillary.com.
And yet the RealClearPolitics average of national polling still has Fiorina in second-to-last place among candidates tracked -- with 1.5 percent, just ahead of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has not announced a 2016 bid.
Sarah Flores, Fiorina's deputy campaign manager, argues people just aren't tuned in to the 2016 race yet and says Fiorina is continuing to meet with voters, speak at events and answer questions about why she should be the Republican presidential nominee.
John White, political science professor at Catholic University of America, suggested part of the problem is Fiorina has to fight that much harder to be heard this cycle, with so many candidates on the field -- most with high-level government experience.
"You have sitting governors ... former senators," White said. "In 2012, people like Herman Cain could get attention."
This time, he said, "Fiorina isn't getting the attention at the moment and while the base thinks she's making some good points, I don't think the base is inclined to vote for her because there are better presidential candidates."
It will be Fiorina's challenge to change that perception.
Basil Smikle Jr., Democratic strategist and founder of Basil Smikle Associates, questioned the strategy of spending so much time hammering Clinton when she needs to "differentiate herself" from her Republican opponents. He said it will be "really difficult" for her if she can't qualify for the Republican debates.
Conservative political consultant T.J. McCormack, though, called the Clinton shadowing a "bold move." As for the GOP primary, he said playing up her "strong suits" -- as a business executive, and the only woman in the primary field -- should help. He suggested Fiorina could benefit from voters saying "not another Bush" or worried about the libertarian leanings of candidates like Sen. Rand Paul.
"Everybody's got to wait and see, especially Republicans," he said.
Fiorina, meanwhile, has deftly sparred with the media. She recently responded to questions from "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd and late-night host Seth Meyers about a cyber-squatter snapping up www.carlyfiorina.org, by buying ChuckTodd.org and SethMeyers.org -- to show how easy it was.
At Wednesday's press gaggle, she made clear to the 20 or so reporters in attendance that unlike Clinton, she would answer their questions. Fiorina, who repeatedly has attacked foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation, also told reporters she didn't regret participating at one Clinton Global Initiative event herself but doubted she'd be asked back anytime soon.
Fiorina, whose net worth has been estimated between $30 million and $119 million, has drawn a steady stream of conservative voters to her campaign events. At a dinner in Iowa in April, 300 people showed up to watch her give the keynote address.
The Quinnipiac poll showed the current GOP primary leaders are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (who has not yet announced), retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (who also has not announced). They were tied at the front with 10 percent each.
Other measures of candidates' impact are also being produced. Using a comprehensive platform, the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management and Zignal Labs were able to track and analyze more than 10.3 million mentions of potential presidential candidates in the news and social media.
"We're quantifying the old vaudeville and marketing phrase about how well messages 'play in Peoria' and everywhere else," GW professor Michael Cornfield said in a statement. "Whose brands are catching on -- and whose are catching flak?"
On the GW "Public Echo" scale, which rates the candidates on a scale from 1 (crickets) to 11 (historic), Fiorina tied Huckabee at 3. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz topped the GOP list at 7 while Carson ranked at the bottom with 1. Clinton scored an 8.
'Sales are next to nothing': Merchants worry crime crisis could cast pall over Baltimore downtown
BALTIMORE – An epidemic of murder that has gripped Baltimore in the month following the Freddie Gray riots is threatening to undo decades of rebirth in the city's popular downtown -- and in the process, wipe away tens of millions of tourist dollars.
“Sales are next to nothing,” said Kenneth Robinson, manager of the Fudgery, an iconic candy store tucked in the heart of the Inner Harbor.
Local merchants were just starting to see business bounce back after last month's riots. But a crime crisis has since gripped Baltimore, with police saying criminals have taken advantage of the situation to wreak havoc on Charm City.
Nine people were killed and nearly 30 wounded over the holiday weekend, about three weeks after the rioting. With 38 homicides so far in May, Baltimore is seeing its deadliest month since 1999. The number of killings this year is now at 111, compared with 211 for all of 2014.
Store owners, restaurateurs, pub owners and others in and around the Inner Harbor say the long Memorial Day weekend did help them recover losses associated with the looting and rioting sparked by the April 19 death of 25-year-old Gray in police custody.
