Minnesota man is second American ISIS fighter killed in Syria, sources say

Is that a American Tank??

A second American killed fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria has been identified as Abdirahmaan Muhumed, of Minneapolis, two sources told Fox News late Wednesday. 
KMSP-TV in Minneapolis reported that Muhumed was killed in the same battle as Douglas McArthur McCain, who grew up outside Minneapolis in the town of New Hope and most recently lived in San Diego. The State Department confirmed McCain's death earlier this week, but spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the U.S. has no independent confirmation of the second American's death. "We're looking into it," she said.
A source told Fox News that Muhumed's family had been sent a photo of his body from Syria, but had not been formally notified by the State Department. 
A profile of Muhumed by Minnesota Public Radio this past June described him as a 29-year-old Somali-American who had been married more than once and was a father of nine children. MPR reported, citing the FBI, that at least 15 young men from the Twin Citites' Somali-American community had traveled to Syria to join Islamic State, the militant group formerly known as ISIS that has captured wide swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. 
In a Facebook messages to an MPR reporter, Muhumed wrote "I give up this worldly life for Allah" and "Allah loves those who fight for his cause." A picture posted on the social network showed Muhumed carrying a Koran in one hand and a rifle in the other. 
Federal investigators believe that approximately 100 Americans have traveled to Syria to join Islamist groups. Most of them are disaffected young men targeted by recruitment videos like those one put out by the Somali-based, Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab that praised Minnesota's "martyrs." One such "martyr" was Troy Kastigar, a high school classmate of Douglas McCain and a Muslim convert who was killed in Somalia in 2009. 
Abdi Bihi, a leader in the Twin Cities' Somalian community, told KMSP that ISIS has recently begun trying to recruit young women from the Twin Cities to their cause.
"They are brainwashing them to marry them off to jihadists," he said. "They call them to help out as nurses, help out the wounded -- but the real catch is they will be sexually exploited."
While the jihadists may see fighting as a path to paradise, Bihi said the only thing young people who take that path will face is disappointment, possibly even death.
"What will not change is the pain and agony and suffering of the parents," he lamented.

Federal consumer watchdog agency hit with complaints of retaliation, discrimination

The federal consumer watchdog agency has been beset by complaints of retaliation and discrimination, according to a published report. 
The Washington Times, citing congressional investigators, internal documents, and interviews with employees, reports that workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed 115 official grievances through the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) in 2013 alone. 
Among the complaints are that managers retaliated against employees for comments or questions that they didn't like by denying vacation time, refusing internal requests for promotion, and hiring unqualified acquaintances who would have to be trained by employees in lower positions. 
"Certain managers have adopted an authoritarian, untouchable, unaccountable and unanswerable management style," CFPB enforcement attorney Angela Martin told Congress earlier this year.
More seriously, according to the Times, Martin's testimony alleged the existence of an entire department at the CFPB nicknamed "The Plantation" that is staffed almost entirely of black workers supervised by white managers with no obvious promotional track.
"There is an entire section in Consumer Response Intake that is 100 percent African-American, even the contractors, and it is called 'The Plantation,'" Martin said. "And people tell me it’s very hard to leave The Plantation. You must be extremely savvy, or you must [have] somebody else [help you] to get out. And I will note, you cannot say education is a factor, because there are licensed attorneys and [people with] advanced master’s degrees working there."
CFPB spokeswoman Jen Howard told the Times that Martin's claims are incorrect, claiming that the vast majority of the promotions from the consumer response intake section went to minorities. 
Issues of discrimination first came to light at the CFPB earlier this year, when agency director Richard Cordray told staff members in an email this past May that "broad-based disparities" in the way employees were rated in 2012 and 2013 had been uncovered in several areas including: race/ethnicity, age, bargaining unit membership eligibility, location in the field or at headquarters, and tenure as a CFPB employee.
A 2013 internal agency report found 74.6 percent of white employees ratings of four or five compared with 65.2 percent of Hispanics and 57.6 of black employees. That resulted in the agency scrapping its old rating system, which assigned workers a score between one and five, in favor of giving everyone who scored a three or above a retroactive rating of five and a pay raise.
The Times reported that the issue was addressed at an agency-wide conference this past spring, where a management presentation vowed to "compensate employees to remediate [sic] statistical disparities caused by our prior performance management system and to bargain with NTEU to change it going forward." 
However, agency employees say that the retroactive raises have done nothing to eliminate the disparity, since almost every employee got a bonus of some kind.

