Obama condemns 'outrageous' Paris attacks, State Department scrambles to locate Americans

President Obama Condemned this, yet wants to bring Syria Refugees to America?

President Obama condemned the multiple terror attacks in Paris late Friday, calling them an "outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians" and vowing the U.S. will do what it takes to help "bring these terrorists to justice." 
"This is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share," Obama said from the White House. "... This is a heartbreaking situation."
While stressing he does not know all the details and does "not want to speculate," Obama said the U.S. is "prepared and ready" to give whatever assistance is needed to the French government and people.
"France is our oldest ally," Obama said.
The attack, and the president's comments, came hours after an interview aired in which Obama claimed the Islamic State was being contained.
"I don't think they're gaining strength," Obama told ABC News' "Good Morning America." "We have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq. And in Syria, they'll come in, they'll leave, but you don't see this systematic march by ISIL across the terrain."
He acknowledged coalition forces have not been able to "decapitate their command-and-control structures."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attacks. Online accounts linked to the Islamic State are celebrating the attack, though this does not represent a claim of responsibility.
More than 150 people were believed to have been killed in Friday's attacks, with gunmen executing scores of victims inside a Paris concert hall after killing dozens of others at separate locations. The State Department said that 70 U.S. citizens known to be in France have not yet been accounted for, though none of them has been reported killed.
The State Department says U.S. citizens can contact 1-888-407-4747 (from the U.S.) or 202-501-4444 (from other countries) for assistance.
Secretary of State John Kerry, saying he shares the president's "outrage and sadness," also said the U.S. embassy in Paris is "making every effort to account for the welfare of American citizens in the city."
"These are heinous, evil, vile acts," Kerry said. "Those of us who can must do everything in our power to fight back against what can only be considered an assault on our common humanity."
The series of attacks gripped the city in fear and recalled the horrors of the Charlie Hebdo carnage just 10 months ago.
A U.S. government official told Fox News they believe this was a coordinated attack. One source said it points to "months of planning" based on the multiple locations where the attacks were playing out.
Amid the attacks, Fox News is told that officials were "beefing up" security at the U.S. Capitol Friday evening, though there is no concrete intelligence indicating a threat in the U.S.
On Twitter, House Speaker Paul Ryan said, "All of Paris needs our prayers tonight."
The Department of Homeland Security put out a statement saying they are "closely monitoring" the events.
"At this time, there is no specific or credible threat to the United States," the DHS statement said.
According to a White House official, Obama has been briefed on the situation by Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.
Obama said Friday the American people "stand together with [the French people] in the fight against terrorism and extremism."
"We're going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people [and other nations] ... to bring these terrorists to justice," he said.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter also has been briefed on the attack, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook.
"At this point in time we are not aware of any DoD personnel involved in this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the French people at this difficult moment," Cook said.
The attack comes as France has heightened security measures ahead of a major global climate conference that starts in two weeks, out of fear of violent protests and potential terrorist attacks.

Ted Cruz urges border wall in immigration plan, ramps up attacks on Rubio

Ted Cruz unveiled a hard-line immigration plan on Friday that includes a border wall as he also ramped up attacks on rival Marco Rubio, saying the Florida senator stood "shoulder to shoulder" with lawmakers in support of a "massive amnesty plan" for illegal immigrants. 
"Immigration is an issue that divides this country, it is an issue that divides the Republican Party," Cruz, a Texas senator, said during a rally with supporters in Orlando.
The Cruz plan includes everything from building a complete southern border wall to ending birthright citizenship to halting legal immigration when unemployment gets “unacceptably high.”
"I will complete the wall," Cruz vows in the plan, endorsing an objective that Donald Trump has been touting for months.
Shortly before releasing the document, Cruz zeroed in on Republican presidential rival Rubio, who is third in most national polls and narrowly ahead of Cruz.
"Listen, I like Marco a lot, he is charming and he's very well-liked in Washington," Cruz told Fox News right before hitting the stage. "But at the end of the day, where you stand on the issues speaks volumes."
Cruz accused Rubio of being the "point of the spear" for the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators who tried to come up with a comprehensive immigration policy in 2013 and failed. He accused Rubio of standing "shoulder to shoulder" with them.
"Where you stood up and lined up on the Gang of Eight bill was a time for choosing," Cruz later said during the rally. Without naming names, he blasted Republicans who support giving law-abiding illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. "There is nothing compassionate about a politician saying I am so compassionate I am willing to give away your jobs."
Rubio shot back on Friday. "On the immigration front, as I said, I'm puzzled and quite frankly surprised by Ted's attacks since Ted's position on immigration is not much different than mine," Rubio told reporters after his own speech Friday. "He's a supporter of legalizing people who are in this country illegally. If he's changed that position, then someone has a right to change his position on the issue but he should be clear about that."
When asked about this Friday, Cruz quipped, "I have to say, when I heard that I laughed out loud. I understand why he regrets having taken the position he did. To say we are on the same [page] on the immigration issue is to say my position and Barack Obama's position on health care is the same."
Cruz, meanwhile, said President Obama lacks the "will" to build a complete wall along the southern border and as president he would  “build a wall that works," along with tripling the number of border agents, increasing surveillance, and adding biometric screening at entry checkpoints.
Further, Cruz says he would prevent illegal immigrants from receiving financial benefits and strengthen E-Verify for employers. He would suspend the issuance of all H-1B (employment) visas for 180 days for audit to ensure it is not being abused. He would also require that anyone coming in with an H-1B visa have an advanced degree, and prevent employers bringing these visa holders in from laying off domestic workers for a set period of time.
Cruz's position on high-skilled visas represents a complete about-face on one of his long-held immigration stances.
During the Senate immigration debate two years ago, the Texas senator was an outspoken advocate for increasing legal immigration, particularly for highly skilled immigrants. He called legal immigration "a pillar of our nation's heritage and strength" and introduced amendments to double the cap on legal immigration and increase the number of high-skilled immigrant visas by 500 percent.
Perhaps most radically in the new plan, Cruz says he would halt “any increases in legal immigration so long as American unemployment remains unacceptably high.” He would also enforce the “public-charge” doctrine, which would force immigrants to certify they are self-sufficient before they are given permission to live in the U.S. “The purpose of legal immigration should be to grow the economy, not displace American workers,” he said. “Under no circumstances should legal immigration levels be adjusted upwards so long as work-force participation rates remain below historical levels.”
He would also take steps to pass legislation or pursue a constitutional amendment to end “birthright citizenship,” which grants citizenship to any child born on U.S. soil.
Cruz also said he will “end President Obama’s illegal amnesty” by rescinding any executive orders allowing people who are here illegally to stay, and end any federal support for cities with so-called “sanctuary policies” which he said “make a mockery of our laws and endanger our citizens.”
On Syrian refugees, Cruz was unequivocal. "They need to be settled in the Middle East and majority Muslim countries," not in the U.S., where "it makes no sense whatsoever." He suggested that most of the refugees entering Europe from the war zones are "young men" and among them could be members of the Islamic State.
"It is lunacy to bring refugees into this country who may be terrorists trying to murder Americans," he said.