But merchants worry the national attention on Baltimore's crime wave will have many potential visitors scratching the city off their vacation calendar.
Washington DC transit officials bar issue-oriented ads through end of year
Washington D.C. transit officials voted Thursday to suspend all issue-oriented advertising on the city's rail and bus system after the agency was asked to consider an ad featuring an image of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) board of directors voted to suspend all issue ads until the end of this year while it examines its own policy. The agency did not say the move was made in response to a particular ad.
However, the head of the group behind the Muhammad ad, the American Freedom Defense Initiative's Pamela Geller, confirmed to the Associated Press Thursday that she had submitted the cartoon, which depicts Muhammad raising a sword and saying "you can't draw me," for consideration about two weeks ago.
Muslims generally believe any physical depiction of Muhammad is blasphemous. The cartoon, by artist Bosch Fawstin, was the winner of the group's Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, earlier this month. Two would-be terrorists ambushed security officers outside the event and were killed by local police.
Geller said she submitted the cartoon with the caption "support free speech." She said her group is exploring its legal options and looking at other cities to potentially run the ads.
"Look, this is an end run around the First Amendment," she said in a telephone interview after the board's ruling. She called transit officials "cowards" for not being willing to run the ads and said "rewarding terror with submission is defeat."
This is not the first time an American Freedom Defense Initiative ad has sparked controversy. In 2012 the group took transit agencies in New York and Washington to court to force them to display a different provocative ad which read: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."
WMATA said in a statement Thursday that officials will be reviewing the agency's ad policy.
"In the coming months, Metro will fully consider the impact that issue-related advertisements have on the community by gathering input from riders, local community groups and advocates. Metro will also carefully examine the legal concerns related to displaying, or discontinuing the display of, issue-related advertisements. Following this internal review and outreach period, the Board of Directors will make a decision about how to move forward with its advertising policy," the agency said in a statement.
Issue ads bring in approximately $2 million dollars annually, so suspending those kinds of ads for the remainder of the year could cost the agency approximately $1 million, spokesman Dan Stessel said. Advertising throughout the bus and train system, including both issue ads and commercial advertisements, brings in approximately $11 million, Stessel said.
Occupiers of church closed by Boston Archdiocese years ago fight order to vacate
Members of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Roman Catholic Church, which the Boston Archdiocese closed 11 years ago, say they have no plans to end their longstanding occupation of the church -- even though the archdiocese originally gave them a Friday deadline to leave or else.
Since the announcement was made to close the church in October 2004, congregants have held vigils in shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- sleeping on the floor and in pews and holding Sunday service, during which the occupants recite prayers, listen to Bible readings and receive consecrated hosts secretly provided by area priests. The gatherings are lay-led services, and the Eucharist is given to the congregation by Eucharistic ministers.
To the Archdiocese of Boston, a dwindling congregation and a shortage of priests, among other factors, marked the church for closure, which the Vatican supported. But congregants say it is the 30 acres of prime, ocean-view Boston real estate the church sits on that has the hierarchy looking to sell -- and claim the archdiocese needs it to pay off clergy sex abuse cases.
"This is all about the money," Jon Rogers, the protesters' leader and a founder of the nonprofit support group, "The Friends of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini," told FoxNews.com, claiming the church was "thriving" with 3,000 registered parishioners when the decision was made to close it nearly 11 years ago.
"Here's the crux of the matter – we are sitting on one of the most valuable of piece of property in Boston," Rogers said Thursday. "And they need the money."
"You don’t get to hurt children and then steal our church to pay off your crimes," he said.
Earlier this month, a state judge ordered the protesters to vacate by as early as Friday. The occupants then filed an appeal and were granted a temporary reprieve, according to Rogers.
"There’s so much information that was submitted and the judge needs time to review it," he said.
The 30 largely undeveloped acres are worth over $4 million, by some estimates.
In an interview last August, Archdiocese spokesman Terry Donilon said the decision to close the church was part of a larger parish closure and cited a decline in Mass attendance and a "dramatic" drop in the number of priests.
