Pennsylvania town packs heat, and wants visitors to know it

Drive into tiny Conoy Township, Pa., and you'll see the standard "welcome" sign, but it also comes with a warning: "THIS IS NOT A GUN FREE ZONE."
The signs are meant to alert criminals to the fact that many people in the rural Pennsylvania town of 3,000 are armed. A dozen have been installed so far and three more are slated to go up, which would cover every major road into the town. Officials hope the signs give would-be criminals second thoughts before causing trouble.
“I think even those who have bad intentions can read,” Stephen Mohr, one of the township supervisors, told FoxNews.com. He said the town’s five supervisors unanimously decided to put the signs up.

"What we’re telling people is that when they do come here, they should feel safer knowing that everyone in the township is watching out for them."- Stephen Mohr, township supervisor, Conoy, Pa.

Mohr noted that the intent of the signs is to welcome good people to their town.
“The first word on there is “Welcome”… we have a lot here that we take pride in. What we’re telling people is that when they do come here, they should feel safer knowing that everyone in the township is watching out for them,” Mohr said. “And the criminal -- he should realize that going into this township he could have a bad day.”
But critics say the signs are unnecessary, and unlikely to send the message Mohr claims to be imparting.
“These signs are silly, because the Second Amendment guarantees the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens anywhere to own guns in their homes," said Jonathan Hutson, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "As a matter of fact, no jurisdiction in America completely prohibits the carrying of guns in public.”
And despite the announcement that the townsfolk may be armed, there are still places within where guns are prohibited, noted Shira Goodman, executive director of Cease Fire PA.
"Are there no schools in this town?" Goodman asked. "How about U.S. post offices? What about private business owners or houses of worship who choose to bar firearms from their property?
“The intent seems to be to scare those who might consider criminal activity," Goodman added. "The likely effect will be to embolden a shoot first, Wild West mentality."
Mohr said residents are free to have to their own rules about guns, and the township follows federal and state policies regarding guns in post offices and schools. The signs, he said, refer to the fact that the township government welcomes the carrying of guns in the belief it promotes safety. A member of the National Rifle Association, he also seems to be sending a message of his support for the Second Amendment.
“Those people that need to wake up and realize that the right to carry a gun in a lot of areas have already been curtailed,” he said, noting that other jurisdictions, including New York City, put the onus on residents to show a “special need” in order to carry guns.
Economists who study crime said it will be interesting to see whether crime in the town is affected by the signs.
“My guess is that this may… lead a small number of people to reconsider committing criminal acts, but the signs are unlikely to provide so much new information [about the town] that they result in a large reduction in crime,” David Mustard, an economics professor at the University of Georgia, told FoxNews.com.  
Residents of the town reached by FoxNews.com had mixed views.
“I guess it’s a good idea. But it’s going to take more than just a sign -- I don’t think that would deter a hardened criminal,” Lyle Rider, who runs BMA Cycles in the township, told FoxNews.com.
“It doesn’t bother me… whether it’ll be a crime deterrent or not, I don’t know,” Mark Brosey, who works at Brosey’s Garage in the township, told FoxNews.com.
At least one other U.S. town is considering copying Conoy's idea.
“If you were a thief breaking into homes and businesses, would you choose a city that openly endorses the ownership and training of guns to protect persons and property?” Greenleaf, Idaho, Mayor Brad Holton told FoxNews.com. His town will consider posting such signs at a city council meeting in March.

Why NBC’s suspension is Brian Williams’ last hope for remaining anchor

NBC Universal tried to save Brian Williams’ job last night—and that’s why he was suspended for six months.
The company finally had to stop the bleeding, to halt the hemorrhaging of its own credibility along with that of its franchise player.
The brass slowly came to realize that Williams had to be punished, and significantly, for the sin of fabricating a story about his 2003 trip to Iraq. The betting is that with Lester Holt handling “Nightly News” for six months, things will cool off—the country will have moved on to some other outrage—and Williams will be able to return to the chair.
But that will also require a complete accounting by Williams of what he did wrong—in Iraq, in New Orleans, perhaps on other stories—and a full-throated apology that shows he understands the magnitude of his misconduct.
The note yesterday from Steve Burke, installed by Comcast as the head of NBC Universal, shows that this matter was decided at the highest reaches of the company. That’s how important Williams is to the network—not just for the 9 million viewers he drew to his newscast, but as a high-wattage spokesman and sometimes entertainer.
NBC News President Deborah Turness said that Williams’ Iraq tale was “was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position.” But the harsher words came from Burke:
“By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News.  His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate.”
But then there was this: “He deserves a second chance and we are rooting for him.”
NBC has so much invested in Williams that it wants to rehabilitate him—but is also buying time to line up a successor in case that proves impossible.
Despite the chatter about Matt Lauer or Savannah Guthrie, it would be difficult for NBC to take either one off “Today,” because morning shows are far more lucrative than evening newscasts.
NBC is also trying to recover from its own botched handling of the crisis. First, its executives allowed Williams to go on air with a lame and inaccurate apology that only inflamed his critics. Second, the brass let him announce that as managing editor he was taking himself off the broadcast for a short period—as if he didn’t report to anyone else.
In the end, NBC had little choice. While weighing Williams’ career against the self-inflicted damage, it is now trying to split the difference. The challenge for the network and its sidelined anchor is to regain the trust of the audience—if that is still possible.

The Back Story: Details emerge on Kayla Mueller’s capture, captivity at ISIS hands

The nightmare started in the summer of 2013, when Kayla Mueller and her boyfriend were forced off the road and kidnapped by the Islamic State.
While her boyfriend was eventually released, the 26-year-old aid worker spent the next several months shuttling between holding cells – a children’s hospital in Aleppo, an industrial area near the Turkish border, and the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.
Despite attempts to rescue her, including a failed U.S. raid last year, the Arizona resident – who was beloved by her family and friends and now has become a symbol of American sacrifice for the people of Syria – was killed.
Fox News first learned details about Mueller’s capture and captivity last fall, and, at the request of U.S. officials who cited national security concerns in ongoing efforts to secure her release, agreed to hold off on reporting them. A similar request was made by a spokeswoman for the family and agreed to by Fox.
Following the confirmation Tuesday of Mueller’s death, Fox News can now report those details, though some specifics are still deemed too sensitive for publication.
A source with first-hand knowledge of the efforts to free western hostages from ISIS told Fox News that Mueller and her Syrian boyfriend were kidnapped after being forced off the road in August 2013.
The Syrian man was eventually released. There initially was concern he may have been a plant to lure the American into a trap, but after he went back and pleaded with ISIS for Mueller’s freedom, the suspicion was discarded.
Between September2013 and May 2014, the hostages were moved between Aleppo, an industrial area near the Turkish border and Raqqa.The source said Kayla's ISIS captors were so confident in their self-described capital of Raqqa that there was limited visible security. The western hostages were often held in groups and by May had been in the same location for at least two weeks.
This is highly unusual because the practice is to move hostages on a regular basis to obfuscate their location.
In Raqqa itself, the male and female hostages were held in close proximity, but separated by sex. The source said Mueller was able to get a message to at least one of the western male hostages -- at the time American James Foley was held in the group --that was she was not being mistreated by her captors. Mueller made the same statement in a 2014 letter released Tuesday by her family.
By late May, specific intelligence had emerged on the hostage's likely location -- including a building, sources say.The intelligence was described to Fox News as "strong," "specific" and "perishable" --but the White House did not sign off on the rescue operation until much later.
The mission was launched over the July 4^th weekend.
In an interview with Buzzfeed on Tuesday, President Obama also confirmed that Mueller was among the hostages the U.S. tried to rescue in what ultimately was a failed raid that summer.
He objected to the notion that the U.S. may not have done all it could to rescue her.
Fox News asked the White House in November about the May timeline, and the apparent gap between the strong intelligence and the White House sign-off.
Spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said at the time, “U.S. forces conducted this operation as soon as the president and his national security team were confident the mission could be carried out successfully and consistent with our policies for undertaking such operations.”
Contacted Tuesday, Meehan said the White House position had not changed.
The May timeline nevertheless conflicts with administration claims that the White House signed off on the operation as soon as the intelligence allowed.
“The intelligence is never bullet-proof,” a former military official said. “When [the rescue team] finally did go, the general view was that the intelligence was drying up. … These guys were ready to go, on a lower threshold [for the intelligence than the White House] … We want the American people to know we are there for them, and ready to go 24 hours a day.”