Eagles of Death Metal members escape Paris terror attack

The members of the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal were able to escape the Paris concert venue where their performance was interrupted by a terror attack that killed dozens of concertgoers.
The precise number of dead at the Bataclan concert hall in the eastern part of Paris has not been confirmed, but the latest estimates from city officials estimated that at least 87 people were killed by gunmen who sprayed bullets into the crowd, then began slaughtering those who had been unable to escape.
A U.S. official confirmed to the Associated Press that all members of the band were safe and accounted for. The Los Angeles Times, citing someone close to the band, also reported that the band members were unharmed, but one person working with the band was killed and another was wounded.
A man identified as Michael Dorio, the brother of the band’s drummer Julian Dorio, told WSB-TV in Atlanta that his brother had escaped the theater.
"He said they were playing, about six songs into the show, and they heard, before they saw anything, they heard automatic machine gunfire. And it was so loud, it was louder than the band, and they all hit the stage floor,” the man identified as Michael Dorio told WSB. “And as they got up to try to evacuate they saw men with machine guns just shooting anything and everything in the venue.”
"Fifteen hundred people, Julian said, was about the capacity of the venue. I don't know if it was seated or standing but Julian, the lead singer and some of the crew, there was a door back of the stage that led to a street and they flew out the back door," he said.
Julian Dorio’s wife told The Washington Post that her husband and other band members made it out alive.
"We are just holding our breath and saying prayers for everyone," Emily Dorio said. "[Julian] called to say that he loved me and he was safe. Everyone on stage was able to get off."
Earlier reports said the concert’s opening band at the Bataclan assured fans on its Facebook page that the Eagles of Death Metal band members were outside when the attacks occurred and escaped.
The Eagles of Death Metal was formed by musicians Jesse Hughes and John Homme and features a revolving lineup. Homme is reportedly not on the band’s European tour.

'Safe spaces' on college campuses run at odds with First Amendment, say law experts

Have we raised up a Nation of Idiots?

So-called "safe spaces" -- where students can shield themselves from uncomfortable or dissenting viewpoints -- might be all the rage on college campuses, but they would not have been too popular with the founding fathers, say Constitutional law experts.
"I think the problem is they're trying to use this word 'safe' – which conveys the image of a violent attack – and turning it into safe from ideas and statements we find offensive," said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh. "There is no right to be safe from that."
"That is directly contrary to what universities are all about," Volokh told FoxNews.com Friday.

"They want complete control over their personal lives, over their sex lives, over the use of drugs, but they want mommy and daddy dean to please give them a safe place, to protect them from ideas that maybe are insensitive, maybe will make them think."
- attorney Alan Dershowitz

The controversy over such zones comes after a string of recent, racially-charged incidents at universities nationwide that -- while different -- share a common denominator: the promotion of a "PC culture" where real or perceived threatening thoughts or ideas should not be tolerated.
Such a heated debate played out on the campus of Yale University last week -- one over culturally sensitive Halloween costumes that was recorded in a video that has since gone viral.
On Oct. 30, Erika Christakis, Yale faculty member and associate "master" of Silliman College -- a residential community within the university -- sent an e-mail to students in which she questioned an earlier missive by the university that urged students to "take the time to consider their [Halloween] costumes and the impact it may have" -- including feathered headdresses, turbans, wearing "war paint" or changing the color of one's skin tone.
"Dear Sillimanders," Christakis' e-mail began. "I don’t wish to trivialize genuine concerns about cultural and personal representation, and other challenges to our lived experience in a plural community. I know that many decent people have proposed guidelines on Halloween costumes from a spirit of avoiding hurt and offense. I laud those goals, in theory, as most of us do."
"But in practice, I wonder if we should reflect more transparently, as a community, on the consequences of an institutional (which is to say: bureaucratic and administrative) exercise of implied control over college students," Christaki said.
Referring to her husband, Silliman College "master" and Yale professor, Christakis added, "Nicholas says, if you don’t like a costume someone is wearing, look away, or tell them you are offended. Talk to each other. Free speech and the ability to tolerate offence are the hallmarks of a free and open society."
Christakis' e-mail spurred outrage among a large group of students at Yale, who staged a massive protest -- called the "March of Resiliency" -- during which they called for inclusiveness on the college campus. Students of color also confronted Nicholas Christakis -- in a video that has since been shared thousands of times on the Internet -- and accused him of not wanting to create a "safe space" for all students. Several of the students called for Christakis and his wife to resign from their posts at the university.
Samantha Harris, attorney and directory of police research for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education [FIRE], described Erika Christakis' note to students as a "thoughtfully-worded e-mail" that invited open, intellectual dialogue.
"Demanding that someone step down for expressing an opinion for which you disagree is patently illiberal," Harris told FoxNews.com.
"The idea that people have the right to absolute emotional comfort at all times is very troubling," she said. "And it's anti-intellectual."
"This is destructive to the university as a place for debate and the pursuit of truth," added Volokh. "If we allow this to happen -- as citizens, as alumni -- the results will be very bad for higher education and for the country."
"What I would say to people on the left, I would remind them that so many of the movements they hold dear got where they got because of free speech -- like the Civil Rights movement," he said. "The more you try to insulate yourself from contrary ideas, the weaker your arguments are going to be."
At the University of Missouri, meanwhile, racially-charged protests also led to the demand for "safe spaces"-- and energized students at other colleges, like Yale and Michigan, to advocate better treatment for black students. Missouri's president resigned Monday after protesters accused him of ignoring racial attacks on students.
Interim University of Missouri system's president Mike Middleton said he advocates such so-called safe zones but noted schools must walk a "delicate balance" between safe spaces and free speech rights.
"I think safe spaces are critical," Middleton said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. "I think students need spaces where they can feel comfortable. Where they can interact without fear."
"But I think if you’re asking in the context of first amendment and free speech issues, it’s a very delicate balance. Both are essential to our way of life in this country and the trick is to find that balance, the point where you are accommodating both interests as much as you can," Middleton said.
Other legal experts, like famed attorney Alan Dershowitz, went even further in criticizing the creation of safe zones on college campuses, arguing a "fog of fascism is descending quickly over many American universities."
"These are the same people who claim they are seeking diversity," Dershowitz told Fox News Thursday. "The last thing these students want is real diversity, diversity of ideas. They may want superficial diversity, diversity of gender, diversity of color, but they do not want diversity of ideas."
"It is the worst kind of hypocrisy," noted Dershowitz. "They want complete control over their personal lives, over their sex lives, over the use of drugs, but they want mommy and daddy dean to please give them a safe place, to protect them from ideas that maybe are insensitive, maybe will make them think."
"It is free speech for me, but not for thee," he said. "Universities should not tolerate this kind of hypocrisy, double standard."