Donilon strongly denied the charge that the church was being closed so the property could be sold to pay off prior legal settlements.
"We are not selling churches to pay for the legal fees of the sex abuse cases," he told FoxNews.com in August. The U.S. Catholic Church has paid close to $2.8 billion in legal costs related to clergy sex abuse cases, according to a 2013 report by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"No plans" have been discussed about what will be done with the property, which sits about a half mile from the Atlantic Ocean, Donilon also said at the time. He called the claim by congregants that the property is to be sold to a condominium developer false. Donilon was not immediately available when contacted Thursday.
Rogers and others say they believe the sweat equity they've poured into the church over the years makes it theirs, not the archdiocese's. Parishioners have maintained the 55-year-old building over the years, spending thousands of dollars on repairs and renovations, like painting and new woodwork, as well as purchasing a new furnace. The archdiocese still pays for the electricity and heat, as well as the occasional landscaping and snow plowing.
The archdiocese has declined to say what it plans to do if protesters refuse to leave. The rebel occupants say they are prepared to be arrested as trespassers, if necessary.
Rogers said he and the other congregants plan to fight the archdiocese to the very end.
"I have a spiritual belief that right will triumph over wrong," Rogers said. "In this case, we believe we are right."
"I think the higher up the chain we pursue this, the closer to vindication that we get," he said. "We will exhaust every avenue of appeal available to us. That promise hasn’t changed since Day 1."
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Santorum launches 2016 campaign, with focus on 'working families'
Rick Santorum announced his second campaign for the White House on Wednesday, striking a populist tone as he railed against "big government" and "big money."
The former Republican Pennsylvania senator made his announcement surrounded by factory workers on the floor of a business near his western Pennsylvania hometown, a setting designed to showcase his focus on the working class.
He held up a piece of coal in one hand -- highlighting his family's working roots -- and an American flag in the other. In announcing "I'm running for president," he vowed to get rid of executive orders and regulations that are costing Americans jobs, as well as scrap the "corrupt federal tax code."
While hoping to build off his solid performance in 2012, Santorum begins the race as a heavy underdog facing a crowded field.
The former senator was the Republican runner-up in the 2012 presidential primaries and beat out nominee Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses. He also won 11 state races during the primaries. But Santorum faces a steep challenge this cycle in carving out a political niche for himself – as one of several social conservatives in contention.
As of Wednesday, the RealClearPolitics average of polls showed him ranking 10th, behind such social conservatives as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson, both declared candidates.
He tried Wednesday to position himself as the working-class candidate. In a dig at well-funded competitors, he said: "Working families don't need another president tied to big government or big money."
Santorum claims his experience could pay dividends the second time around. Most of the GOP's recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and President Ronald Reagan among them, needed more than one campaign to find success in the nomination race.
"This is a long process," Santorum told reporters recently. "One of the things that I feel very comfortable with -- I've been through this process before." He said it's a "completely wide open race."
Santorum served in the Senate from 1995 to 2007.
He began his political career in 1990 as a long-shot candidate for a House seat. In that race, he knocked seven-term Democratic incumbent Doug Walgren out of office. Santorum would go on to become part of the “Gang of Seven” in Congress made up of a new breed of GOP lawmakers. The group, which included now-House Speaker John Boehner, made headlines by going after House Democrats as well as focusing on the House banking scandal.
Santorum won election to the U.S. Senate in 1994. He was 36.
Six years later, he won re-election to a second term and would go on to chair the Senate Republican Conference -- the third highest-ranking party leadership position in the Senate.
Despite his past political record, Santorum is significantly trailing some of the GOP frontrunners vying for a shot at the White House.
Fox News, which will host the first Republican primary debate in Cleveland in early August, said it would limit participation to candidates who are in the top 10 of an average of national polling.
Three other Republicans also are expected to formally announce their White House campaign plans in the next two weeks: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former New York Gov. George Pataki.
Democrat Martin O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland, is also expected to enter the race this weekend, joining declared Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Pentagon says ‘live anthrax’ inadvertently shipped across US
The Pentagon revealed Wednesday that "live anthrax" was shipped, apparently by accident, from a lab in Utah to as many as nine states over the course of a year.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren assured "there is no known risk to the general public" and said an investigation is under way. But precautions are being taken for potentially exposed workers in labs where the samples were sent. A U.S. official told Fox News that four people in three companies are being treated for "post-exposure" and being prescribed prophylaxis.
