Dem. Sen Shaheen, GOP candidate Brown spar over Ebola, ISIS in NH debate

CONCORD, N.H. –  Picking up where they left off, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and her Republican challenger Scott Brown on Thursday used their latest debate to again emphasize their differences on immigration, the Islamic State group, Ebola and their efforts to help small businesses.
Shaheen, a Democrat and former governor, is seeking a second term in the U.S. Senate. Brown moved to New Hampshire last year after losing the seat he had won in 2010 to replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts. Polls show a tight contest, and the race is among those expected to determine control of the Senate.
In their third debate this month and second one this week, Brown criticized Shaheen on Thursday for not joining him in backing a ban on travel to and from the West African countries ravaged by the Ebola virus, calling it the latest example of her blind devotion to President Barack Obama.
"It's very typical that Senator Shaheen waits to get the OK from the president to do many different types of things," Brown said.
Shaheen said she'd support a ban if experts determine it would work, but that Brown is fear-mongering by trying to tie the issue to the need for greater U.S. border security.
"We don't need people who don't have medical expertise trying to get people concerned about what we've got to do to respond," she said.
Brown, who has made border security a key issue in his campaign, bristled when Shaheen later criticized him for not backing a comprehensive border security and immigration reform bill and for missing Homeland Security Committee hearings in the Senate. Noting his long career in the National Guard, he said he doesn't need anyone to tell him how porous the border is.
"There is a rational fear from citizens in New Hampshire and throughout this country that people are coming — criminal elements, terrorists, people with diseases coming through our border. So with respect, I don't need to attend those hearings," he said.
Brown in turn criticized Shaheen for missing Foreign Relations Committee hearings, including one about the rising threat of the Islamic State group. He argued that Obama's decision, backed by Shaheen, to not leave a transitional force in Iraq allowed the militant group to flourish, and repeated his claim that the group "wants to plant a flag at the White House." Shaheen said Brown was being irresponsible in "repeating ISIS talking points."
The two also tangled over their support for the state's small businesses, with Brown touting his endorsement by several national business groups, one of which gave Shaheen a "zero" rating. Shaheen listed several bills Brown voted against that she said helped New Hampshire companies, and said he voted to give tax incentives to companies that ship jobs overseas.
"We don't need to import a candidate who's going to outsource our jobs," she said, repeating one of her applause lines from a Democratic Party fundraiser last week.
Brown countered that small businesses are being hurt by the health care overhaul law Shaheen supports. He wants to repeal the law and argues that states could develop their own plans to make health care more affordable and accessible. Shaheen said Brown wants to force thousands of people to lose coverage and return to a time when insurance companies could deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

ISIS Inc.: US official reveals how terror network makes its millions

Islamic State militants are amassing a fortune through their web of criminal activity, including earning roughly $1 million a day from oil smuggling alone, according to a Treasury Department official who on Thursday provided unprecedented details about the illicit financial network.  
David Cohen, who leads the department's effort to undermine the Islamic State's finances, described the organization as one of the best-financed terror groups in the world.
"It has amassed wealth at an unprecedented pace,” Cohen said.
Cohen said the Islamic State, which the U.S. and its allies have been pounding with airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, is earning millions from a combination of oil sales, ransoms and extortion schemes.
Cohen said kidnappings and ransom payments have brought in at least $20 million this year. He said the extortion and other criminal activity is bringing in several million per month.
Cohen, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, spoke at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, and later at the White House.
Cohen stressed the black market oil sales, which he said bring in about $1 million a day. He said the U.S. is trying to track down the middle men and other players to interrupt those sales. Cohen said these smuggling networks have been around for a long time and did not “pop up overnight,” but now it is clear that the oil is coming from the Islamic State.
The Treasury Department said the group is selling oil at substantially discounted prices to a variety of middlemen, including some from Turkey, who then transport it to be resold. "It also appears that some of the oil emanating from territory where ISIL operates has been sold to Kurds in Iraq, and then resold into Turkey," he said.
Cohen said the Syrian government, too, has allegedly arranged to buy oil from the Islamic State – though the terror group ostensibly is fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Unlike the core Al Qaeda terrorist network, ISIS gets only a small share of funding from deep-pocketed donors and therefore does not depend primarily on moving money across international borders. Instead, the Islamic State group obtains the vast majority of its revenues through local criminal and terrorist activities, Cohen said, acknowledging that Treasury's tools are not particularly well-suited to combating extortion and local crime.
"They rob banks. They lay waste to thousands of years of civilization in Iraq and Syria by looting and selling antiquities," he said. "They steal livestock and crops from farmers. And despicably, they sell abducted girls and women as sex slaves."
In the Iraqi city of Mosul, Islamic State terrorists reportedly are going door-to-door, business-to-business, demanding cash at gunpoint, he said.
"A grocery store owner who refused to pay was warned with a bomb outside his shop. Others, who have not paid, have seen their relatives kidnapped.  ...  We've also seen reports that when customers make cash withdrawals from local banks where ISIL operates, ISIL has demanded as much as 10 percent of the value," Cohen said, using an acronym for the group.
Most of the group's money, however, comes from extracting oil and selling it to smugglers, who, in turn, transport the oil outside territory under Islamic State control.
Cohen noted that U.S.-led airstrikes on the group's oil refineries are threatening the militants' supply networks and that Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government -- the official ruling body of the predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq --are working to prevent the oil from crossing their borders.
Cohen acknowledged, however, that the group moves oil in illicit networks outside the formal economy, making it harder to track.
"But at some point, that oil is acquired by someone who operates in the legitimate economy and who makes use of the financial system. He has a bank account. His business may be financed, his trucks may be insured, his facilities may be licensed," he said.
"We not only can cut them off from the U.S. financial system and freeze their assets, but we can also make it very difficult for them to find a bank anywhere that will touch their money or process their transactions."