At least 127 killed in ISIS terror attacks on Paris, French president says

Eight ISIS terrorists wielding AK-47s and wearing suicide belts carried out coordinated attacks at six sites around Paris Friday night, killing at least 127 people and wounding at least 180 others, France's president said Saturday.
Speaking after an emergency security meeting to plan his government's response, Francois Hollande declared three days of national mourning and raised France's security to its highest level. He described Friday's attacks, which produced the worst bloodshed in Paris since World War II, as an "act of war." Hollande said ISIS was "a terrorist army ... a jihadist army, against France, against the values that we defend everywhere in the world, against what we are: A free country that means something to the whole planet."
Hollande also vowed that France "will be merciless toward the barbarians of Islamic State group" and promised his government would "act by all means anywhere, inside or outside the country." France is already bombing ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition, and has troops fighting extremists in Africa.
Less than an hour after Hollande's statement, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement that described Paris as "the carrier of the banner of the Cross in Europe" and described the attackers as "eight brothers wrapped in explosive belts and armed with machine rifles."
"Let France and those who walk in its path know that they will remain on the top of the list of targets of the IS," the statement also read, in part, "and that the smell of death will never leave their noses as long as they lead the convoy of the Crusader campaign."

More on this...

• French president confirms ISIS behind attacks

• The significance of ISIS attacking Paris

• Paris wakes to state of emergency, terror attack aftermath

French police said early Saturday they believed all of the attackers were dead but they were still searching for possible accomplices. The French prosecutor's office said seven of the eight assailants died in suicide bombings, the Associated Press reported.
Friday's attack was the deadliest terror atrocity to befall a Western European city since a series of train bombings in Madrid, Spain killed 191 people on March 11, 2004.
The most horrifying scene took place at the Bataclan concert hall near the center of Paris, where authorities said four attackers sprayed bullets into a crowd watching a performance by the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal. Reuters reported that the latest estimate from a Paris city hall official was that at least 87 people had died at the venue, though earlier reports suggested that as many as 118 concert-goers were killed.
The bloodshed prompted Hollande to declare a state of emergency, order the deployment of 1,500 troops around Paris and announce renewed border checks along frontiers that are normally open under Europe's free-travel zone.
The uncertain atmosphere in Paris was heightened by the city government's announcement that many of its public places would be closed Saturday. The city's official Twitter account posted a message saying "schools, museums, libraries, gyms, swimming pools, [and] public markets" would be among the metropolitan amenities shut down. Disneyland Paris, one of Europe's most popular attractions, announced that it would be closed Saturday "in light of the recent tragic events in France and in support of our community and the victims of these horrendous attacks."
The near-simultaneous assaults began at approximately 9:30 p.m. local time Friday (3:30 p.m. EST), when gunfire exploded outside of a restaurant in a trendy area east of the center of Paris known as Little Cambodia. It was the first of a series of attacks on a string of popular cafes, crowded on the unusually balmy Friday night. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters at least 37 people were killed in those shootings.
“There are lots of dead people," said a witness believed to have been at the bar of a restaurant that was the scene of one attack. "It’s pretty horrific to be honest. I was at the back of the bar. I couldn’t see anything. I heard gunshots. People dropped to the ground. We put a table over our heads to protect us."
A few moments later, three suicide bombs targeted locations around the Stade de France, the country's national stadium in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis, where Hollande had joined almost 80,000 soccer fans to watch an international friendly between France and Germany. A police union official told the Associated Press that at least three people were killed as a result of those blasts.
Hollande was rushed from the stadium after the first explosion, as initial reports of the attacks trickled in. However, the match was not stopped and several thousand fans went onto the field after France's 2-0 win, apparently believing it was the safest place in the midst of the unfolding terror. Supporters were eventually allowed to leave the stadium in small groups, and some were caught on video singing France's national anthem as they left the venue.
Four attackers then stormed the Bataclan, where concert-goers described a horrifying scene. Witnesses said the attackers toted Kalashnikovs and wore flak jackets as they fired indiscriminately into the crowd. Some survivors claimed the men shouted "Allahu Akbar" or "This is for Syria" as they fired.
Graphic video shot from an apartment balcony and posted on the Le Monde newspaper's website Saturday captured some of the horror as dozens of people fled from gunfire outside the concert hall down a passageway to a side street.
The video shows at least one person writhing on the ground as scores more stream past, some of them bloodied or limping. The camera pans down the street to reveal more fleeing people dragging two bodies along the ground. Two other people can be seen hanging by their hands from upper-floor balcony railings in an apparent desperate bid to stay out of the line of fire.
“It looked like a battlefield, there was blood everywhere, there were bodies everywhere," Marc Coupris told the Guardian newspaper after being freed from the theater. "I was at the far side of the hall when shooting began. There seemed to be at least two gunmen. They shot from the balcony.
“I saw my final hour unfurl before me, I thought this was the end. I thought, 'I’m finished, I’m finished,'" Coupris said.
Sylvain, 38, collapsed in tears as he recounted the attack, the chaos, and his escape during a lull in gunfire. He spoke on condition that his full name not be used out of concern for his safety.
"I was watching the concert in the pit, in the midst of the mass of the audience," he told the Associated Press. "First I heard explosions, and I thought it was firecrackers."
"Very soon I smelled powder, and I understood what was happening. There were shots everywhere, in waves. I lay down on the floor. I saw at least two shooters, but I heard others talk. They cried, 'It's Hollande's fault.' I heard one of the shooters shout, 'Allahu Akbar'".
Sylvain was among dozens of survivors offered counseling and blankets in a municipal building set up as a crisis center.
The carnage inside the music venue ended around midnight local time when French police stormed the building. As police closed in, three detonated explosive belts, killing themselves, according to Paris police spokesman Michel Cadot. Another attacker detonated a suicide bomb on Boulevard Voltaire, near the music hall, the prosecutor's office said.