All samples are in the process of being collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The material in question was prepared at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, as part of what was described as a "routine" research process. It was then sent out to Defense Department and commercial labs in nine states between March 2014 and March 2015 -- and the shipments were supposed to include only inactive, or dead, anthrax when they were transferred.
"These were supposed to be dead spores anthrax, called AG-1," a defense official said.
But a private lab in Maryland, on May 22, informed the CDC that they thought the samples contained live anthrax. The CDC then informed the Defense Department. According to the Associated Press, the government has confirmed the Maryland lab got live spores, and it is suspected the others did as well, though not yet confirmed.
When asked how many of the states that were sent anthrax received live samples, the defense official said that “out of an abundance of caution, it is safe to assume it’s all live."
Fox News also was told that one sample was sent to a South Korean base to be used in an anthrax detection exercise.
"The Department of Defense is collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their investigation of the inadvertent transfer of samples containing live Bacillus anthracis, also known as anthrax, from a DoD lab in Dugway Utah, to labs in nine states," Warren said in a statement.
"There is no known risk to the general public, and there are no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection in potentially exposed lab workers," he added. "The DoD lab was working as part of a DoD effort to develop a field-based test to identify biological threats in the environment."
An Army research center, after hearing from the CDC, had notified the eight companies that received samples across the nine states. Each company has locked down the samples.
The states that received the shipments are: Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey, Tennessee, New York, California and Virginia.
Warren said the DoD has also "stopped the shipment of this material from its labs pending completion of the investigation."
Soccer's embattled governing body made donation to the Clinton Foundation
The Clintons, already under scrutiny for accepting foreign donations to their family foundation and keeping them secret from the Obama administration while Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state, have received money from another controversial source: the Federacion Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
Soccer’s governing body, which donated between $50,001 and $100,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative and partnered with the former president’s foundation on other projects, is entangled in an international corruption investigation spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Justice, which spans countries from Qatar and Russia to Switzerland and the United States.
The DOJ announced charges against nine FIFA officials and five other corporate executives in a 47-count indictment unsealed Wednesday, which includes allegations that over the last two decades, its executives were involved in racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud.
Swiss law enforcement also is looking into allegations related to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments set to take place in Russia and Qatar respectively, the DOJ said.
The decision to hold the events in Russia and Qatar stunned human rights activists who heavily criticized the choice because of the human-rights records in those countries.
While no officials have been arrested in Qatar, the Swiss government seized documents at FIFA’s headquarters and obtained records from the Swiss bank accounts of executives they believe are involved in a money-laundering scheme.
The Clinton Foundation did not comment on Fox News’ inquiry asking if the donation from FIFA to the foundation will be returned.
Bill Clinton served as the honorary chairman for the U.S. bid committee, which promoted America as the best place to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup events.
While he failed to secure the deal, his charity won in another respect.
In 2014, the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, set up by the Qatar government to ensure a successful FIFA world cup, awarded the Clinton Foundation between $250,000 and $500,000; the State of Qatar donated between $1 million and $5 million.
The money, according to the Clinton Foundation website, is for “research and development for sustainable infrastructure at the 2022 FIFA World Cup to improve food security in Qatar, the Middle East, and other arid and water-stressed regions throughout the world.”
While the Clintons have not yet commented on the donation from FIFA, Bill Clinton repeatedly has said his foundation has done nothing "knowingly inappropriate" related to accepting foreign donations.
The family, its foundation, its donors and the State Department have been harshly criticized in recent weeks, in part driven by the newly released book "Clinton Cash" by Peter Schweizer, which alleges donations to the foundation and up to $50 million in speaking and appearance fees awarded to Bill Clinton impacted Hillary Clinton’s decisions as secretary of state.
In response, Bill Clinton told NBC in a recent interview, "I don’t think there is anything sinister about trying to get wealthy people and countries that are seriously involved in development to spend their money wisely in a way that helps poor people and lifts them up.”