US, UK and France announce closures, evacuations of embassies in Yemen

The State Department announced late Tuesday that the U.S. Embassy in Yemen had been closed and evacuated after much of the country was taken over by Shiite rebels last month.
Hours later, Britain and France followed suit and ordered their citizens to leave Yemen as soon as possible. 
The U.S. embassy had already been operating with severely reduced staff for several weeks. State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said remaining diplomatic personnel had been relocated "due to the ongoing political instability and the uncertain security situation."
Yemen has been in crisis for months, with Iran-linked Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the capital and then taking control and forcing the resignation of the U.S. and Saudi-backed president and his government.
"The security situation in Yemen has continued to deteriorate over recent days," U.K. Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood said in a statement. "Regrettably we now judge that our embassy staff and premises are at increased risk." Ellwood also urged all British citizens still in Yemen to "leave immediately."
In a statement on its website, the French Embassy said it would close as of Friday.
The embassy closures were announced as Houthi rebels, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and dressed in police uniforms and civilian clothes, patrolled the main boulevards of the capital, Sanaa, some in pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.
Scattered protests could be seen in the city, with demonstrators denouncing the Houthis for taking power and dissolving parliament. Shops closed early and helicopters also hovered overhead.
Houthis attacked one demonstration, stabbing and beating protesters trying to reach the local United Nations office, witnesses said. The rebels detained a number of people as well, they said.
Earlier Tuesday, U.S. officials told the Associated Press that the embassy closure would not affect ongoing operations against the terror group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). 
"The United States remains firmly committed to supporting all Yemenis who continue to work toward a peaceful, prosperous and unified Yemen," Psaki said. "We will explore options for a return to Sanaa when the situation on the ground improves."
The State Department also issued a travel warning advising U.S. citizens to defer travel to Yemen and urging U.S. citizens currently living in Yemen to depart.
Two U.S. officials said Marines providing the security at the embassy will also likely leave, but American forces conducting counterterrorism missions against Al Qaeda's Yemen affiliate in other parts of the country would not be affected. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the closure publicly on the record.
Although operations against AQAP will continue, the closure of the embassy will be seen as a blow to the Obama administration, which had held up its partnership with ousted Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's government as a model for his strategy in combatting terrorism, particularly in unstable countries.
"Yemen has never been a perfect democracy or an island of stability," President Barack Obama said late last month as conditions in the capital of Sanaa became worse. "What I've said is, is that our efforts to go after terrorist networks inside of Yemen without an occupying U.S. army, but rather by partnering and intelligence-sharing with that local government, is the approach that we're going to need to take."
The embassy closure will also complicate the CIA's operations in Yemen, U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge. Although CIA officers could continue to work out of U.S. military installations, many intelligence operations are run from embassies, and the CIA lost visibility on Syria when that embassy was evacuated in 2012. The CIA's main role in Yemen is to gather intelligence about members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and occasionally kill them with drone strikes. Both the CIA and the military's Joint Special Operations Command run separate drone killing programs in Yemen, though the CIA has conducted the majority of the strikes, U.S. officials have said.
There were 23 U.S. drone strikes reported in Yemen last year, 26 in 2013 and 41 in 2012, according to Long War Journal, a website that tracks them through media reports.
The Houthis last week dissolved parliament and formally took over after months of clashes. They then placed President Hadi and his Cabinet ministers under house arrest. Hadi and the ministers later resigned in protest.
Earlier Tuesday, Yemeni military officials said the Houthis, aided by troops loyal to Hadi's predecessor, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took full control of the key central province of Bayda province.
Bayda is the gateway to the country's south, which remains in the hands of pro-independence southerners and to the strategic oil-rich Maarib province, to the east, also still not in rebel hands.
The U.S. Embassy in Yemen is the third in an Arab country that has closed since the turmoil of the Arab spring began in December 2010. The other two were embassies in Damascus, Syria and Tripoli, Libya. The embassy in Damascus was closed in Feb 2012 and the embassy in Tripoli was closed in July 2014.
The embassy in Yemen was operating with only a small portion of its usual diplomatic staff and had closed to the public for all but emergency services in January. It had been operating with reduced manpower since September 2014, when the State Department ordered all non-essential personnel to leave the country.
In May, 2014 the embassy in Sanaa was closed for several weeks due to heightened security threats.

School Funding Cartoon

School worksheet tells kids GOP thinks helping poor 'waste of money,' parent claims

A Wisconsin mother claims her 16-year-old son's classroom assignment last week described Republicans as opposed to helping the poor because "it's a waste of money."
The woman said her son, a junior at Nathan Hale High School in West Allis, Wisc., was asked, along with other students, to complete an assignment about different views on the political spectrum while in a U.S. government and politics class on Thursday.
The assignment listed a series of quotes and required students to identify which party affiliation best represented each statement.
The first quote read, "We should not help the poor, it’s a waste of money."
The mother, who asked only to be identified as "Heather" to protect her son's privacy, said he chose option "E" for "Fascist" because he "didn't know what else could be the answer."
When the assignment was returned, the answer was marked as incorrect and the teacher wrote in option "D" for "Conservative/Republican" instead, his mother told FoxNews.com.
"I picked my son up from school on Thursday and asked him what was wrong and he brought up that quote," she said. "He asked, 'Mom, where would you say this went on the political spectrum?'"
"I said, 'Nowhere. I don’t know any political party that espouses not helping the poor,'" she told FoxNews.com. "Once we got home, I looked at the work sheet and saw that his answer was marked wrong. The teacher had put the correct answer in the margin and marked it conservative."
"I was shocked and then I was very angry," she said, claiming she called the superintendent of West Allis-West Milwaukee School District Friday morning to inquire about the assignment. 
The school district issued a press release late Monday saying students were "required to take a political spectrum quiz, which is not a quiz in the traditional sense with right or wrong answers; instead, the quiz asks survey questions. The answers to the questions place students on the political spectrum. While the survey is completed online, no personal information is entered, including name, login, and student number."
The district also said the spectrum quiz would not be used again in the future.
The assignment, which was first reported on by the conservative education blog EAGnews.org, was not meant to survey students' political beliefs. The bottom portion of the quiz, however, instructed students to visit a website – gotoquiz.com – to "find out where they stood on the political spectrum," the woman said.