“There are lots of dead people. It’s pretty horrific to be honest."
- Witness to attack on restaurant

A U.S. military and intelligence source told Fox News the coordinated attacks likely required "months of planning," based on their sheer number, the locations including a site where the president was present and the variety of weapons used.
Asked if any Americans were hurt or killed, a French diplomat told Fox News that given the venues and the number of people caught up in the tragedy, the victims “are not going to be all French.” The State Department said it was seeking to establish the whereabouts of 70 U.S. citizens known to be in France, but had not received word that any Americans had been killed in the attacks.

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President Barack Obama, speaking to reporters in Washington, decried an "attack on all humanity and the values that we share," calling the Paris violence an "outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians."
A U.S. official briefed by the Justice Department says intelligence officials were not aware of any threats before Friday's attacks.
The violence raises questions about security for the millions of tourists who come to Paris — and for world events the French capital routinely hosts.
Some 80 heads of state, including possibly Obama, are expected for a critical climate summit in two weeks. In June, France is to host the European soccer championship — with the Stade de France a major venue.
And Paris-based UNESCO is expecting world leaders Monday for a forum about overcoming extremism. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani canceled a trip because of Friday's attacks. Hollande canceled a planned trip to this weekend's G-20 summit in Turkey.

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The soccer stadium where a match between France and Germany was going on as the attack began is shown.

The attacks spanned at least two Paris districts, the 10th and 11th arrondisements. The 10th arrondisement is a cosmopolitan district lined with restaurants and cafes. It also is the location of the two famed train stations Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est. The 11th arrondissement is located on the Right Bank of the River Seine and is one of the capital’s most populated urban districts, with nearly 150,000 residents. In recent years it also has emerged as one of the trendiest of the city's neighborhoods.
Terror struck in Paris near the same neighborhood earlier this year, when two Islamic radical gunmen stormed the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 and wounding 11. The gunmen, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, struck to avenge Muslims for the magazine’s publication of cartoons that they believed mocked the Prophet Mohammed. The brothers were killed two days later after a manhunt was capped when police shot the two in a standoff in Dammartin-en-Goele.
During the dragnet, Amedy Coulibaly, an associate of the pair, attacked a Jewish grocery store in Paris, taking more than a dozen hostage and killing four. Coulibaly had killed a policewoman the day before. Couliably was killed when police stormed the kosher market.

Kerry Cartoon

Administration takes heat for downgrading religious freedom post

The Obama administration is facing new questions on Capitol Hill over its commitment to religious freedom posts, after the State Department -- in defiance of Congress -- appeared to downgrade a diplomatic position created to help persecuted minorities. 
The Near East and South Central Asia Religious Freedom Act, passed on a bipartisan vote last year, authorized the creation of a "special envoy" to advocate for the protection of at-risk religious minorities in the region. It came amid mounting reports of ISIS terrorists beheading Christians and religious minorities being abused throughout the Middle East.
But the appointment was delayed more than a year. And when Secretary of State John Kerry finally and quietly named Knox Thames to the post, the title was changed to "special adviser."
The distinction matters because special envoys would report to Kerry, while Thames' "adviser" position reports to the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein.
"The administration said that persecution of religious minorities was a priority, but they waited over a year to pick a person to fill the role of special envoy and when they finally selected someone, they appointed them to a much lower position that limits the engagement with the secretary," Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said in an interview with FoxNews.com.

More on this...

• Congress holds hearing on global religious freedom crisis

"If the promotion of religious freedom is a priority, it must be treated as such in terms of the position within the State Department," he added.
Within the U.S. State Department, there already are 49 special envoys appointed to address a range of "key foreign policy objectives," including climate change, the closure of Guantanamo Bay, protecting LGBT rights and fostering Muslim cooperation.
Why Thames, who previously worked at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, was not also installed as a special envoy is unclear.
The State Department did not return a request for comment.
Concerned about the level of commitment to international religious freedom, Lankford last month sent a letter to Kerry asking him to explain why bipartisan calls for a special envoy were ignored. To date, no response has been received.
The decision not to appoint a special envoy may have implications that are more than symbolic.
"The practical implication is that [Thames] does not have the ear of the secretary of state or the president. Instead of having a direct line to Kerry or the president, the position is lost in the bureaucracy, which limits any ability he has to respond to emergency situations in the Middle East -- an area where it is becoming clear that you are seeing genocide occurring," said Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute.
Shea says not having the authority and prominence afforded by the special envoy designation makes it difficult to trigger a higher-level response to critical issues, including ongoing discrimination against Syrian Christians seeking refugee status in the U.S.
Shea worked with Thames when both were at the USCIRF, which was created to monitor religious freedom violations globally and make policy recommendations to the president, the secretary of state, and Congress.
According to Shea, in the five years since the beginning of the war in Syria, only 53 Syrian Christian refugees, or 2.6 percent of a total 2,003 Syrian refugees, have been allowed to enter the U.S.
Lankford also is seeking an explanation for why even Saperstein's position "is buried in layers of bureaucracy" and he does not report directly to the secretary like other ambassadors-at-large.
In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in October, Robert George, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, likewise urged the administration to furnish Saperstein's office with "resources and staff similar to other offices with global mandates, as well as with increased programmatic funds for religious freedom promotion and protection."
In addition to bucking Congress on the special envoy appointment, Lankford says, the administration did not include Saperstein in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, as required after the Senate unanimously approved an amendment stipulating religious freedom be taken into account whenever trade pacts are negotiated.
Further, USCIRF's George called on the Obama administration to use authority granted to the president by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act to designate countries that have "engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom" as "countries of particular concern," or CPCs.
The State Department has declined to consider Syria for a CPC designation, as has been repeatedly recommended by the independent USCIRF.