Jeff Bechdel, the communications director for the America Rising PAC, which is dedicated to ensuring Hillary Clinton does not win the presidency in 2016, said it should surprise no one that the Clinton Foundation accepted donations from FIFA and the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee “because the Clintons are synonymous with corruption.”
“If they’re willing to accept money from human rights violators, what’s stopping them from accepting money from FIFA, which is being accused of bribery, money laundering, and fraud?” Bechdel said. “When it comes to money, the Clintons are willing to deal with just about anybody.”
US military pilots complain hands tied in ‘frustrating’ fight against ISIS
U.S. military pilots carrying out the air war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are voicing growing discontent over what they say are heavy-handed rules of engagement hindering them from striking targets.
They blame a bureaucracy that does not allow for quick decision-making. One Navy F-18 pilot who has flown missions against ISIS voiced his frustration to Fox News, saying: "There were times I had groups of ISIS fighters in my sights, but couldn't get clearance to engage.”
He added, “They probably killed innocent people and spread evil because of my inability to kill them. It was frustrating."
Sources close to the air war against ISIS told Fox News that strike missions take, on average, just under an hour, from a pilot requesting permission to strike an ISIS target to a weapon leaving the wing.
A spokesman for the U.S. Air Force’s Central Command pushed back: “We refute the idea that close air support strikes take 'an hour on average'. Depending on the how complex the target environment is, a strike could take place in less than 10 minutes or it could take much longer.
"As our leaders have said, this is a long-term fight, and we will not alienate civilians, the Iraqi government or our coalition partners by striking targets indiscriminately."
A former U.S. Air Force general who led air campaigns over Iraq and Afghanistan also said today's pilots are being "micromanaged," and the process for ordering strikes is slow -- squandering valuable minutes and making it possible for the enemy to escape.
“You're talking about hours in some cases, which by that time the particular tactical target left the area and or the aircraft has run out of fuel. These are excessive procedures that are handing our adversary an advantage,” said retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, a former director of the Combined Air Operations Center in Afghanistan in 2001.
Deptula also contrasted the current air campaign against ISIS with past air campaigns.
The U.S.-led airstrikes over Iraq during the first Gulf War averaged 1,125 strike sorties per day, according to Deptula. He said the Kosovo campaign averaged 135 strikes per day. In 2003, the famous “shock and awe” campaign over Iraq saw 800 strikes per day.
According to the U.S.-led coalition to defeat ISIS, U.S. military aircraft carry out 80 percent of the strikes against ISIS and average 14 per day.
Deptula blames the White House for the bottleneck.
“The ultimate guidance rests in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” he said. “We have been applying air power like a rain shower or a drizzle -- for it to be effective, it needs to be applied like a thunderstorm.”
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., recently complained that 75 percent of pilots are returning without dropping any ordnance, due to delays in decision-making up the chain of command.
A senior defense official at the Pentagon pushed back on the comparisons between the air war against ISIS and past air campaigns.
“The Gulf War and Kosovo are not reasonable comparisons. In those instances, we were fighting conventional forces. Today, we are supporting a fight against terrorists who blend into the civilian population,” he said. “Our threshold for civilian casualties and collateral damage is low. We don’t want to own this fight. We have reliable partners on the ground.”
McCain, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, also called for “forward air controllers,” as well as special forces and “more of those kind of raids that were so successful into Syria.”
Another former U.S. Air Force general agreed. “We need to get somebody to find the targets and [U.S.] airpower will blow them up ... period,” said retired Gen. Charles F. Wald, former deputy commander of United States European Command
In a letter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter Wednesday, Rep. Duncan Hunter asked the secretary to consider arming the Sunnis tribes in Anbar directly in order to defeat ISIS. Like McCain, Hunter also wants to “immediately embed special operators and ground-air controllers to support ground operations against IS[IS].”
But a defense official pushed back on Hunter’s plan to bypass Baghdad and arm the Sunni tribes directly, telling Fox News, “[the plan] doesn’t take into account the presence of Iran inside Iraq right now… there could be unintended consequences and restore a sectarian war.”
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