A psychiatrist’s view: Why would Brian Williams make up stories?

NBC anchor Brian Williams is really under fire now -- for seemingly making up details or whole story elements about, among other things, coming under enemy fire by Hezbollah, being in a helicopter hit by enemy fire in Iraq, rescuing puppies while working as a volunteer firefighter and reporting from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  
Williams is a talented man.  He has one of the most coveted positions in all of journalism. Whether he was in a chopper that was actually hit by enemy fire, or close to one hit by enemy fire, or simply in the same general vicinity as one hit by enemy fire, he had gone into a war zone to report on a bloody conflict. Whether he rescued one or two puppies from a blaze, or simply volunteered to help put out a blaze, he was doing something commendable. Whether gangs attacked the French Quarter hotel he was staying in or there was simply chaos in the streets -- streets he had elected to walk -- he was putting himself in harm’s way.  
I have never evaluated Brian Williams, but this question could be asked:  Why wasn’t the truth about each of the stories that Williams seems to have embellished enough?  What leads a man to make him look even more courageous than the courage he displayed?  What leads a man to cast himself as the leading man in dramas that course through even greater dangers than the very real perils that unfolded?
One potential answer is that some people must do everything they can to camouflage deep feelings of weakness and unworthiness.  If you were a bullied kid who suspects himself of cowardice, or an abused kid who suspects himself of being unlovable, or a short or asthmatic kid who suspects himself of being weak, and if you never deal with those underlying fears, then you can end up trying to camouflage them with one tall tale after another.  
People very often cast themselves as one thing to avoid being seen as the opposite.
Casting oneself as heroic and powerful and fearless, when it is done to stave off buried feelings of being vulnerable and frightened, is no different than using any other drug. A person can become just as addicted to praise and the admiration in someone’s eyes as he can to cocaine or heroin.  
I know this is hard to believe, but it is true.  And just like any other drug of abuse, mainlining the ill-gotten respect of others is never enough to really quell the internal sadness and anxiety a damaged person carries inside.  You need more and more praise, however you can get it, to keep the negative feelings at bay.
And if praise and attention and awe are your drugs (rather than a nice byproduct of your work) as an anchorman, then being in front of the camera reading the headlines may not be enough.  You might chase the camera everywhere you can, as Williams seems to have done -- to one talk show, after another, to one celebrity cameo, after another.
Telling tall tales isn’t a skill that you’re born with, or that you develop at age 50.  It’s acquired.  And that’s why it is important for anyone addicted to that drug to figure out when he first mainlined it.  
What was it used to cover up?  If you had an alcoholic father who beat you (and I am not implying in the least that this or any other example I generate describes Mr. Williams), and you want to believe he was a good father, then you could be off to the races, as a confabulator.  If you had a sister who confronted a deadly illness as a child, and your family wanted you to believe it was the flu that kept coming back, then you could be on your way to being expert at generating cover-ups.
The truth always wins. Ask anyone who uses any drug to try to distance himself from any reality. It never, ever works. And so, now, Mr. Williams would be wise to do the work of uncovering just why the real facts of his very real willingness to be in harm’s way just weren’t gritty enough.  
The real admiration of colleagues for his real skills just wasn’t flattering enough.  The real success he enjoyed at the top of his profession just wasn’t rich enough.
The psyche or God or one’s self (maybe all the same thing) has a way of bringing you to your knees in an instant, and making you confront the very things you have been running from. Brian Williams may find himself at that very moment.  
And, as strange as it sounds, and as painful as it could be, it could be a transformational one.

After 54 years, mountaineers find wreckage of plane crash that killed soccer stars

The discovery of twisted pieces of aircraft fuselage high in the Chilean Andes has apparently ended a 54-year aviation and sporting mystery.
Mountaineers say that they have found the wreckage of a plane that crashed more than half a century ago, killing 24 people, including eight members of the Green Cross soccer team from Chile's top division.
The tragedy occurred 11 years before members of a Uruguayan rugby team travelling to a game were famously left stranded for more than two months after their plane crashed in Argentina’s high Andes. 
The Green Cross crash occurred on April 3 1961 when a Douglas DC-3 carrying members of the team went missing, sending shockwaves through the world of sport. The soccer players were returning to Santiago after playing a Copa de Chile game in the southern Chilean city of Osorno. Argentine soccer star Eliseo Mouriño, a Copa America winner with Argentina in 1955 and 1959, and a member of his country’s 1958 World Cup squad, was among the victims.
The U.K.’s Mirror newspaper reports that three referees also lost their lives in the crash. Other members of the team and its staff travelled back to Santiago on a separate flight, which was scheduled to make several stops. Most of the Green Cross first team, however, opted to take the fateful direct flight to Santiago.
The wreckage was found at an altitude of 10,500 feet about 215 miles south of Chile’s capital, Santiago. "It was a breathtaking moment and we felt all kinds of sensations. One could feel the energy of the place and breathe the pain," said expedition member Leonardo Albornoz.
Albornoz told Chile's Channel 7 that the exact site is being kept secret to prevent looting.
The expedition found scattered debris and bones, and could see much of the plane’s fuselage without having to dig it out. The wreckage was not where official publications indicated that it would be, according to the mountaineers.
After drawing 1-1 in Osorno, Green Cross bravely completed the second game of its domestic cup tie against Osorno Selección, losing 1-0. The 1961 Cope de Chile was named “Copa de Chile Green Cross” in the team’s honor.
Green Cross ended the season 12^th out of 14 teams in Chile's Primera Division, but were relegated the following season after finishing bottom of the division. The team returned to Chile’s top division in 1964. The following year, however, Green Cross merged with Deportes Temuco to become Green Cross Temuco.
The crash came just three years after the Munich air disaster that killed 23 people, including eight players and three staff members from English soccer powerhouse Manchester United. In 1949 31 people, including the entire Torino soccer team, died when their plane crashed into the retaining wall of the Basilica of Superga in Turin, Italy.