'Don't be fools': Trump attacks Carson's biography in Iowa

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump launched an attack on rival Ben Carson's biographical claims at a rally in Iowa Thursday, at one point repeating a comparison between Carson's "pathological temper" and child molestation.
At one point, after questioning the retired neurosurgeon's story of how he nearly stabbed a friend during his adolescence, Trump bellowed, ""How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of this country to believe this crap?"
Earlier, in an interview with CNN, Trump pointed to Carson's own descriptions of his violent actions during his youth.
"That's a big problem because you don't cure that," Trump said. "That's like, you know, I could say, they say you don't cure — as an example, child molester. You don't cure these people. You don't cure the child molester." Trump also said that "pathological is a very serious disease."
When asked if he was satisfied with Carson's claims that his anger was in the past, Trump responded, "You'll have to ask him that question ... Look, I hope he's fine because I think it would be a shame."
Carson's ability to overcome his anger as well as an impoverished childhood to become a world-renowned neurosurgeon has been a central chapter in his personal story.
In his book "Gifted Hands," Carson described the uncontrollable anger he felt at times while growing up in inner-city Detroit. He wrote that on one occasion he nearly punched his mother and on another he attempted to stab a friend with a knife.
"I had what I only can label a pathological temper — a disease — and this sickness controlled me, making me totally irrational," Carson said in describing the incident with his mother. He referred to "pathological anger" again in telling about lunging at his friend, the knife blade breaking off when it hit the boy's belt buckle.
During the rally Thursday night in Fort Dodge, where he spoke for 93 minutes, Trump told the crowd that "Carson's an enigma to me" and questioned story after story in Carson's biography. He acted out the scene of Carson trying to stab his friend, lurching forward and shouting, "but, low and behold, it hit the belt!"
"He said he's pathological and got pathological disease," Trump said of Carson at the rally, "I don't want a person who's got pathological disease ... There's no cure for that, folks ... He's a pathological, damaged temper."
Carson describes in "Gifted Hands" racing to the bathroom in his house after the near-stabbing incident and in time began to pray for God's help in dealing with his temper. "During those hours alone in the bathroom, something happened to me," he wrote. "God heard my deep cries of anguish. A feeling of lightness flowed over me, and I knew a change of heart had taken place. I felt different. I was different."
In questioning Carson's religious awakening, Trump said in Fort Dodge that Carson went into the bathroom and came out and "now he's religious."
"And the people of Iowa believe him. Give me a break. Give me a break. It doesn't happen that way," he said. "Don't be fools."

Clinton unveils coal country plan, firing up critics of energy stance

Hillary Clinton's campaign on Thursday unveiled a $30 billion plan to help coal communities rebound as the "clean energy economy" develops -- drawing a rebuke from Republicans who accuse her of backing policies that are "crippling" coal country in the first place. 
The Democratic presidential front-runner's plan is aimed at protecting health benefits for coal miners and their families and helping them retrain for new jobs. The plan also would use a combination of tax incentives and grants to help coal communities repurpose old mine sites and attract new investment.
"Building a 21st century clean energy economy in the United States will create new jobs and industries, deliver important health benefits, and reduce carbon pollution. But we can't ignore the impact this transition is already having on mining communities, or the threat it poses to the healthcare and retirement security of coalfield workers and their families," the campaign plan says.
But Republicans fired back, noting that Clinton is backing the highly controversial EPA plan requiring states to cut emissions from coal-fired power plants -- a regulatory plan that coal-state representatives are fighting. The sweeping new environmental regulation may result in the closure of hundreds of coal-fired plants and freeze construction of new coal plants.
"Hillary Clinton is Public Enemy No. 1 for coal miners and their communities because she wholeheartedly supports President Obama's EPA agenda that is crippling their way of life," Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said in a statement.

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• Sources: Clinton to face increased FBI scrutiny

"If Hillary Clinton were truly on the side of coal country, she would stand up to extreme anti-energy environmentalists that run the Democrat Party instead of embracing their agenda that is killing jobs and driving up costs."
Eight years ago, Clinton ran as a champion of coal, beating then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries with support from working-class white Democrats.
"But we're going to use coal, there's no doubt about it," said Clinton at a 2008 campaign event in Indiana. "It's just that we've got to figure out how to make it as clean as coal can be."
Her rhetoric has since shifted.
In recent months, Clinton has moved left on environmental issues, pledging to make combating climate change a major goal of her presidency and opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, which was rejected by the Obama administration on Friday.
She, along with the other Democratic presidential candidates, backed the EPA's Clean Power Plan over the summer -- and vowed to defend and build on it if elected.
But she's also vowed to protect coal workers, who she says helped power much of the country's economic growth.
"We have to move away from coal," she said in New Hampshire on Monday. "But that does not and should not mean we move away from coal miners, their families, and their communities.  They kept the lights on."
Her plan says Clinton will not allow coal communities "to be left behind."
The plan calls for boosting support for education and training programs for these communities, and boosting funding for "technical assistance for entrepreneurs and small businesses in impacted coal communities."
Beyond providing new economic incentives for revitalizing coal county, Clinton's plan would expand broadband Internet access, invest in new infrastructure projects and find ways to replace local revenue for schools that's lost when coal production plants disappear.
The coal industry has suffered as governments have pushed new policies to curb climate change and promote more renewable fuels. A 2015 study by Duke University found the coal industry lost nearly 50,000 jobs since 2008. Coal now accounts for one-third of U.S. power generation, with consumption falling 25 percent over the past decade.

US airstrike targets notorious ISIS militant 'Jihadi John'

 

DEVELOPING –  The Pentagon said late Thursday it had launched an airstrike in Syria targeting "Jihadi John", a British national seen in videos depicting the beheading of hostages held by ISIS.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook confirmed that the airstrike in Raqqa was directed at the notorious militant, also known as Mohamed Emwazi. It was not immediately clear whether Emwazi died in the airstrike, but a senior U.S. military official told Fox News, "we are 99 percent sure we got him." The Pentagon was monitoring the aftermath of the strike before making a definitive announcement.
A senior U.S. defense official told Fox News that a drone was used in the airstrike. According to a senior military source, the drone had been tracking Emwazi for most of the day Thursday while he met with other people. The source said the strike took place shortly after Emwazi came out of a building in Raqqa, when he was "ID'd and engaged."
Emwazi is seen in videos showing the beheading of journalists Steve Sotloff and James Foley, American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, and a number of other hostages.
In the videos, a tall masked figure clad in black and speaking in a British accent typically began one of the gruesome videos with a political rant and a kneeling hostage before him, then ended it holding an oversize knife in his hand with the headless victim lying before him in the sand.
Emwazi was identified as "Jihadi John" last February, although a lawyer who once represented Emwazi's father told reporters that there was no evidence supporting the accusation. Experts and others later confirmed the identification.
British Prime Minister David Cameron's office said he will make a statement later Friday. The statement said, "We have been working hand in glove with the Americans to defeat ISIL and to hunt down those murdering hostages. The Prime Minister has said before that tracking down these brutal murderers was a top priority."
Emwazi was born in Kuwait and spent part of his childhood in the poor Taima area of Jahra before moving to Britain while still a boy, according to news reports quoting Syrian activists who knew the family. He attended state schools in London, then studied computer science at the University of Westminster before leaving for Syria in 2013. The woman who had been the principal at London's Quintin Kynaston Academy told the BBC earlier this year that Emwazi had been quiet and "reasonably hard-working."
Officials said Britain's intelligence community had Emwazi on its list of potential terror suspects for years but was unable to prevent him from traveling to Syria. He had been known to the nation's intelligence services since at least 2009, when he was connected with investigations into terrorism in Somalia.
The beheading of Foley, 40, of Rochester, New Hampshire, was deemed by IS to be its response to U.S. airstrikes. The release of the video, on Aug. 19, 2014, horrified and outraged the civilized world but was followed the next month by videos showing the beheadings of Sotloff and Haines and, in October, of Henning.