Michelle Obama apparently mixes up Colorado Senate candidates at campaign event

Aren't You Glad She's A Democrat?

Michelle Obama made yet another flub on the campaign trail Thursday when she apparently confused Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall with his Republican rival.
Obama spoke in Denver Thursday as part of a campaign event for Udall, who is engaged in a heated battle with his Republican opponent, Rep. Cory Gardner.
She touted Udall’s Senate record in her speech, and called him a “fifth-generation Coloradan.”
“Mark understands what makes this state special,” she said.
The only problem? Udall is not a fifth-generation Coloradan. In fact, he was born in Arizona and his father, former Rep. Mo Udall, served as a congressman from that state for decades.
It is Gardner who is a fifth-generation Colorado resident, a fact he touts frequently on the campaign trail. His website states he has “family roots dating back to 1886” in the state.
The incident followed another gaffe earlier this month by the first lady and the White House as they campaigned for Democratic Senate candidates.
While campaigning for Iowa Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley, who is in a tight Senate race against Republican Joni Ernst, the first lady repeatedly botched the candidate’s name, calling him “Bruce Bailey.”
At her second campaign stop for him, she got it right. But then the White House made another mistake in the transcript of the event. The transcript identified Braley as the Democratic candidate for governor instead of the candidate for Senate.
In wake of the incidents, one senior Senate Democratic aide was quoted telling the National Journal that “the ineptitude of the White House political operation has sunk from annoying to embarrassing.”
However, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday defended the administration’s support of fellow Democrats.
"I think the fact that the first lady was campaigning in Iowa yesterday in support of Congressmen Braley's campaign, and that the vice president is headed there next week says all you need to know about the White House's commitment to the success of Democrats like Mr. Braley," Earnest said.

Decorated soldier from 'Black Hawk Down' battle in Somalia dies at 52

 

A decorated soldier who participated in the Somalia battle immortalized by Hollywood blockbuster “Black Hawk Down” was reportedly found dead in his Georgia home earlier this month.
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Gallagher, 52, died of natural causes as a result of a heart condition, the Army Times reports. He served as the command sergeant major for the Army’s Wounded Warrior Program, but had extensive experience in major combat operations, including Operation Just Cause in Panama and with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia, which was later made famous by the 2001 film.
“You know, I don’t say this lightly, but Bob is probably one of, probably the best soldier I ever served with, retired Col. Greg Gadson told the newspaper. “That man really cared about soldiers.”
Born in Bayonne, N.J., Gallagher joined the Army in 1981 and later earned several awards and decorations, including a Silver Star, two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars. He earned the Silver Star in 2002 during Operation Iraqi Freedom as troops advanced from Kuwait to Baghdad, when he suffered a leg wound but continued to direct his men.
“The best day and worst day of my life was when I served in Mogadishu, Somalia, on October 3, 1993, as part of Task Force Ranger,” Gallagher said in 2010. “It was the worst day, because we lost 18 soldiers and 84 others, including myself, were wounded. It was the best day of my life because it showed the incredible performance of our warriors in long-protracted battle under extraordinary circumstances in an urban environment. Throughout it all, the warriors that fought that day performed in a manner that was consistent with the values of our nation, and I was very proud of that.”
A memorial ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 31 at Fort Benning in Georgia. Gallagher will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but a date has not yet been determined. He is survived by his wife, Denene, and sons Patrick and Sean.