Republicans claim payout from big-bank settlements being steered toward 'special interests'

House Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of letting millions of dollars from recent mortgage-lending settlements go toward politically favored advocacy groups, in turn "shortchanging" the people originally harmed by the financial crisis.
The separate deals were reached with the Justice Department in summer 2014, with Citigroup agreeing to pay $7 billion for misleading investors over mortgage-backed securities and Bank of America paying $16.65 billion for similar actions.
But of the $24 billion, roughly $150 million is tabbed for financial-counseling agencies -- a category that includes liberal-leaning groups such as the National Council of La Raza.
While some Americans likely will need help figuring out how to recover money through the settlement -- help these organizations could give -- Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are questioning why certain activist groups are on the Department of Housing and Urban Development-approved list.
“The Obama administration is shortchanging victims by using these settlements to send money to their pet projects rather than allowing it to go to directly to the people who were harmed in the first place,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told FoxNews.com on Monday.“Furthermore, the administration is also abusing the separation of powers by using these cases to funnel money to their preferred special interests in an attempt to do an end run around Congress, which the Constitution grants the power of the purse.”
Goodlatte pointed specifically to groups such as La Raza and NeighborWorks America -- a network of community development organizations that his office compared to the defunct, controversial low-income advocacy group ACORN.(ACORN disbanded in 2010 after losing government funding amid a controversy over misconduct captured in hidden-camera videos. NeighborWorks is not affiliated and has declined to even work with groups that are.)
Goodlatte said the settlement deal also could result in banks having to pay an additional half-billion dollars to the “controversial activist groups.” A House Judiciary subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday on the matter.
Concerns about the HUD-approved groups have been raised since at least 2012, when the agency announced the release of $42 million for mortgage counseling, with groups like La Raza and the National Urban League being eligible service providers.
The Urban League received $1 million and La Raza received roughly $1.7 million from HUD, according to the conservative website WesternJournalism.com.
La Raza supports administration-backed, comprehensive immigration-reform legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants and President Obama's recent executive actions that suspended deportation for millions.
La Raza’s nonprofit 501(c)4 group, the NCLR Action Fund, spent $147,521 exclusively on Democratic candidates during the 2014 election cycle.
Group spokeswoman Lisa Nauarrete said Monday that La Raza, though, has been an approved counselor since the first Bush administration and has yet to "receive a dime" of settlement money.
"The argument seems terribly speculative to us," she said. "And the amount is less than 1 percent [of the settlement]. That's a minuscule part."
Goodlatte and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, have been pursuing issues related to the settlements since last year, including sending a letter in November to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting additional information about the “questionable terms” of the deal.
The Justice Department did not return a request Monday for comment on the eligible groups and the deal itself.
Documents provided to FoxNews.com by HUD show hundreds of national and local housing-counseling groups are approved by the agency for settlement money.
A La Raza affiliate was listed in at least five states and the District of Columbia. A NeighborWorks group was listed in five states, and a National Urban League group was listed in nine.
Goodlatte and Hensarling also have raised concerns about the incentive structure in the settlements with Citigroup and Bank of America, which were preceded by a similar one in 2013 with JP Morgan for $13 billion. They argue the deals have an incentive clause in which banks earn $2 worth of credit for every dollar donated to the groups above a certain threshold, compared with a dollar-for-dollar credit for government-mandated consumer relief.
“This makes donations to activist groups far more attractive to banks than providing relief to injured consumers,” Goodlatte and Hensarling said in their 2014 letter to Holder. “As a result, the settlement appears to serve as a vehicle for funding activist groups rather than as a means of securing relief for consumers actually harmed.”

Just as Bad Cartoon

Carson getting 'personnel, rationale' in place for possible 2016 White House run

Dr. Ben Carson acknowledged Sunday that he is building a campaign team for a potential 2016 presidential run and indicated he will make a formal announcement by May.
“We’re making sure all the infrastructure is in place -- personnel and rationale,” said Carson, a conservative favorite expected to run in the Republican primary. “We’re putting all of that together.”
Carson indicated on “Fox News Sunday” that he will, in the next couple of weeks, announce an exploratory committee toward a White House bid and that he would make public in May whether we will formally enter the race.
The 63-year-old Carson continues to do well in early polling.

“We’re making sure all the infrastructure is in place . . ."- Dr. Ben Carson

He finished tied for fifth in a Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm New Hampshire Poll for potential GOP candidates released Sunday.
He finished behind former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Carson tied with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Carson criticized President Obama’s plan to provide free community college education to Americans. He said existing Pell Grants already help students from low-income families receive a higher education. And he offered advice for those who don’t qualify for assistance.
“W-o-r-k,” he said, arguing that government is not responsible for providing everything to it citizens, including those in low- and middle-income families.
"We don't have to give away everything," Carson said. "That was never the intention. The government is not there to give away everything and to take care of people. It is to facilitate our ability to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That's it."
Carson also weighed in on the recent debate about immunization and the measles outbreak that has divided the potential 2016 GOP White House field. He said parents should immunize their children.
Carson said many parents who don’t immunize are the victims of old misinformation and suggested the public health community hasn’t done a good enough job of getting out the correct information, which is that the obvious upsides outweigh the potential downsides, such as allergic reactions.
However, he argued the issue shouldn’t be partisan.
“It’s not a Republican or Democratic issue,” Carson told Fox News.
Days earlier, Paul suggested parents should have their children immunize but also argued that "the state doesn’t own the children.”

Kerry opens door to 2016 White House bid, but just slightly

Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that he has not ruled out a 2016 White House bid, which would put him in a wide-open Democrat primary field behind front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Kerry, the party’s presidential nominee in 2004, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “nobody ever says never.”
However, he said he could think of “no scenario whatsoever” in which he would start such a campaign.
“I haven't thought about it. And I'm, as you can tell, pretty busy," Kerry said from Germany, where he is participating in the Munich Security Conference.
To be sure, as the country’s top diplomat, Kerry has been busy traveling around the world to help resolve an array on international crisis and situations, including the battle against Islamic extremist groups, the Iran nuclear deal, a potential Israel-Palestinian peace agreement and Ukraine’s battle against Russian-backed separatists.  
Among those being mentioned as potential Democratic primary challengers to Clinton, a former secretary of State and 2008 White House candidate, are former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vice President Joe Biden, who ran for president in 1988 and 2008.
Clinton has not declared a candidacy.
Kerry, a former Massachusetts senator, has previously suggested that his current job is his last in politics.

Kerry says US ‘on the road’ to defeating ISIS, amid claims terror group is spreading