Illegal Immigration and Keystone Jobs Cartoon

Milwaukee scorecard: Why Trump, Carson and Fox Business won the night

Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business, plus Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker

Donald Trump didn’t dominate the Milwaukee debate. In fact, he disappeared for long stretches.
Ben Carson didn’t loom large over the debate either, though he was more energetic than in his previous low-key outings.
Yet they were the night’s winners, and here’s why.
In pure debating terms, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz were the best orators on the stage. Rubio in particular had his second strong performance in a row. The two Cuban-American senators seem to be emerging as the top contenders of the “establishment” wing—though both would hate the phrase—to square off against Trump and Carson or fill the vacuum if they eventually fade.
But with such a sizable lead in the Republican contest, The Donald and the doctor did nothing to damage themselves—or change the dynamics of the race.
And the policy-laden questions from the moderators—Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business, plus Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker—kept the two-hour session from veering out of control or turning into a night of media-bashing.
Trump was restrained and didn’t hurl any of his patented insults. He behaved more like a conventional candidate, and didn’t try to elbow his way into the discussion, as some of his rivals did. This was by design, as he later admitted to Cavuto. When you’re leading the polls, you don’t need to pick fights. And he was comfortable holding forth on such issues as trade and immigration.
Carson did what he had to do with one answer to Cavuto’s question about the wave of media attacks on his biography. He didn’t show his anger at the press, as he did last week in a news conference and combative CNN interview. Carson said he had no problem being vetted but did have a problem being lied about—and then pivoted to his view that the press has given Hillary Clinton a soft ride on Benghazi.
With that surgical precision, the neurosurgeon may have closed the book on the credibility questions, unless there are damaging new revelations. After flawed or overhyped stories by Politico, CNN and the Wall Street Journal, he has emerged largely intact—and is raising money against the media
Carly Fiorina was solid, and yet seems to have dissipated the momentum she gained after her breakout performance in the CNN debate. Rand Paul had his strongest debate of the year, but he is far back in the pack. John Kasich repeatedly interrupted--challenging Trump on immigration, for instance—but seemed to scold his party in a way that sounded a discordant note. Kasich’s brand is to be a truth-teller, but such folks aren’t always popular.
And what about Jeb Bush? He was more focused and forceful, and looked more comfortable, than in any of the three earlier debates. He undoubtedly reassured some nervous donors. But Bush still has to climb out of the deep hole he has dug for himself.
As for the moderators, they did exactly what they had advertised: ask substantive questions and not make it about them. It was a huge stylistic contrast from CNBC’s train-wreck debate.
The debate got wonky at times as they drilled down into tax plans, the Fed and the IMF. Some critics say it was a bit dull; so be it. But the media critics who say the anchors were tossing softballs miss the point.
Prodding politicians to flesh out their plans is not as exciting as asking confrontational questions or comparing them to comic-book characters. Cavuto and Bartiromo followed up at times, pressing for specifics, but they were hemmed in to some degree by the decision to allow 90-second answers and 60-second rebuttals, which gave the debate a weightier feel.
The audience seemed interested, with 13.5 million tuning in for the prime-time debate, just under CNBC’s 14 million (the 8-year-old FBN reaches 11 million fewer homes than its rival). The figure is, of course, the highest in the channel's history.
No debate is perfect. But there’s got to be a sweet spot between haranguing the candidates and rolling over for them.

Trump touts controversial Eisenhower program as deportation model

Bill O'Reilly

Donald Trump 

 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump again touted a controversial policy from the 1950s Wednesday as a model for his plan to deport an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.
The program, known as known as "Operation Wetback," was a complicated undertaking largely viewed by historians as a dark moment in America's past. It also coincided with a guest worker program that provided legal status to hundreds of thousands of largely Mexican farm workers.
Fox News' Bill O'Reilly confronted Trump about his support for the program Wednesday night on "The O'Reilly Factor."
"Believe me when I tell you, Mr. Trump, that was brutal what they did to those people to kick them back [across the border]," O'Reilly said. "I mean, the stuff they did was really brutal."
"I've heard it both ways. I've heard good reports, I've heard bad reports," Trump responded. "We would do it in a very humane way." The real estate billionaire also refused to refer to the program by its name, which is now widely considered a racial slur against Mexicans, saying "I don't like the term at all."
Trump touted the approach as a virtue of Eisenhower-era program in Tuesday night's debate.
"Moved 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it," Trump said. "Moved them way south. They never came back."
"He's only got part of the story," Mae Ngai, a professor of history at Columbia University, told the Associated Press.
The 1954 initiative was aimed at apprehending and deporting agricultural workers who had crossed the border illegally looking for work.
According to a summary of the project from the Texas State Historical Association, the United States Border Patrol "aided by municipal, county, state, and federal authorities, as well as the military, began a quasi-military operation of search and seizure of all unauthorized immigrants."
The project, Ngai said, began with 750 immigration officers and border control agents, who used jeeps, trucks, buses and airplanes to apprehend migrants nationwide, including in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. They apprehended 3,000 people a day and 170,000 during its first three months.
Critics of the program say the conditions for those the agents apprehended were anything but humane. Many of the apprehended migrants were transported in crowded buses and dumped on the other side of the border in a manner some at the time equated with the treatment of livestock.
In one incident, Ngai said, 88 apprehended Mexicans died of sunstroke after being subjected to 112-degree heat. The number would have been higher had the Red Cross not intervened.
Some of those apprehended were sent deep into the interior of Mexico to prevent re-entry by train or cargo ship, where conditions drew the attention of federal regulators.
One congressional investigation likened a transport ship that was the site of a riot to an "eighteenth century slave ship" and a "penal hell ship."
Trump also leaves out of his advocacy for the Eisenhower-era approach the fact the program was developed to complement a guest-worker program that began in the 1940s and was aimed at allowing Mexican farmworkers to enter the country and work in the U.S. legally.
Hundreds of thousands of farm workers did so, and the deportation effort was conceived as a way to pressure employers into using the guest worker program.
"It was like a carrot and a stick," Ngai said.
While Trump has put the number of deportations at 1.5 million, most accounts suggest the numbers are far fewer, because they included those who chose to leave the country voluntarily as well as people who returned after being deported and were deported again.
Trump has yet to lay out precisely how he would track down those living in the country illegally, or how he would determine who are "the good ones" that he would allow to return. Both John Kasich, Ohio's governor, and Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, rejected Trump's plan on Tuesday night as unrealistic and cruel.
"To send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not, not possible," Bush said. "And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is."