Friend says Ottawa gunman knew homegrown jihadist, wanted to travel to Middle East

The convert to Islam who fatally shot a Canadian soldier guarding that country's national war memorial Wednesday morning before attacking Parliament and being fatally shot by its sergeant-at-arms was a bureaucrat's son who displayed possible signs of mental illness and had a connection to a homegrown jihadist who has traveled to Syria, according to a published report.
The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing a friend of 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, reported that the gunman knew Hasibullah Yusufzai, a British Columbia resident who was charged by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in July with traveling to Syria with the intent of joining a deadly jihadist group. Yusufzai remains at large despite an international arrest warrant being issued for his capture.
Canadian authorities have not linked Zehaf-Bibeau to any known terrorists or terror groups, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper said investigators should learn in the coming days whether the gunman had any accomplices. It was not immediately clear whether Zehaf-Bibeau knew of Martin Couture-Rouleau, another Muslim convert from Quebec who killed one soldier and injured another in a hit-and-run attack Monday. 
The paper had previously reported that Zehaf-Bibeau had been designated by authorities as a "high-risk traveller" and was unable to secure documents necessary to go abroad. The friend, a fellow convert to Islam named David Bathurst, told the paper that Zehaf-Bibeau had told him six weeks ago that he wanted to travel to Libya, where he had previously spent time, to study Arabic and learn more about Islam. Bathurst told the paper he urged his friend to make certain that he would only travel to the Middle East to study and "nothing else."
Zehaf-Bibeau may also have had a family connection to Libya. Official documents list Zehaf-Bibeau's father as a man named Bulgasem Zehaf, a Quebec businessman. The Globe and Mail cited this 2011 Washington Times report that quoted a Montreal man named as "Belgasem Zahef" who had taken part in the revolt against Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. That man claimed that he had traveled from Canada to join the anti-Qaddafi rebels and had been detained for a month at an oil terminal, where he had witnessed scenes of torture. 
Zehaf-Bibeau's mother is Susan Bibeau, the deputy chairperson of a division of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. Zehaf and Bibeau divorced in 1999, according to the Globe and Mail. 
Bathurst told the paper Zehaf-Bibeau had moved to British Columbia to find work as a miner and laborer before the two met in a suburban Vancouver mosque approximately three years ago. Bathurst said that his friend displayed signs of mental instability that attracted the attention of the mosque's elders. 
"We were having a conversation in a kitchen, and I don’t know how he worded it: He said the devil is after him," Bathurst said in a Globe and Mail interview. He said his friend frequently talked about the presence of "Shaytan" in the world – an Arabic term for devils and demons. "I think he must have been mentally ill." Bathurst added that elders at the mosque eventually asked Zehaf-Bibeau to stop attending prayers due to his "erratic" behavior, though he did not describe any specific incidents. 
Zehaf-Bibeau was also in trouble with the law in British Columbia, after racking up a long criminal record in Quebec since the early 2000s for crimes as varied as drug possession, credit card forgery, and robbery. He was also charged with robbery in Vancouver in 2011, but eventually was sentenced to one day in jail after pleading guilty to uttering a threat.  His lawyer at the time, Brian Anderson described the threat as "something fairly minor and fairly bizarre." Anderson added that Zehaf-Bibeau was given pretrial psychiatric assessment and found fit.