George Will: IRS is 'off the rails' and 'corrupted'

George Will said Tuesday on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that new revelations in the investigation into the IRS targeting scandal show the agency is “off the rails” and “thoroughly corrupted."
The president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch told Fox News Monday that Justice Department attorneys have said the "missing" emails of former IRS official Lois Lerner likely still exist in back-up computers. However, the attorneys told Judicial Watch that retrieving the emails would be “too onerous.”
Will, a syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor, called the revelation a "really interesting defense."
“I can just hardly wait until the IRS lawyers go into that courtroom and tell the judge it would be too onerous to stop obstructing justice in this case," he said.
Will added that it is clear that the Justice Department cannot be trusted to investigate the case fairly. 
"The IRS is the most intrusive and potentially punitive institution of the federal government, and it is a law enforcement and it is off the rails and it is now thoroughly corrupted," he said. "And people are saying, well the Justice Department can take care of this. There’s a reason why Jack Kennedy had his brother attorney general. There’s a reason why Richard Nixon has his campaign manager John Mitchell attorney general. It’s an inherently political office, and it can’t be trusted in cases like this."

The debt we owe to those who stand between us and our enemies

I was only 5-years-old, but I remember well the cold, dreary Sunday,  December 7 in 1941, when our family gathered around my Granddaddy’s big floor model radio to listen to the news that the Japanese Imperial Air Force had attacked the United States naval facilities in Pearl Harbor.
That's the day the world changed for me, never to be the same in my life. The Second World War become very real to those of us in coastal North Carolina, where ships leaving my seaport hometown of Wilmington were sunk by German U-boats just miles off our coast, prompting a very real fear that the Nazis would try to bring the war on shore.
I learned very early in my life that only two things protect our nation: the grace of Almighty God and the United States military. 

I learned very early in my life that only two things protect our nation: the grace of Almighty God and the United States military.

That’s the way it was then, the way it is now and the way it will always be, as long as America is a free and sovereign nation. And I feel we owe an unpayable debt of gratitude to those who stand between us and our enemies.
Being exposed to the horrors of war creates unique problems for those who experience it up close. The needs of our returning veterans are many and diverse – life-changing injuries, deep-seated mental difficulties, damaged marriages and a myriad of other challenges that few of us who have not been there can begin to understand.
One day young men and women are dodging bullets and IEDs in the desert, and a couple of days later they're walking through the airport in Dallas among a hurrying crowd of travelers who have no idea what it's like to live in constant danger or see a buddy die.
How alone they must feel, how insignificant our bustling around must seem to them, how shallow our priorities, how indifferent our attitudes.
Sometimes we make the mistaken assumption that the men and women who serve in our military have an extra gene or some internal mechanism that staves off loneliness and enables them to be away from their families for months on end without experiencing the pain of separation the rest of us feel.
The truth is that they miss their families and loved ones just as badly as any civilian – or, given the circumstances of the desolate places they serve in, even worse. It’s actually courage and devotion to duty that enable them to weather their long deployments.
When we think about the care and welfare of our veterans, we tend to believe government programs have it all covered. But government programs are just another name for bureaucracies, often operated by insensitive bean counters, tight-fisted administrators and, as we've seen recently, downright crooks.
In my opinion, it is the duty of us, the private American citizens, to take up the slack, fill in the blank spaces and make sure our returning vets have the medical care, education, counseling and opportunities they so desperately need to jump-start an interrupted life.
Many good and dedicated service organizations have come along in the last few years, and they do a wonderful job of helping our vets readjust and re-acclimate. They would appreciate any support caring Americans can provide.
Tonight when you go home, look at your family and know they can go to bed and sleep in safety and wake up tomorrow in the freest nation on the planet.
Thanks to the grace of Almighty God and the United States military.
God, please bless America.
Charlie Daniels is an American patriot. A musician, singer and songwriter during his 50+ year career, he has scored hits on the rock, country, pop and Christian charts, and is a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Visit Charlie’s “Soap Box” blog and follow him on Twitter@CharlieDaniels.

