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Vikings tell Adrian Peterson to stay away from team until child abuse case resolved

The Minnesota Vikings issued a statement early Wednesday saying that running back Adrian Peterson must remain away from all team activities until his felony child abuse case is settled. 
The statement, from team owners Zygi and Mark Wilf, said that Peterson was being placed on the Exempt/Commissioner's Permission list. The move was an about-face for the team, which reinstated Peterson to the active roster Monday after deactivating him following the All-Pro running back's indictment Friday. 
"In conversations with the NFL over the last two days, the Vikings advised the League of the team's decision to revisit the situation," the team's statement read, in part. "After giving the situation additional thought, we have decided this is the appropriate course of action for the organization and for Adrian."
Peterson has an initial hearing scheduled for October 8 in Montgomery County, Texas on a charge of reckless or negligent injury to a child. He is accused of beating his four-year-old son with a wooden switch, leaving bruises and other wounds that were visible days later. Peterson told police that he was merely inflicting discipline and had not intended to hurt the boy. 
"We want to be clear," the Vikings statement continued, "we have a strong stance regarding the protection and welfare of children, and we want to be sure we get this right. At the same time, we want to express our support for Adrian and acknowledge his seven-plus years of outstanding commitment to this organization and this community."
"This is the best possible outcome given the circumstances," Peterson's agent, Ben Dogra, told The Associated Press. "Adrian understands the gravity of the situation and this enables him to take care of his personal situation. We fully support Adrian and he looks forward to watching his teammates and coaches being successful during his absence."
On Tuesday, a Houston television station reported that the mother of another Peterson's children filed abuse allegations with the state's Child Protective Services agency last year, claiming that Peterson had left a head wound while striking her son. 
Peterson missed the team's 30-7 loss to the New England Patriots Sunday, but would have been eligible to return for this week's game against the New Orleans Saints. 
The decision to reinstate Peterson prompted criticism from fans, former players and sponsors. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said Peterson's actions were "a public embarrassment to the Vikings organization and the state of Minnesota." Hall of Fame Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton told Fox News.com that he was "embarrassed" by the team's decision to reinstate Peterson. 
"These are serious accusations, Tarkenton said. "And the only way you’re going to get the attention of an NFL player is to take away his paycheck and take him off the field. This is way above winning or losing a football game."
The Radisson hotel chain suspended its sponsorship of the Vikings following Peterson's reinstatement Monday. On Tuesday, Castrol Motor Oil, Special Olympics Minnesota and Mylan Inc. all severed ties with Peterson, and Twin Cities Nike stores pulled Peterson's jerseys from its shelves.

Curtain, reviews come down on taxpayer-funded climate change musical

The curtain has come down on Climate Change: The Musical and reviews of the taxpayer-funded play about global warming are downright icy.
The play, which is actually entitled "The Great Immensity," and was produced by Brooklyn-based theater company The Civilians, Inc. with a $700,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, ended its run early amid a storm of criticism from reviewers and lawmakers alike. It opened a year late, reached just five percent of its anticipated audience and likely fell short of its ambitious goal of informing a new generation about the perceived dangers of man-caused climate change. 
Plus, it apparently wasn't very good.
“Despite fine performances, the musical mystery tour is an uneasy mix of fact and credulity-stretching fiction. It’s neither flora nor fauna,” New York Daily News reviewer Joe Dziemianowicz wrote in a review at the time. “[The] songs — whether about a doomed passenger pigeon or storm-wrecked towns — feel shoehorned in and not, pardon the pun, organic.”
The play, which featured songs and video exploring Americans’ relationships to the environment, opened in New York in April with a three-week run before going on a national tour that was supposed to attract 75,000 patrons. But it stalled after a single production in Kansas City, falling short of the lofty goals outlined in a grant proposal. It was envisioned as a chance to create "an experience that would be part investigative journalism and part inventive theater,” help the public "better appreciate how science studies the Earth’s biosphere” and increase “public awareness, knowledge and engagement with science-related societal issues.”
According to a plot description on the theater company’s website, "The Great Immensity" focuses on a woman named Phyllis as she tries to track down a friend who disappeared while filming an assignment for a nature show on a tropical island. During her search, she also uncovers a devious plot surrounding an international climate summit in Auckland, New Zealand.
The description touts the play as “a thrilling and timely production” with “a highly theatrical look into one of the most vital questions of our time: How can we change ourselves and our society in time to solve the enormous environmental challenges that confront us?”
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, said the dramatic debacle was a waste of public money.
“There is no doubt that the Great Immensity was a great mistake,” Smith told FoxNews.com. “The NSF used taxpayer dollars to underwrite political advocacy dressed up as a musical. And the project clearly failed to achieve any of its objectives.” 
In a statement to FoxNews.com, the NSF said it is too soon to tell if the grant funds were wasted.
“This particular project just concluded in August and the final report has not yet been submitted to NSF,” the statement said. “Final reports are due to NSF within 90 days following expiration of the grant. The final report will contain information about project outcomes, impacts and other data.”
But Smith and others in Congress said the foundation owes an explanation to lawmakers - and taxpayers.
“The NSF has offered no comment, neither a defense of the project nor an acknowledgement that funding was a waste of money,” Smith said. “The NSF must be held accountable for how they choose to spend taxpayer dollars.”
Other reviews of the play were similarly dismal.
"Even the best adventurers can wander off course, and the Civilians do so on a global scale in The Great Immensity,” read a review from Time Out New York. “The inventive troupe’s latest effort is all over the map… It’s not easy preaching green.”
The Civilians, Inc. did not return requests for comment.
FoxNews.com first reported on the House Committee’s dismay over the grant program back in March. Smith had also questioned the validity of other grants from the NSF including; $200,000 towards a three-year study of the Bronze Age, Another $50,000 towards the survey of archived lawsuits from 17th century Peru and $20,000 for a study on the causes of stress in Bolivia.
“All government employees and their agency heads need to remember they are accountable to the American taxpayer who pays their salary and funds their projects,” Smith said at a March hearing.