‘The biggest sham’: Sheriffs fume at mass release of 6,000 federal inmates

Local sheriffs across America are voicing concern for the safety of the citizens they've sworn to protect after the biggest one-time release of federal inmates in U.S. history -- though advocates of criminal justice reform maintain the release is being handled responsibly. 
The 6,112 inmates were released from federal prison at the beginning of November in response to a decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to reduce sentences for most drug trafficking offenses and apply them retroactively. It coincides with a broader and bipartisan push for rethinking federal sentencing.
But the mass release raises immediate practical questions about how the ex-inmates can adjust.
“There's no transition here, there's no safety net. This is the biggest sham they are trying to sell the American people,” Sheriff Paul Babeu of Arizona's Pinal County told FoxNews.com.
“On average these criminals have been in federal prison for nine years -- you don’t have to be a sheriff to realize that a felon after nine years in jail isn’t going to be adding value to the community. A third are illegals and felons so they can’t work. What do we think they are going to do?” said Babeu, also a congressional candidate.
The government is in fact trying to guide the transition for many. The Justice Department says 77 percent of exiting inmates are already in half-way houses or home confinement.
But local law enforcement officers have deep reservations, as the initiative ramps up quickly.
The November inmates are the first of approximately 46,000 who may have their cases reviewed. Of those released in the first round, the Department of Justice says 1,764 were to be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation proceedings.
Sheriffs on the border front-lines were skeptical of the deportation claim.
“The promise is they’re going to be turned over to ICE and deported. Anyone who thinks there’s any likelihood of them leaving the U.S. … think again,” Babeu said, before saying the president should be held responsible for any crimes committed by those released.
Other sheriffs also challenged the claim that those being released are not a risk to communities.
“If [the Obama administration is] not capable of making honest and prudent decisions in securing our borders, how can we trust them to make the right decision on the release of prisoners who may return to a life of crime?” Sheriff Harold Eavenson of Rockwall County, Texas, told FoxNews.com.

'I’d be amazed if the 6,000 ... being released are non-violent.'
- Sheriff Harold Eavenson

While the average number of inmates being released to any one state is 80, Texas is slated to receive 597 inmates.
The inmates in question had been incarcerated on drug offenses, but the severity of the cases ranged broadly. An Associated Press review last month found while many were low-level drug dealers, some had prior convictions for robbery or were involved in moving serious drugs like cocaine and heroin. WGME in Maine also reported that the group includes a former "drug kingpin" previously listed as one of "America's Most Wanted," after his 20-year sentence was reduced.
“For them to tell me or tell citizens that they’re going to do a good job and these inmates are non-violent, when in many instances drug crimes, drug purchasing, drug trafficking are related to other, violent crimes – I’d be amazed if the 6,000 ... being released are non-violent,” Eavenson said.
A Justice Department official told reporters at an October briefing that the DOJ was conscious of public safety when granting each inmate early release, adding that every prisoner who applied under these new guidelines underwent a public safety assessment. The DOJ says that the reductions were not automatic, and that as of October, judges denied approximately 26 percent of total petitions.
RELATED VIDEO: Will release of thousands of inmates lead to more crime?
Advocates for criminal justice reform disagreed with the sheriffs, saying the Sentencing Commission handled the release very well from a public safety standpoint.
“I am sure many of the 6,000 prisoners would have loved to be able to leave prison as soon as their amended sentences were complete. But the Commission delayed implementation for a year so that as many inmates as possible could get to halfway houses, complete re-entry programs, and begin job searches before actually being released,” Kevin Ring, director of strategic initiatives at Families Against Mandatory Minimums, told FoxNews.com.
“Tens of thousands of inmates leave federal and state prisons every week and so there is no reason to be particularly worried about this group. Anyone who says otherwise is appealing to the public’s worst fears,” Ring said.
However, the executive director of the National Sheriff’s Association, which represents the more than 3,000 sheriffs across the country, says the feeling of unease is widespread and often has to do with the Obama administration’s attitude toward law enforcement.
“I think it’s a larger feeling of unease related to a lack of a plan as it relates to criminal justice, criminal reform and criminal release and I think that’s what you’re really sensing here,” Jonathan Thompson told FoxNews.com. “There are many sheriffs feeling as though the administration will go through the motions of asking the questions but really not care what the opinion or expert advice of law enforcement is.”

Intel on 'two-hour timer' uncovered in Russian jet crash investigation

Investigators analyzing the deadly crash of a Russian jet in Egypt uncovered intelligence about a “a two-hour timer,”  though it is not clear whether the reference came from intercepted communications between known terrorist operatives, or physical evidence, a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News.
A separate source, also not authorized to speak on the record, said that based on the facts so far, one of the working theories is that a bomb was planted at or near the fuel line or where it attaches to the engine, with the fuel burning off the explosive. This theory would explain the apparent lack of residue immediately found, the source says.
Fox News was told both scenarios point to an "airport insider."
"If proven accurate, if ISIS did put a bomb on this aircraft which I believe to be true, it's a new chapter with respect to ISIS," Texas Republican Rep. Mike McCaul told Fox News. McCaul -- who receives regular briefings -- cannot discuss classified information, but said the Obama administration has consistently underestimated ISIS by emphasizing its focus on gaining territory, rather than expanding its reach to global plots.
"We always assumed Al Qaeda had this capability but now if ISIS has this capability, the threat to American airlines as well and our homeland, I think is very significant."

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• Rep. McCaul on downed Russian jet, growing terror threat

Fox News was told that Metrojet 9268 disintegrated approximately 23 minutes into the flight, and investigators are now focused on a “90-minute window” before the flight took off and who had access.
These new data points explain why investigators are interviewing ground crews and those with access to the departure lounge, as well as reviewing surveillance camera video.  The review of surveillance images was first reported by ABC News.
The jet crashed in the Sinai Peninsula shortly after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh en route to St. Petersburg on Oct. 31. The crash killed all 224 people on board, most of them Russian tourists returning home.
The Defense Department was asked Tuesday whether C-4, an explosive provided to the Iraqi military by the U.S., had been obtained by ISIS.
"We don't have any reason to believe that any U.S. munitions were involved in whatever transpired with the crash itself,"  Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said. "We're still waiting for the investigation to run its course."
A third data point that goes to the airport insider theory is that ISIS has claimed responsibility, though it has been reluctant to explain how it brought down the jet, leaving the airport mole in place.
The U.S. government and the intelligence community continue to emphasize that no firm conclusions have been reached about the cause of the explosion and crash.