Secretary of State John Kerry and a top White House official claimed Sunday that the U.S. strategy to defeat the Islamic State is working – despite warnings from other corners of the Obama administration that the terror network is in fact spreading.
Following the purported deaths last week of two ISIS hostages and concerns about the U.S. needing to do more, Kerry told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the U.S.-led coalition was "on the road" to defeating the Islamic extremist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Iraq and Syria.
He argued that coalition forces have recaptured 22 percent of the populated areas that ISIS once held in the region “without launching what we would call a major offensive."
The claim came just days after Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, delivered a grim assessment of the group’s evolution in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee. He described how the group was surfacing in North Africa.
"With affiliates in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, the group is beginning to assemble a growing international footprint that includes ungoverned and under governed areas,” Stewart testified.
Defense secretary nominee Ashton Carter, who had his confirmation hearing Wednesday, also told Congress this past week he is aware of reports that ISIS may try to expand into Afghanistan.
Still, retired Gen. John Allen, the White House special envoy on the Islamic State, told ABC’s “This Week” that the United States has accomplished its goal of devising a “comprehensive plan” and striking a “hard blow.”
“I believe they have actually,” said Allen, pointing to the northern Syria town of Kobani. Kurdish troops took control of the town several days ago after hundreds of coalition airstrikes on ISIS positions.
Kerry and Allen got some support for their argument from Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh.  
Judeh told ABC later in the show that ISIS is “on the run,” but that certain victory “will not be quick.”
“They are not gone yet,” he said. “The air campaign has degraded their capabilities on the ground. They still control territories. They still have access to Syria’s cash and funds and sophisticated weaponry… . But there is no doubt we shall prevail.”  
Allen and Judeh’s positive analysis was preceded Sunday by Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, who says the United States’ overarching strategy for combating Islamic extremist groups is not working.
“The counterterrorism component works just fine to go after the high-value targets and key leaders,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “But we need a much broader strategy that recognizes that we’re facing not just this tactical problem of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. … I think what I’m saying is the strategy that we have is not working, and it’s clearly not working.”
He estimated the size of the enemy has doubled in the past 10 years and pointed to such hotspots as middle-central Asia, northern Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. 
However, Flynn also made clear the responsibility to craft a comprehensive plan goes beyond the White House to Congress.
Flynn made his remarks as Congress prepares this week to consider whether to give Obama the authorization to use military force against Islamic State.
Some critics of the current administration plan -- essentially airstrikes in Iraq and Syria with U.S. troops helping train local militias -- want to send American combat troops into the region.
However, the so-called “boots on the ground” strategy appears unpopular for war-weary Americans.
And on Sunday, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, a potential 2016 White House candidate and ardent Obama administration critic, voiced opposition to sending U.S. troops overseas.
“I don’t believe right now we need American boots on the ground. And the reason is, we have boots on the ground already, with the Kurds,” he told ABC.
However, he also argued the U.S. needs to supply them with more weapons.

Obama, Merkel aim to keep united front amid dispute over arming Ukraine

A previously scheduled Monday morning White House meeting between President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken on greater import as both leaders attempt to keep a united front in the midst of a dispute over whether to arm Ukrainian forces battling Russian-backed separatists in the country's east. 
The Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday that Obama has held off on making a final decision on whether to provide so-called lethal aid to Kiev until his meeting with Merkel, which will also be attended by Vice President Joe Biden.
Support for weapons deliveries has grown in Washington as Russian-backed separatist rebels have made significant gains in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks. For her part, Merkel has given Russian President Vladimir Putin until Wednesday to agree to a road map to end the bloody fighting. Merkel and her French counterpart, Francois Hollande, spoke by phone to Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Sunday, with the aim of finalizing a deal Wednesday in the Belarussian capital of Minsk. 
The differing approaches of the U.S. and Germany came to a head over the weekend at a security conference in Munich, Germany, at which Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., accused Germany of abandoning Ukraine, which he described as a "struggling democracy."
That comment brought a rebuke from German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said "Perhaps we are so insistent [on negotiation] because we know the region a bit."
It fell to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to smooth things over, as he said both the U.S. and Europe were "united in our diplomacy."
"There is no division, there is no split," Kerry added. "I keep hearing people trying to create one. We are united, we are working closely together."
German diplomats have warned that any new arms deliveries will cause Russia to respond in kind, leading to more bloodshed and the end of any chance for a negotiated settlement to the conflict. Western officials told the Journal that Germany will move to increase sanctions against Russian companies if Merkel determines that Russia has blocked a deal.
For their part, some U.S. officials tell the paper that giving Ukraine more weapons would force Putin to rethink his strategy. Western and Ukrainian officials believe that regular Russian troops are embedded with the rebels. Russia has denied this, and officials say that has caused authorities in Moscow to hold secret burials for troops killed in Ukraine all over the country in the hope of avoiding suspicion and backlash from military families. Russia has also repeatedly denied providing training and equipment to the separatists. 
"If we help Ukrainians increase the military cost to the Russian forces that have invaded their country, how long can Putin sustain a war that he tells his people is not happening?" Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday in Munich. 
The plan presented to Poroshenko and Putin last week by Merkel and Hollande would call for a case-fire and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the front line to create a demilitarized zone. The plan would also call for separatist forces to withdraw from the territory they have captured while preventing Ukrainian forces from entering it during any future negotiations for a permanent settlement.

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Brian Williams does not face investigation, stepped aside voluntarily, source says

Brian Williams decided on his own to step aside from his NBC newscast for several days and was under no pressure to do so by network executives, a person familiar with the situation says.
The move on Saturday, developed in consultation with the NBC brass, was not a thinly disguised suspension. In fact, no one, including NBC News President Deborah Turness, suggested that Williams take time off, this person says.
What’s more, according to the source, NBC is not conducting an internal investigation of its anchor, as has been widely reported. The network is engaging in journalistic fact-gathering so it can respond to questions about the crisis created by Williams’ false story about having been in a helicopter in Iraq that was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. That means there will be no report with a finding on his conduct, this person says.
Williams knows that he needs to address the situation beyond the botched apology this week that made matters worse. And he has a prime forum coming up: An appearance scheduled for Thursday on CBS’s “Late Show” with David Letterman.
Williams is strongly considering keeping the appearance and using it as an opportunity to clear the air and address the lingering questions, the source says, but no final decision has been made.
Ironically, the anchor will be sitting in the same chair where he told Letterman the false Iraq story in 2013—a clip that has been widely replayed to show that he has repeatedly claimed to have been in the downed Chinook.
No one, including Williams, is minimizing the gravity of the situation. He is said to be embarrassed and very remorseful about the crisis that he created by misrepresenting what happened in Iraq in 2003.
NBC executives have not publicly defended Williams, fueling media speculation that his job may be in jeopardy. But the person familiar with the situation says Williams wanted no such public show of support, fearing it would appear to be the kiss of death.
That’s because NBC management had expressed support for David Gregory before dumping him as moderator of “Meet the Press,” and for Ann Curry before pushing her off the “Today” show.
Williams understands how badly he has damaged the news division. He told colleagues this week that while the Iraq debacle was solely his mistake, he hurt all of them because he is the high-profile face of NBC News.
He also is acutely aware that by saying during his apology that he was in a “following aircraft” behind the chopper that was hit—which was debunked by Stars & Stripes—he prolonged the controversy and made matters worse.
On the central question of why he claimed to have been in the helicopter that was struck by an RPG, Williams is said to believe that he simply succumbed to the sin of exaggeration. Armchair pundits have been analyzing whether he somehow convinced himself that he was a hero by taking enemy fire.
For now, at least, Williams’ job at NBC, where he has been the top-rated network anchor for a decade, appears secure. But that could change if journalists poke more holes in other stories reported by Williams.
For instance, a report in the New Orleans Advocate questioned whether Williams actually saw a dead body floating by his hotel when he was covering Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as he has repeatedly said.
The New Orleans Times Picayune reports Saturday that since the anchor was staying at the Ritz-Carlton in the French Quarter, “it is possible Williams saw floodwater outside the hotel, as water pouring in from failed levees reached that [area]. The Associated Press reported that a news photographer and a law enforcement official said they saw bodies in the area.”
By handing his anchor duties to Lester Holt for a week or so—there is no exact timetable—Williams hopes to minimize the distraction that his credibility problems have created. But whether he can achieve his goal of regaining the audience’s trust depends on how he handles the mounting questions in the days ahead.