‘Incredibly serious’: Cover-up claims in spotlight ahead of Benghazi hearing

Allegations that Hillary Clinton allies may have tried to shield the former secretary of State in the wake of the Benghazi terror attack are coming to the forefront ahead of the first public hearing of the special congressional committee probing the attack and its aftermath.
Speaking with Fox News, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the select committee, on Tuesday made clear he eventually plans to call former acting CIA director Mike Morell to testify – alleging the former boss “intentionally scrubbed” the so-called talking points that were the basis for the administration’s flawed public narrative about the attack.
Gowdy made clear he would question Morell on why he allegedly removed information damaging to Clinton’s State Department. (Morell now works for Clinton’s former spokesman, Philippe Reines.)
Gowdy also responded to new and separate allegations from a former State Department official that Clinton confidants hid politically damaging files from the supposedly independent board probing the attack. Gowdy called the allegations “incredibly serious,” but stressed that they are only allegations at this stage.
It is unclear how deeply the hearing on Wednesday might delve into the actions of any of these officials. The topic for the hearing, set for 10 a.m. ET, is the implementation of the recommendations from the independent board, known as the Accountability Review Board.
Among those set to testify are Greg Starr, the department's assistant secretary for Diplomatic Security, and Mark Sullivan and Todd Keil, members of the Independent Panel on Best Practices, created to review the accountability board's efforts.Morell is not part of Wednesday’s hearing.
But the hearing, following weeks of private interviews and investigation, marks the first public airing of the committee’s work.
Gowdy, speaking with Fox News on Tuesday, continued to raise questions about the administration’s claims that murky intelligence initially led them to conclude, wrongly, the attack grew out of a demonstration on the ground over an anti-Islam film. Gowdy said there is “overwhelming” evidence of pre-meditation and “overwhelming” evidence of pre-planning in the 2012 attack, in which four Americans were killed.
Morell was involved in editing the so-called talking points on the attack, and Republicans have long questioned his role. But Morell said in a statement to Fox News earlier this year that “neither the Agency, the analysts, nor I cooked the books in any way."
A CIA spokesman also told Fox News earlier this year that the talking points were originally written for Congress’ purposes and were never meant to be “definitive.”
Gowdy also hinted Tuesday that he will call National Security Adviser Susan Rice and any others with direct knowledge of the administration’s initial statements about the attack.
Meanwhile, Gowdy did not comment in detail on the allegations that Clinton confidants hid politically damaging documents from the ARB.
The account from Raymond Maxwell, former head of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA),was first published in The Daily Signal. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, confirmed to FoxNews.com on Monday that Maxwell told him and other lawmakers the same story when they privately interviewed him last year about the attacks and their aftermath.
Chaffetz said that Maxwell claimed Clinton's chief of staff and deputy chief of staff were overseeing the document operation, which allegedly took place on a weekend in a basement office of the State Department.
"What they were looking for is anything that made them look bad. That's the way it was described to us," Chaffetz said.
According to Chaffetz' account of his interview with Maxwell, as well as the Daily Signal report, Maxwell said those scrubbing the documents were looking for information that would cast Clinton and senior leaders in a "bad light."
Chaffetz said such documents were said to be removed, so that Congress and the Accountability Review Board would not see them.
State Department spokesman Alec Gerlach denied the allegations in a written statement.
"That allegation is totally without merit. It doesn't remotely reflect the way the ARB actually obtained information," he said in an email. He explained that an "all-points bulletin"-type request went out department-wide instructing "full and prompt cooperation" for anyone contacted by the ARB, and urging anyone with "relevant information" to contact the board.
"The range of sources that the ARB's investigation drew on would have made it impossible for anyone outside of the ARB to control its access to information," he said.
On Tuesday, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the House oversight committee, said Maxwell was interviewed by their committee and never talked about this.
Maxwell was one of four State Department officials disciplined in the wake of the 2012 Benghazi attack. He was put on administrative leave, and has spoken out before about how he felt he was scapegoated.
Maxwell was eventually cleared, but retired last year.