America

To All Our Veterans Thank You.

US Marine Corps celebrates 240th anniversary

The U.S. Marine Corps, which formed less than a year before America declared its independence, celebrated its 240th birthday Tuesday.
The Marine Corps was established after a decree from the Second Continental Congress called for "two Battalions of Marines" that would fight for independence on land and at sea.
At least 250,000 Marines have joined since the attacks of September 11th, following the slogan, "The Few, The Proud."

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Celebrations aboard the USS San Antonio. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A celebration was held on the USS San Antonio at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. Col. Bradford Gering used a sword to cut a cake.
Secretary of State John Kerry was there, and said it was "a great day" for the Corps.

Veterans Day: It's time to let our military focus on character not political agendas

I flew the A-10 Thunderbolt II (known as “the Warthog”) in the first Gulf War, and on each mission I had to trust my wingman with my life. That is not something that most people experience on a day-to-day basis, but the chance of something bad happening to either of us depended upon whether we worked as a team and looked out for each other.
The essence of that relationship is called esprit de corps – a commitment to each other and our goals based upon character.
These are the things our military should embrace. But as we approach Veterans Day, I see a disturbing trend emerging that limits our military’s ability to accomplish its mission. I am not referring to the cutbacks in military spending that have resulted in reductions in our personnel and equipment to levels we have not seen since World War I.  Our military leadership has done wonders doing more with less.
I’m referring to the recent political movement to divide our society into more and more categories and sub-groups by sex or religion, the impact of which is destroying our military’s effectiveness and morale.  Social engineering should never be a part of military planning.  It is always a recipe for disaster.

Social engineering should never be a part of military planning. It is always a recipe for disaster.

The success of any mission depends on putting the best possible people in position to accomplish the mission. If the goal is to achieve a political outcome, hit a desired quota or erase millennia of tradition and beliefs that have unified our military, the mission will not be achieved and worse, honorable soldiers may die.
Our politicians need to have the character to push back against activists whose mission isn’t to secure freedom but to promote political agendas.
Aside from professional sports, the military provides the best example of what a meritocracy should be. Its effectiveness is based upon setting a strategic goal or directive, developing the tactics to accomplish the mission and carrying it out successfully. Nothing more, nothing less. That requires maintaining not only a high standard of mental and physical excellence but also demanding a high level of character from every individual serving in our military, especially our leaders.
Character is one of the building blocks of our military.  As a former member of the Air Force, I took to heart its core values: integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do.  That was our identity as fighter pilots.
I served with men and women of all faiths, all demographics and all races and I know that the values instilled in us by our training were the “why” that we needed to willingly put ourselves into harm’s way, knowing that it might one day cost us our lives. As philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
The character that we strove to exemplify was functional as well as moral.  Functional character means actions that display a positive attitude, grit/determination, perseverance and resilience.  Moral character includes the personal qualities of courage, humility, honesty, integrity, selflessness and self-discipline.
American military veterans and ordinary citizens should demand that our elected officials stop these needless social policies with our military. Nobel laureate Milton Friedman said it best:  “One of the greatest mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”
To continue to be the best fighting force in the world, our military needs to focus on the one thing that can unify it.  And that is its character.

Vietnam veterans' bond forged again with kidney donation

Serving together in Vietnam, John Middaugh and Henry "Bill" Warner forged an Army-brothers bond they knew was profound and lasting.
A world and nearly a half a century away from the war zone where they'd counted on each other, Middaugh put himself on the line for Warner this month in a new way: by giving one of his kidneys.
"He had my back many times," Middaugh said as they awaited surgery last week at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, across the country from his home in Port Orchard, Washington. "So this is payback time."
Both are now 73. Warner, of Brightwaters, New York, had been through a health wringer since his kidneys failed after heart bypass surgery in June 2014, abruptly thrusting him into dialysis.
But "we got through Vietnam. We'll get through this," Warner said.
"Hey, Bill," Middaugh joked, "we got a PT formation tomorrow."
Their connection goes back to March 1968 in Fort Carson, Colorado, where C Company, 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, was training to go to war.
Middaugh was a high school dropout from Detroit who had enlisted; he'd already completed a tour in Vietnam. Warner was a draftee who had grown up on New York's Long Island and gone to Southern Illinois University. Both had completed officer candidate school, and Middaugh was the company commander. Warner would be a platoon leader and, later, the company's executive officer.
By summer 1968, they were near the northern border of what was then South Vietnam. During ensuing months of fighting, when they got a respite, they passed the time talking: about what they'd do after the Army, about the countryside around them, about the world.
"When you live through those experiences, you have that bond," Warner said, and it lasted after their service together ended in January 1969.
Warner was discharged that year as a first lieutenant and went on to a career in the computer industry. Middaugh did a third tour in Vietnam, retired as a major in 1979, got his college degree at Pacific Lutheran University and had a second career in civil service before retiring for good in 2007. Each married, and each raised two sons and a daughter.

  Over the years and miles, they stayed in touch and got together for reunions. They carried with them their memories and wounds — both are Purple Heart recipients — from Vietnam. And Middaugh kept in mind a leadership principle the Army had taught him: "Know your men and look out for their welfare."

So when Warner needed a kidney, and a relative and some other would-be donors proved incompatible, Middaugh didn't hesitate to jump in.
"He would do the same for me," he says.
Once rare, kidney transplants among senior citizens are becoming more frequent. Eighteen percent of U.S. recipients last year were over 64, compared with 2 percent in 1988, according to federal statistics. Only 3 percent of all living donors last year were 65 or older, but their ranks and percentage have grown in recent decades.
In a nation where the kidney transplant waiting list tops 101,000 and 4,200 people died while awaiting a kidney last year, there has been some debate over the ethics of allocating scarce organs to older people — and, on the flip side, the ethics of determining access to the treatment by age. To NewYork-Presbyterian transplant surgery chief Dr. Sandip Kapur, the two veterans' agreement was "a compelling, appropriate situation" that stood outside such questions.
Middaugh was released Saturday, while Warner remains hospitalized in good condition. Recipients generally have longer recoveries than donors.
They've gotten encouragement from men they served with, proud to see them "still helping each other after all these years," Warner said.
"Needless to say," Middaugh said, "they weren't surprised."