US reportedly recruiting allies to support expanded airstrikes, Syrian opposition

The Obama administration is pressing U.S. allies to increase their support for moderate rebel groups in Syria, as well as possible military operations, according to a published report. 
The New York Times reported late Tuesday that White House officials believe that Great Britain and Australia would be willing to join the United States in a campaign of airstrikes in Syria, while the administration hoped that Turkey would give it access to key military bases. 
The Times also reported that the U.S. has asked Turkish government to help seal that country's border with Syria, which has proven to be an easy crossing point for foreign militants looking to join up with the Islamic State, the militant group formerly known as ISIS, in northern Syria. The paper reported that the White House is also seeking intelligence help from Jordan, as well as financial support for groups like the moderate Free Syrian Army from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. 
The political calculus of such maneuvering among America's Western allies is unclear. Last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron experienced one of the most humiliating defeats of his premiership when a motion to join potential airstrikes against Bashar al-Assad's government was rejected by Parliament. However, the atrocities committed by ISIS since its overrunning of broad swathes of Syria and Iraq, have seemingly galvanized Cameron to press for action. In a recent opinion piece in the Sunday Telegraph, Cameron said that Britain was "in the middle of a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology."
Late Monday, the Pentagon began sending surveillance drones on flights over Syria to gather intelligence on ISIS positions after Obama approved their use over the weekend. The Times cited a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that “non-Syrian spy planes” on Monday carried out surveillance of ISIS positions in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
The Assad government in Damascus has warned the U.S. not to strike ISIS positions on Syrian territory without asking permission. However, on Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki emphatically rejected that condition, telling reporters "We're not going to ask permission from the Syrian regime." However, Psaki also noted that Obama had not made a final decision on whether to approve airstrikes in Syria. 
The Times also reported that the White House was also close to a decision to authorize airstrikes and aid drops around the town of Amerli in northern Iraq, home to a community of ethnic Turkmens, which has been besieged by ISIS for more than two months. The Turkmens, as Shiite Muslims, are thought of as infidels by the Sunni members of ISIS. 
Over the weekend, the United Nations' special representative to Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, said the situation in Amerli was "desperate, and called for "immediate action to prevent the possible massacre of its citizens." The BBC reported Saturday that the town had no electricity or drinking water, and is running out of food and medical supplies.