Top general says half of Iraqi army incapable of working with US against ISIS

The U.S. military's top officer said Wednesday that almost half of Iraq's army is incapable of working  against the Islamic State militant group, while the other half needs to be rebuilt with the help of U.S. advisers and military equipment. 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey made the remarks to reporters while traveling to Paris to meet with his French counterpart to discuss the situation in Iraq and Syria. The general said that U.S. assessors who had spent the summer observing Iraq's security forces concluded that 26 of the army's 50 brigades would be capable of confronting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Dempsey described those brigades as well-led, capable, and endowed with a nationalist instinct, as opposed to a sectarian instinct. 
However, Dempsey said that the other 24 brigades were too heavily populated with Shiites to be part of a credible force against the Sunni ISIS. 
Sectarianism has been a major problem for the Iraqi security forces for years and is in part a reflection of resentments that built up during the decades of rule under Saddam Hussein, who repressed the majority Shiite population, and the unleashing of reprisals against Sunnis after U.S. forces toppled him in April 2003. Sunni resistance led to the relatively brief rise of an extremist group called Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. That group withered but re-emerged as the Islamic State organization, which capitalized on Sunni disenchantment with the Shiite government in Baghdad.
On Tuesday, Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he would consider recommending the return of ground forces to Iraq if an international coalition sought by the Obama administration proves ineffective. 
On Wednesday, Dempsey said no amount of U.S. military power would solve the problem of ISIS's takeover of large swaths of northern and western Iraq. The solution, he said, must begin with formation of an Iraqi government that is able to convince the country's Kurdish and Sunni populations that they will be equal partners with the Shiites in Iraq's future.
"I'm telling you, if that doesn't happen then it's time for Plan B," he said. He didn't say what that would entail.
Dempsey also said that ISIS fighters in Iraq have reacted to weeks of U.S. airstrikes by making themselves less visible, and he predicted they would "literally litter the road networks" with improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, in the days ahead. That, in turn, will require more counter-IED training and equipment for the Iraq army, he said.
According to the general, a renewed U.S. training effort might revive the issue of gaining legal immunity from Iraqi prosecution for those U.S. troops who are training the Iraqis. The previous Iraqi government refused to grant immunity for U.S. troops who might have remained as trainers after the U.S. military mission ended in December 2011.
  "There will likely be a discussion with the new Iraqi government, as there was with the last one, about whether we need to have" Iraqi lawmakers approve new U.S. training, he said. He didn't describe the full extent of such training but said it would be limited and he believed Iraq would endorse it.
  "This is about training them in protected locations and then enabling them" with unique U.S. capabilities such as intelligence, aerial surveillance and air power, as well as U.S. advisers, so they can "fight the fight" required to push the Islamic State militants back into Syria, Dempsey said.
A Pentagon plan for training Syrian rebels is another, more controversial element of the plan, which also includes potential airstrikes in Syria; building an international coalition to combat the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq; and efforts to cut off finances and stem the flow of foreign fighters to the Islamic State group.
President Obama is to be briefed on the planned campaign against ISIS Wednesday in Tampa, Florida, when he meets with Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of U.S. Central Command, which manages U.S. military operations and relations across the Middle East.