Obama administration issues 5.5M work permits to non-citizens; critics call it 'shadow' immigration system

The Obama administration has since 2009 issued roughly 5.5 million work permits to non-citizens beyond what Congress has authorized, according to recently-released documents that critics of U.S. policy say reveals a "shadow" or "parallel" immigration system stifling wages and taking jobs from Americans.
The information was obtained by the conservative-leaning Center for Immigration Studies through a Freedom of Information Act request and has prompted Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions to call for an investigation.
"This request has unearthed the operation of a shadow immigration system previously unknown to the American public," said Sessions, one of Capitol Hill's most outspoken critics of President Obama's immigration policy. "A full investigation is warranted."
Congress authorized an estimated 5 million green cards and 3.5 million guest worker permits during the 2009-2014 period, in addition to the 5.5 million issued by administration action, a Senate staffer said Wednesday.
Jessica Vaughn, the study author and the center's director of policy studies, argues the administration has discovered the power to issue work permits outside the limits set by Congress and that it has become "the vehicle" for Obama’s executive actions -- in which he has offered deferred deportation to millions of people now in the country illegally.
The biggest group of recipients has been people entering the U.S. without being inspected. More than 957,200 of them received permanent or "pre-permanent" work permits, according to the center.
Others received those types of permits were 23,215 parolees, nearly 1,000 stowaways and 49 people suspected of document fraud.
In addition, 531,692 students and 470,028 students received temporary work permits over that period. And those in both groups were neither originally admitted to the U.S. for employment nor qualified for admission, the group found.
"Some of those people are on track to get a green card," Vaughn said recently on Fox News Business' "Lou Dobbs Tonight." "But the vast majority of them entered illegal or on a tourist visa or the visa waiver program. … It's not like there’s a labor shortage here."
Session has largely framed his argument against Obama's immigration policy as hurtful to U.S. workers, many of whom have not seen wages increase in the growing, post-recession economy.
"The slack labor market has depressed median family income by $5,000" since 2009, he said.
Vaughn also broke down the numbers to show the three biggest groups ineligible for work permits but receiving them are illegal immigrants (928,000), people of "unknown" immigration status (1.7 million), and those on a temporary visa (1.8 million).
"There's no reason to issue (work permits) to people here illegally or whose status is unknown," Vaughn also said.
She said 1.7 million have either not been recorded or their statuses have not being disclosed by the Citizenship and Immigration Services, which  should be a concern because work permits are “gateway documents” to drivers' licenses and other benefits.
The agency did return a call requesting comment.
"And if the government agency issuing them does not know or will not disclose how the bearer arrived in the country how can others rely on the authenticity of an individual's identity? It is equally disconcerting if the government does know and chooses not to disclose it," Vaughn said.

Parents of US hostage held by ISIS nixed rescue mission, report says

The parents of an American aid worker held hostage by the Islamic State terror group reportedly did not want the U.S. to launch a mission to rescue her, but rather have her release negotiated.
Foreign Policy reported that as a result of the request, military plans to locate 26-year-old Kayla Mueller were shot down before President Obama had a chance to decide on a possible strategy to locate her.
The parents of Mueller reportedly told U.S. officials that such an operation would be "too risky."
ISIS said Friday that Mueller, of Prescott, Arizona, died in a Jordanian airstrike, but the government of Jordan dismissed the statement as “criminal propaganda” and the U.S. said it had not received any evidence to corroborate the report.
If the death is confirmed, she would be the fourth American to die while being held by Islamic State militants. Three other Americans -- journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig -- were beheaded by the group.
The parents of Mueller released a statement late Friday addressing the terrorist group’s claim of their daughter’s death. They said the alleged death of their daughter concerned them, but they were still hopeful she was alive.
"You told us that you treated Kayla as your guest, as your guest her safety and well-being remains your responsibility," the statement from Mueller's parents says.
Mueller is an aid worker who has previously volunteered with aid groups in India, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Her identity had not been disclosed until now out of fears for her safety. Her family said she was taken hostage by the Islamic State group on Aug. 4, 2013, while leaving a hospital in Syria.
"The common thread of Kayla's life has been her quiet leadership and strong desire to serve others," Mueller's family said in the short statement released Friday.
Jordan has been launching airstrikes against the extremist group in response to a video released this week that shows captive Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned to death in a cage.
Al-Kaseasbeh, whose F-16 came down in December while conducting airstrikes as part of a campaign against the militants by a U.S.-led coalition, was believed to have been killed in early January.
Friday's statement from the group said Mueller was killed in the militants' stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria during Muslim prayers -- which usually take place around midday -- in airstrikes that targeted "the same location for more than an hour."
It published photos purportedly of the bombed site, showing a severely damaged three-story building, but offered no proof or images of Mueller.
The statement said no Islamic State militants were killed in the airstrikes, raising further questions about the veracity of the claim.
Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said it was investigating.
"But as a first reaction, we think it's illogical and we are highly skeptical about it. How could they identify a Jordanian warplane ... in the sky? What was the American lady doing in a weapons warehouse?" al-Momani said.
"It's part of their criminal propaganda. They have lied that our pilot is alive and tried to negotiate, claiming he is alive while they had killed him weeks before," he added.
American officials said they also were looking into the report.
“We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports," said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. "We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL’s claim."

Biden says Ukrainians 'have a right to defend themselves,' mum on US sending weapons

Vice President Joe Biden, in Germany this weekend to help reach a diplomatic solution to Russian aggression in Ukraine, said Ukrainians “have a right to defend themselves" but did not address the possibility of the United States sending weapons to them.
Biden is in Munich with Secretary of State John Kerry to back the German-French diplomatic effort, which he says is "very much worth the attempt."
Biden said he and other U.S. leaders think they should “attempt an honorable peace" but that they also believe the Ukrainian people "have a right to defend themselves."
He suggested that the impact of economic sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions will get worse if leaders refuses to accept a peaceful resolution and continue to escalate the conflict, the White House said Saturday.
Russian military forces started taking control of parts of eastern Ukraine in late-February 2014, after protesters and other Ukrainian residents helped oust Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovych. And within weeks, Russian began its ultimately successful effort to annex the eastern Ukraine region of Crimea.
In response to recent calls in Washington and Kiev for the U.S. to give the outgunned Ukrainians such lethal weapons as anti-tank and anti-mortar systems to fight Russian-backed separatists, Moscow said earlier this week that such a move would be a threat to its national security.
While in Munich, Biden also met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to discuss the diplomatic efforts and to pledge U.S. support for the Ukraine economy as it pursues reforms, according to the White House.
Still, Biden remains skeptical about whether Russian officials will comply with a diplomatic solution, saying they will be judged by their actions on the ground, "not by the paper they sign."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande traveled to Kiev on Thursday and Moscow on Friday.
They are trying to secure a peaceful resolution to the conflict based on the Sept. 24, 2014, Minsk agreements.
Poroshenko is pushing for a quick cease-fire and insists that the conflict must be resolved, not frozen.
"There is no temporary solution,” he said at the Munich Security Conference, amid the flurry of international diplomacy to calm the Ukraine conflict.
Poroshenko also renewed Kiev's call to be provided with defensive weapons, something that's opposed by European countries.