Man apprehended after scaling White House fence in latest security breach

A man was apprehended after he scaled a White House fence Wednesday night, the latest security breach at a time when the Secret Service faces increased scrutiny over its ability to protect the president and his residence.
The man, identified by authorities late Wednesday as Dominic Adesanya, 23, of Bel Air, Md.,  was caught on the North Lawn shortly after he made it over the fence around 7:15 p.m. He was subdued by armed officers and several guard dogs, and was then led through the northwest gate in handcuffs.
President Obama was present at the White House on Wednesday night, though the jumper didn't make it anywhere near the building.
Charges against Adesanya were pending Wednesday night. He was unarmed at the time of his arrest. Two Secret Service K-9 dogs were taken to a veterinarian for injuries sustained during the incident.
Wednesday's incident comes after a series of embarrassing incidents for the Secret Service, whose director, Julia Pierson, resigned earlier this month after a series of security lapses.
Earlier this week, the arraignment of Omar Gonzalez, who allegedly entered the White House after scaling a fence on the north lawn last month, was delayed by a federal judge because of questions about his mental competence to stand trial.
He was brought to court to enter a not-guilty plea to a six-count grand jury indictment accusing him of carrying a knife into the presidential mansion and assaulting two Secret Service officers.
After he was apprehended in the White House on Sept. 19, Gonzalez told a Secret Service agent that he was concerned that the atmosphere was collapsing and needed to get the information to the president so that he could get the word out.
Following his arrest, Gonzalez consented to a search of his car, which contained hundreds of rounds of ammunition, two hatchets and a machete.
The grand jury indictment accuses Gonzalez of unlawful possession of nine different types of ammunition without a valid registration certificate for a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds.
Another man was arrested after allegedly scaling the White House fence on Sept. 11. The Secret Service has also been under scrutiny after nearly two dozen agents were disciplined or fired as part of a 2012 incident in which Secret Service personnel brought prostitutes into their hotel in Cartagena, Colombia ahead of President Obama's trip to the Summit of the Americas in April 2012.

Republicans lead Dems in early votes cast in Iowa for first time, GOP says

More registered Republicans than registered Democrats have cast a ballot during early voting in Iowa for the first time in a modern-day election, according to a GOP report.
The report stated that as of Wednesday, the cumulative number of registered Republican early and absentee voting returns surpassed those of the Democrats by 305 ballots. 
An Iowa Democratic Party spokeswoman told FoxNews.com that the numbers of early ballots cast are in flux, saying the numbers will continue to change over the coming days. She added that the party believes they "have a significant advantage on the ground."
"Democrats are expanding the midterm electorate and are turning out non-midterm voters, while Republicans are simply encouraging their base to vote early," Christina Freundlich said in a statement. "In requests alone, Democrats hold a 18,000 vote advantage relative to the Republican ballots, and we expect those ballots to flood in over the final days."
The Wednesday numbers were the first time the GOP has led in Iowa in modern early voting history, according to Republicans. There are 13 remaining days of early voting in the state.
“The momentum has been building for a long time, but this development means Republicans have crossed a major Democrat firewall that had given them a boost going into Election Day in previous election cycles,” Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement. “Democrats are nowhere near where they need to be, and they are quickly running out of time.”
Absentee voting for this November’s midterm election began in Iowa in late September. The most competitive race in the state by far is the contentious battle between Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley and Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat, which is currently held by Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin. The two candidates are in a dead heat, though Ernst is slightly leading in a Real Clear Politics polling average.
According to the memo, at this point in 2010 the Democrats led in early and absentee voting returns by 16,426 ballots. In 2008, they led by 56,908.
The Associated Press reported last month that the number of Iowa voters who had requested an absentee ballot 43 days out from the election nearly doubled that of 2010. Requests for absentee ballots for registered Republican voters were also up by 145 percent.
The GOP said in the report that the party has been engaging in a concentrated effort to increase its number of early voters this year.

Companies try to escape ObamaCare penalties

With companies set to face fines next year for not complying with the new mandate to offer health insurance, some are pursuing strategies like enrolling employees in Medicaid to avoid penalties and hold down costs.
The health law’s penalties, which can amount to about $2,000 per employee, were supposed to start this year, but the Obama administration delayed them until 2015, when they take effect for firms that employ at least 100 people.
Now, as employers race to find ways to cover their full-time workers while holding a lid on costs, insurance brokers and benefits administrators are pitching a variety of options, sometimes exploiting wrinkles in the law.
The Medicaid option is drawing particular interest from companies with low-wage workers, brokers say. If an employee qualifies for Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the federal government and the states, the employer pays no penalty for that coverage.
“You’re taking advantage of the law as written,” said Adam Okun, a senior vice president at New York insurance broker Frenkel Benefits LLC.
Locals 8 Restaurant Group LLC, with about 1,000 workers, already offers health coverage, and next year plans to dial back some employees’ premium contributions. That is because an employer can owe penalties if its coverage doesn’t meet the law’s standard for affordability.
But the company, which is based in Hartford, Conn., hopes to reduce its costs by offering eligible employees a chance to enroll in Medicaid, using a contractor called BeneStream Inc. to help them sign up. The government program is more affordable for employees and saves money for Locals 8, said Chief Executive Al Gamble. “The burden gets shifted to Medicaid,” he said.
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