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Second child abuse allegation against Vikings' Peterson comes to light

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was accused of abusing another of his children in an incident more than a year before the All-Pro was indicted on felony charges last week, a Houston television station reported Monday.  
KHOU-TV reported Monday that the incident occurred in June 2013, while the boy, then four years old, was visiting Peterson from out of state. The station reported that the child suffered a head wound that left a scar above his right eye. The scar was still visible weeks later. 
The station also obtained text messages between Peterson and the boy's mother in which Peterson said he had disciplined his son for cursing at a sibling. 
"I felt so bad," one of Peterson's messages says. "But he did it to his self [sic]." Peterson never answers when asked what he hit the child with, but later says "Be still n take ya whooping he would have saved the scare [scar]. He aight [all right]."
A law enforcement official confirmed to KHOU that authorities had known about the allegations, and the station reported that the mother had filed a report with Child Protective Services. TMZ reported that the CPS investigation determined that the child had sustained the head injury accidentally while Peterson was punishing him and no charges were filed. Texas law permits parents to administer "reasonable punishment" to children.
The latest allegation surfaced hours after Peterson was reinstated to the Vikings' active roster after being deactivated from the team's 30-7 loss to the New England Patriots Sunday. The team released a statement to NBC Sports' ProFootballTalk.com late Monday confirming that they had known about the 2013 allegation when the decision to reinstate Peterson was made. 
Peterson's attorney Rusty Hardin responded to the allegation by saying "This is not a new allegation, it's one that is unsubstantiated and was shopped around to authorities in two states over a year ago and nothing came of it. An adult witness adamantly insists Adrian did nothing inappropriate with his son. There is no ongoing or new investigation."
On Monday, the Radisson hotel chain said it was suspending its sponsorship of the Vikings, citing its "long-standing commitment to the protection of children." Radisson's sponsorship includes a press banner that is behind those speaking at Vikings news conferences. On Monday, the banner was behind Vikings general manager Rick Spielman as he discussed the team's decision to reinstate Peterson.
Peterson is scheduled to appear in court in Montgomery County, Texas Oct. 8. He faces charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child. Peterson is accused of using a wooden switch on another of his sons this past May, leaving deep bruises that were visible several days later. 

Businesses reported cutting jobs due to ObamaCare

Businesses are cutting jobs due to ObamaCare, according to surveys by several regional Federal Reserve Banks.
Health economist John Goodman noted that "three Federal Reserve Banks in Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta have surveyed the folks in their area and roughly one fifth of the employers are saying they cut back on employment.
“Roughly one fifth are saying they're moving from full time to part time,” Goodman added. “More than one in ten are saying they're doing more outsourcing - all this because of the new health care reform."
Doug Holtz-Eakin, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office, said “for the smaller employers -- those that have between 20 and 49 employees -- you get a negative impact on jobs, you get a negative impact on wages in those jobs. What this means for small business as a whole is over $22 billion of earnings gone for their workers and 350,000 jobs."
Small business is responsible for the vast majority of job creation in the U.S.
The president repeatedly has delayed the mandate requiring businesses with more than 50 employees to provide insurance. But businesses know it's coming, so many avoid hiring to keep their worker rolls below 50.
Also, the mandate applies only to those who work more than 30 hours a week -- an incentive for employers to reduce hours.
Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation noted, "you have a kind of a natural cliff there, that keeping your employees under that magic number" relieves employers of the mandate to provide insurance.
"The 30-hour cutoff is how the administration determines whether you're full time or part time," Goodman explained. "And so we see this everywhere that people are restricted, they're pushed below 30 hours, they count as part time and when they're part time, the employer doesn't have to provide health insurance."
More than a third of manufacturing firms in the NY Fed survey said they're raising prices to cover the costs of health care, and about half the businesses surveyed by the Dallas Fed said ObamaCare is raising insurance costs for their employees.
"Yes we are going to see increased cost to employers who are trying to provide health care for their employees,but employers don’t just take that lying down," said Tevi Troy of the American Health Policy Institute.
Goodman added, "Even among full-time workers, their take home pay is going to go down because one thing that almost all the employers are doing in response to ObamaCare is raising the deductibles, raising the co-payments and making the employee pay more of the premium."
On Monday, the administration reported that 279,000 people have yet to clear up discrepancies in their income data, which could mean their premiums will go up, as well.
Officials also say 115,000 still have not resolved their immigration status. Their insurance will end if they don't clear things up by Sept. 30.