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Obama security agenda urges ‘strategic patience,’ drawing criticism amid ISIS threat

President Obama unveiled a national security strategy on Friday that called for "strategic patience" and warned against American "overreach" -- an approach that drew criticism as some lawmakers say the rising threat from the Islamic State demands a more urgent response. 
The 29-page document is meant to serve as a blueprint for Obama's final two years in office. The strategy cast the U.S. as an indispensable force in combating global challenges -- including terrorism, climate change and cyber threats. 
"American leadership remains essential," National Security Adviser Susan Rice said at a Brookings Institution event where she detailed the plan. 
Yet the long-awaited security agenda included no major course changes in the military campaign against Islamic State militants or in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The document acknowledged serious threats abroad - and reiterated that, for the Islamic State, the goal is to "ultimately defeat" the terror group - but was imbued with a sense of restraint.   
"America leads from a position of strength. But, this does not mean we can or should attempt to dictate the trajectory of all unfolding events around the world," the document said. "As powerful as we are and will remain, our resources and influence are not infinite. And in a complex world, many of the security problems we face do not lend themselves to quick and easy fixes." 
The strategy said the U.S. has to make "hard choices" and "resist the over-reach that comes when we make decisions based upon fear." 
"The challenges we face require strategic patience and persistence," the document said. 
That line drew a rebuke from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who suggested the approach will only embolden America's rivals. 
"I doubt ISIL, the Iranian mullahs, or Vladmir Putin will be intimidated by President Obama's strategy of 'strategic patience.' From their point of view, the more 'patience' President Obama practices the stronger they become," he said in a statement. "The Obama Doctrine, or 'strategic patience,' has led to a world in chaos.  ... Applying more 'patience' to President Obama's failed foreign policy just prolongs failure." 
The National Security Strategy was released a day after Obama made controversial remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast appearing to draw comparisons between Islamic State atrocities and bloody acts committed by Christians - hundreds of years ago. 
"Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ," Obama said. "In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ. ...So this is not unique to one group or one religion." 
The administration faced a storm of criticism for the comments. Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal on Friday ripped the president's "history lesson," saying the issue today "is the terrorism of radical Islam, the assassination of journalists, the beheading and burning alive of captives." 
Jindal said: "We will be happy to keep an eye out for runaway Christians, but it would be nice if he would face the reality of the situation today. The Medieval Christian threat is under control Mr. President. Please deal with the Radical Islamic threat today." 
White House spokesman Eric Schultz defended the comments on Friday, saying the president believes in American exceptionalism but also believes "we need to be honest with ourselves" when America falls short on holding to its values. 
Some are concerned Obama's rhetoric does not match the urgency of the challenge at hand, as the Islamic State holds a wide swath of territory across Iraq and Syria while seeking to attract followers from around the world. Its brutal execution by fire of a captured Jordanian pilot rallied the Jordan government this week to launch a new wave of airstrikes against the terror group. 
In the National Security Strategy, the administration said the U.S. would continue to support Iraq's government against ISIS, while working to train and equip a "moderate Syrian opposition" to battle terrorists in their country. 
The document acknowledged that the terror threat "persists" and has spread to a range of countries and continents. At the same time, it claimed "the threat of catastrophic attacks against our homeland by terrorists has diminished." 
To that end, Rice said Friday that the danger does not rise to the level of past challenges America has faced. 
"While the dangers we face may be more numerous and varied, they are not of the existential nature we confronted during World War II or during the Cold War. We cannot afford to be buffeted by alarmism and a nearly instantaneous news cycle," Rice said. 
She spoke to how the terror threat has spread into a network of Al Qaeda affiliates, local militias and groups like ISIS. "This diffusion may for now reduce the risk of a spectacular attack like 9/11 but it raises the probability of the types of attacks that we have seen in Boston, and Ottawa, Sydney, and Paris," she said. 
The president is required by law to send Congress a national security strategy annually. However, most presidents, including Obama, have done so only sporadically. Obama's only previous memo to lawmakers came in 2010 and formalized his desire to broaden U.S. national security posture beyond anti-terror campaigns. 
Obama's critics have accused the president of putting his desire to keep the U.S. out of overseas conflicts ahead of the need for more robust action against the world's bad actors. Some members of Congress have called for Obama to send more American ground troops to the Middle East to combat the Islamic State group, while also pushing for the White House to authorize shipments of defensive weapons to Ukraine to help its beleaguered military in the fight against Russian-backed separatists. 
Administration officials have said that Obama is reconsidering his opposition to giving Ukraine lethal aid, though he continues to have concerns about the effectiveness of that step. 
For much of his presidency, Obama has sought to recalibrate the focus of U.S. foreign policy away from the Middle East and toward fast-growing regions like Asia and Africa. He's made numerous trips to Asia, in particular, and Rice announced Friday that Obama would be hosting state visits this year for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 
In one area where Obama has overlap with Republicans, he reaffirmed his support for free trade agreements with Asia, as well as Europe. 
The president also addressed the risks of climate change and infectious diseases like the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Samantha Jones: Why I defended 'Pledge of Allegiance'

When I heard about a group of atheists suing to silence every New Jersey school kid who wished to say the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety, including the words “under God,” I knew I had to do something.
That’s why my family and I decided to defend the Pledge in court. We believe in doing so we are not only standing for the Pledge but also protecting our freedoms as Americans, and our ability to celebrate those freedoms everywhere including in school. And the judge just agreed with us. He dismissed the American Humanist Association’s lawsuit because our legal system doesn’t force kids into silence just because some others take offense at timeless American values.
Judging by what is being said by the atheists who are suing, you probably imagine that students in New Jersey are obligated to say the Pledge, even if they don’t want to. But that’s not true. In New Jersey, as in every other state, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is entirely optional. No one has to participate. In fact, if a student declines to participate, he or she is even allowed to remain seated—students don’t have to stand up, salute the flag, or say anything.
I defend the right of kids to sit out the Pledge. In fact, I am proud to live in a country that is so respectful of everyone’s beliefs. We are a diverse country and we celebrate that diversity in many ways.

The same laws that protect the atheists’ world view, protect mine. I will not let them silence me.

However, the same laws that protect the atheists’ world view, protect mine. I will not let them silence me. I’ve been reciting the Pledge since preschool, and to me, the phrase “one nation under God” sums up the history and values that have made our country great. “Under God” acknowledges that our rights don’t come from the government but from a higher power. The government cannot be allowed to take away the basic human rights it did not create.
In history class I have learned that oppressive governments like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union said that people only have rights given by the state. Under those regimes, every person lived at the mercy of the state. The state could even declare some people “unpersons” without any rights at all. But the United States has always been very different.
American history is filled with references to “God.” When Martin Luther King Jr. called on Americans to heal the pains of segregation, he did so by emphasizing that all men are “created equal:”
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
Created equal—everyone has equal rights because those rights come from a power above and beyond the state. The state cannot segregate people
God created equal.
If the American Humanist Association wants to eliminate every mention of “God,” teachers would have to remain silent about the values held by the American Revolutionaries, the Constitution, and leaders in the civil rights movement. And why would they advocate that kind of censorship anyway? I think it’s empowering to know that, no matter what happens, I have some rights the government can never take away.
By suing to censor ideas they don’t like in the classroom, the American Humanist Association moved from dissent to hostile bullying. It is an honor to have the opportunity to stand up to those bullies, and I’m delighted that a court has stood up for what’s right. I will continue to work with our attorneys at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to make sure school children across New Jersey are free to say the Pledge of Allegiance in full.
Samantha Jones is a high school senior at Highland Regional High School.