School Cartoon

Officials estimate California earthquake caused $1B in damage

NAPA, Calif. –  The earthquake that jarred California's wine capital caused $1 billion in damage, Napa County officials estimated Monday as business owners mopped up high-end vintages that spilled from barrels and bottles and swept away broken glass in the rush to get the tourist hotspot back in shape for the summer's final holiday weekend.
With the dust still settling from Sunday's magnitude-6.0 temblor centered near the city of Napa, government and tourism officials assessing its economic and structural impact encouraged visitors to keep flocking to the charming towns, tasting rooms, restaurants and spas that drive the Napa Valley economy.
While cleanup will take time and broken water mains remained a problem, they said, the worst damage and disruption was confined to the city's downtown, where a post office, library and a 141-room hotel were among 150 homes and buildings deemed unsafe to occupy.
The strongest earthquake to hit the San Francisco Bay Area in a quarter-century also caused several injuries, triggered fires that destroyed or damaged six mobile homes, and ruptured gas lines.
"Clearly, we are concerned that people are going to see that it was a catastrophe, and it certainly wasn't good, but it wasn't a catastrophe by any means," Clay Gregory, president of tourism organization Visit Napa Valley, said as workers at a shuttered downtown visitor's center updated lists of open wineries and surveyed hotels about cancellations. "The real story is that it has impacted a very small part of the valley."
In Napa Valley, two hotels and 12 wineries were still closed Monday, as well as many of the businesses downtown, he said.
Local officials have an early working estimate that Napa Valley suffered $1 billion in property damage, but they hope the long-term economic impact of the quake to businesses will be modest, Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd said. He said 80 percent of the valley's 500 or so wineries were unaffected.
If people "think Napa is devastated, it's anything but devastated. We're only 24 hours out from an earthquake, and we're on our way back," Dodd said.
CoreLogic Eqecat, which models economic losses from disasters, estimates that insured losses from the earthquake could range from $500 million to $1 billion. Vineyards have already started to harvest their grapes, crush them and store the juice. If the earthquake had happened before the harvest, Eqecat notes, the losses would have been lower.
The wine business and associated tourist crowds represent a bulk of Napa County's economy. Visit Napa Valley estimates that 3 million tourists spend $1.4 billion a year within the county. The Napa Valley Vintners trade association says the industry generates more than $13 billion of economic activity each year, including 46,000 local jobs.
The Napa Valley Wine Train, which offers tourists a three-hour journey through 18 miles of wine country, canceled its service Monday but planned to resume trips Tuesday. Other tour operators said they were taking it one day at a time, readjusting tours as each winery decides when to reopen.
"We've definitely had to make some last-minute adjustments for this week as people are assessing damage," said Sherry Laseke, whose family owns Saint Helena Wine Tours, a boutique luxury tour operator. "Everybody is dealing with broken glass."
The 19th-century stone-and-masonry Victorian buildings that form the core of Napa's downtown, and are part of the town's attraction to tourists, were hit the hardest by Sunday's earthquake. That included the Andaz Hotel, which suffered water damage and was declared uninhabitable on Sunday because of falling roof debris.
Front desk host Omar Hurtado stood outside with a push broom Monday, holding the door for the newly hired cleanup crews that had replaced the guests evacuated after the earthquake. The hotel is hoping city inspectors will clear it to reopen by the end of the week, he said.
"This is the time of year when we are sold out every night practically," Hurtado said, noting that the August, September and October grape harvest represents the busiest time of year for both vintners and the visitors who come from all over the world to see them work.
Even with the earthquake making headlines and the hotel closed, people have been calling all day for reservations, he said.
"It looks like everybody is OK with what happened. They'll come back," Hurtado said.
Cynthia Kroll, an economist with the Association of Bay Area Governments who studied the economic impact of the Bay Area's last big earthquake 25 years ago, agreed. Napa might have some immediate harm, but "I certainly don't expect it to have any long-term effects on the area."
Jake Gukowsky, 35, and his wife, Sarah, moved to San Francisco from New York last week and celebrated with a quick weekend trip to wine country. They browsed the Carneros inn winery Monday after having ruled out cutting short their vacation.
"In New York, they say it takes seven years to experience everything," Jake Gukowsky said. "In California, it's three days — wineries, an earthquake, and you're in."
A hotel closer to the epicenter, Holiday Inn Express near American Canyon, reported 10 cancellations and 500 telephone calls about quake damage, but remained 90 percent booked, said Gregory, of the tourism organization.
With the harvest just starting this week, he said, both the grape crush and the attendant peak tourist season should still be good, he said.
"The grapes don't know there's been an earthquake," Gregory said.

GOP lawmakers say DOJ probe into IRS 'compromised,' demand special counsel

House Republicans are calling on the Department of Justice to appoint a special counsel for its probe into the IRS targeting scandal, claiming new evidence shows the investigation is “compromised” due to multiple instances of conflict of interest.
One example, according to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan, involved a DOJ attorney representing the IRS in litigation relating to the scandal who used to work for the IRS and was involved in the targeting.
However Monday night a DOJ source confirmed to Fox News that the employee in question, Andrew Strelka, "no longer works at DOJ."
Issa, R-Calif., and Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a statement Monday that new documents have revealed conflict of interest in the investigation into the agency’s targeting of conservative groups. The lawmakers said they have sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding an independent special counsel be appointed for the probe.
“This new information about additional conflicts of interest within the Justice Department shows that almost every facet of the department with an interest in the IRS targeting investigation is compromised,” the letter states.
According to Issa and Jordan, Strelka, who was employed as an attorney at the Justice Department’s tax division, until recently represented the IRS in civil lawsuits filed over the targeting. However, Strelka used to work under Lois Lerner in the exempt organizations division of the IRS.
Lerner served as the IRS’s exempt organizations director when Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations had their applications for tax-exempt status held up for extra scrutiny.
According to the lawmakers, emails show that during his tenure Strelka was directly involved in the targeting of conservative groups. In one instance, Strelka was informed by a manager to be on the “lookout” for a Tea Party case.
“If you have received or do receive a case in the future involving an exemption for an organization having to do with Tea Party let me know,” the manager reportedly told Strelka.
The lawmakers also claim that a DOJ employee in the Office of Legislative Affairs maintained a close relationship with Lerner, and has worked to fundraise for Democratic candidates.
This is not the first time conservative lawmakers have raised the alarm about a potential conflict of interest in the probe. Republicans have previously complained that Barbara Bosserman, the lead DOJ attorney on the investigation, is unfit because she has donated to Democrats.
Holder has dismissed previous calls to appoint a special counsel in the investigation.