Benghazi panel plans to interview key figures in Obama, Clinton inner circles

The special congressional committee investigating the response to the 2012 Benghazi terror attacks plans to interview a host of current and former officials from President Obama's and Hillary Clinton's inner circles, according to a letter obtained Friday by Fox News. 
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the committee, made the names public in a letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the Benghazi panel. 
He said that as early as April, he plans to start interviewing a range of figures including former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and current Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey. 
The list also includes: National Security Adviser Susan Rice; Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes; former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta; former CIA Director David Petraeus; former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon; former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell; and key State Department officials. 
"I am announcing an ambitious timeline for interviews consistent with my plan to speed-up the pace of the investigation" Gowdy said in a statement. "I intend to stay with this schedule and will issue subpoenas if necessary." 
The interviews show the committee ramping up its investigation, which so far has focused on speaking with lower-profile individuals. Between February and April, the committee plans to interview Americans who survived the 2012 attacks, including State Department and CIA personnel. 
Gowdy said in his letter the witnesses can "provide indispensable firsthand accounts of what happened before, during, and after the attacks." After that, the committee will interview the higher-level administration officials. 
Gowdy said he and the Democratic side still want to bring in former Secretary of State Clinton to answer questions as well. 
Four Americans, including ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the 2012 attacks. The Obama administration has faced criticism for the security posture at the main compound in Benghazi, as well as for the response the night of the attack and the initial efforts to describe the attack as an out-of-control protest.

CIA probes ISIS claim Jordanian airstrikes killed US aid worker

U.S. intelligence officials are investigating a claim by ISIS that its sole known remaining American hostage, an aid worker held for nearly a year and a half, has been killed, and the terrorist group's claim that her death came in a Jordanian airstrike, sources told Fox News.
Kayla Mueller, 26, whose identity had previously not been revealed at the request of the U.S. government and her family as the Pentagon worked to secure her, is believed to be the last American hostage the terrorist army is holding, since the beheading of Peter Kassig, a 26-year-old American aid worker, killed in November. In its statement, ISIS also claimed Mueller was the only person killed in the airstrike, claiming none of its fighters injured or killed.
“We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports," said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. "We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL’s claim.”
Late Friday night, the Mueller family released a statement saying "we are still hopeful that Kayla is alive." Addressing those who held Kayla, her family said,"We have sent you a private message and ask that you respond to us privately. We know that you have read our previous communications."

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Kayla Mueller went to Syria to help children and refugees displaced by the ongoing civil war. (Courtesy: Mueller family)

Images of children suffering in the early stages of Syria's ongoing civil war prompted Mueller, 26, to leave her home in Prescott, Ariz., in December, 2012,  to work with the Danish Refugee Council and the humanitarian organization Support to Life to help refugees. According to a family spokesperson, Kayla found the work heartbreaking but compelling.
"For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal, something we just accept," Mueller told her hometown newspaper, The Daily Courier, in a 2013 interview during a trip home to her family. "It's important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we are. And from that place, start caring and get a lot done."
She was captured on Aug. 4, 2013, in Aleppo, Syria, while leaving a Spanish hospital staffed by the international humanitarian group Doctors without Borders. 
Unlike other Islamic State captives killed by the group after their ransom demands were spurned, Mueller has not been featured on any hostage videos in which the terror army's prisoners, under obvious duress, denounce the West and plead for their lives. In some cases, intelligence officials have determined the hostages were killed long before the Islamic State militants claimed, raising the possibility that Mueller was already dead.

"For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal, something we just accept."- Kayla Mueller, 2013 interview

Just last Sunday, President Obama said the U.S. is doing everything it can to free Mueller.
"Obviously this is something that is heartbreaking for the family and we want to make sure we do anything we can to make sure that any American citizen is rescued from this situation," Obama told NBC in an interview that aired prior to the Super Bowl.

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In this May 30, 2013, photo, Kayla Mueller is shown after speaking to a group in Prescott, Ariz. (AP/The Daily Courier)

Jordan, which had previously taken part in U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State, stepped up its efforts on Wednesday, a day after the Islamic State released a horrifying video of a Jordanian air force pilot being burned to death in a cage. The Arab nation promptly hanged two terror suspects ISIS had sought to free and then, as King Abdullah II vowed to crush the terrorist army that has seized a bloody realm spanning parts of Syria and Iraq, mounted what it called devastating strikes against ISIS targets in Syria Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It was in one of those strikes that Islamic State claims the woman was killed.
A Jordanian government spokesperson told Fox‎ News it is impossible to verify Mueller's death, but said officials are highly suspicious. The spokesman said he doesn't know what the hostage would have been doing in the location where the airstrike occurred.

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Kayla Mueller, left, is pictured here in an undated photo.

Islamic State militants had demanded a $6 million ransom and the release of terrorist prisoners in exchange for Mueller. Among the prisoners Islamic State sought to trade for the woman was Aafia Siddiqui, a neuroscientist trained at MIT who was convicted of attempting to murder U.S. officials and planning to make dirty bombs for use in terror attacks in 2010.
According to Mueller's family, she graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2009, and planned to devote herself to humanitarian causes. From her college graduation through 2011, she lived and worked with humanitarian aid groups in northern India, Israel and Palestine. She returned home to Arizona in 2011, and worked for one year at an HIV/AIDS clinic while volunteering at a women’s shelter at night.
While her identity had not been reported in the media, friends, loved ones and officials in her home state have been comforting her family in recent months.
“While I have no new information today on Kayla’s current situation, I do know from speaking regularly with her family that she is extremely devoted to the people of Syria, and to doing all she can to alleviate the terrible suffering which has left more than 200,000 people dead and driven millions from homes into refugee status," said Den. John McCain, R-Ariz. "I also know that Kayla is extremely well-loved and dearly missed by her family and friends in Arizona."
If Mueller was indeed killed while held by ISIS, she would be the latest in a growing list of captives held until their deaths by the Islamist terror organization.
In August, an ISIS militant believed to be British and dubbed "Jihadi John" by the UK press, beheaded American freelance journalist James Foley in a video released online. That was followed by the similar, gruesome Sept. 2 murder of Steven Sotloff, another U.S. journalist who had written for Time magazine and other publications. Kassig was the last American known to have been killed by the barbaric group.

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Kayla Mueller (AP/The Daily Courier)

But Islamic State also beheaded two UK aid workers, David Haines, who was killed in September, and Alan Henning, who went to help refugees from Syria's bloody civil war, in October. Late last month, it released videos showing it had slaughtered two Japanese citizens, Haruna Yukawa, a self-employed security contractor, and Kenji Goto, a journalist.

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