VIDEO: President calls out Fox News over ObamaCare coverage

Obama takes heat over swipe at Fox News

President Obama is taking heat for mocking Fox News over its coverage of his health care overhaul. 
The president took the shot Thursday during a speech at Northwestern University in Illinois, as he defended his six-year record in office on the economy, on health care and on the budget. 
He claimed fewer Republicans are "preaching doom on deficits" because deficits are lower. 
On ObamaCare, he added: "There's a reason fewer Republicans, you hear them running about ObamaCare --- because while good, affordable health care might seem like a fanged threat to the freedom of the American people on Fox News, it's turns out it's working pretty well in the real world." 
The president's team, shortly afterward, drove the point home on Twitter: 
But Tim Graham, director of media analysis with the Media Research Center, slammed the president for his remarks. 
"Now ask yourself: Did President George W. Bush ever trash a news network like that?" he wrote on NewsBusters. "Did he ever make a major speech and take a whack at Keith Olbermann? Republicans avoid that, because you can upset the entire liberal media with a remark like that. 
"But Obama bashing Fox is completely acceptable, apparently." 
Graham recalled how Bush was pilloried in the media after being caught on a hot mic calling a New York Times reporter a "major league a-hole." 
"ABC and NBC led off their nightly newscasts with that mini-scandal," Graham noted. 
The president's comments were picked up widely on media news sites, including MediaBistro.com -- one commenter on their article said: "If only this man hated terrorists as much as he hated FOX News ...."

Crew disinfects home where Ebola patient stayed

DALLAS –  A hazardous-materials crew on Friday decontaminated the Texas apartment where an Ebola patient was staying when he got sick, while public-health officials cut by half the number of people being monitored for any symptoms of the deadly disease.
Hours later, the family that was living in the apartment was moved to a private residence in a gated community that was offered by a volunteer.
The decontamination team was to collect bed sheets, towels and a mattress used by the infected man before he was hospitalized, as well as a suitcase and other personal items belonging to Thomas Eric Duncan, officials said.
The materials were sealed in industrial barrels that were to be stored in trucks until they can be hauled away for permanent disposal.
Federal transportation and disease-control officials issued an emergency special permit Friday to allow an Illinois-based company to haul away and dispose of the materials — not only from the apartment but also any from the hospital where Duncan is receiving treatment.
The first Ebola diagnosis in the U.S. has raised concerns about whether the disease that has killed 3,400 people in West Africa could spread in the U.S. Federal health officials say they are confident they can keep it in check.
Elsewhere, NBC News reported that an American freelance cameraman working for the network in Liberia has tested positive for the virus and will be flown back to the United States, along with the rest of the news crew.
Neighbors stood on their balconies and watched the family's grim departure from behind a black tarp hung to shield their front door from view.
The family was placed in a Dallas County deputy's patrol car and driven away, apparently leaving with nothing more than the clothes they wore.
The residence where they will stay had been offered only a short time earlier. Until then, a search for shelter had come up short. The city had been refused by hotels, apartments and other providers.
"No one wants this family," said Sana Syed, a Dallas city spokeswoman.
The family was confined to their home under armed guard while public-health officials monitored them — part of an intense effort to contain the deadly disease before it can get a foothold in the United States.
Louise Troh, originally from Liberia, shares the apartment with her 13-year-old son and two nephews.
When the decontamination is complete, even the crew's protective suits are to be burned, said Tamara Smith, office manager for the Cleaning Guys of Fort Worth.
Judge Clay Jenkins, Dallas County's top administrative official, said he went to the apartment with two epidemiologists to apologize for the delay in removing the soiled items, which happened five days after Duncan was admitted to the hospital.
"I want to see this family treated the way I would want to see my own family treated," Jenkins said.
The confinement order, which also bans visitors, was imposed after the family failed to comply with a request to stay home.
Also Friday, Texas health officials said they had narrowed the number of people they were monitoring from as many as 100 to about 50 who had some type of exposure to Duncan.
Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey said all 50 are meeting with health workers and having their temperatures taken daily. So far, none shows symptoms of the virus. Ten are considered to be at higher risk and are being monitored more closely.
The virus that causes Ebola is not airborne and can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids — blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen — of an infected person who is showing symptoms.
Troh's 35-year-old daughter lives a few blocks away in a small apartment with her partner and four children. The two families often visited each other's homes.
Health officials have told Youngor Jallah to keep her family at home. But unlike at her mother's apartment, there are no armed guards preventing them from leaving.
She's now wracked with regret that she did not take greater precautions in her dealings with Duncan.
"I'm just doubting myself every minute," she said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm trying to take my mind off it, but I can't do it."
She is not kissing or hugging her children, ages 2, 4 and 6, or her partner's 11-year-old son, or sharing dishes with them.
Duncan arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 and fell ill a few days later. After an initial visit to the emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, he was sent home, even though he told a nurse he had been in disease-ravaged West Africa.
He returned to the hospital two days later, on Sunday, and has been kept in isolation ever since. He's listed in serious but stable condition.

ISIS' NEXT TARGET: Terror group warns US vet next to be beheaded

The Islamic State terror group identified its next target on Friday, a former U.S. Army Ranger who was captured in Lebanon last year during a relief mission to help Syrian refugees.
Peter Edward Kassig, 26, first visited Beirut on a college spring break trip. What the Indiana native saw there prompted him to return, the next time as a medical assistant and humanitarian worker hoping to offer blankets, food and medical care to victims of the region's conflicts.
Kassig founded a nongovernmental organization that provided aid for refugees fleeing the civil war in neighboring Syria. But his work in Lebanon led to his capture by militants on Oct. 1, 2013, while en route to eastern Syria.
Kassig appeared in an online video that purported to show a masked militant who threatened to behead the Army veteran next, after the apparent beheading of British hostage Alan Henning. The gruesome video was released in the same manner as other Islamic State group recordings and the masked militant sounded similar to the one who carried out other slayings.
In a statement issued Friday evening, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden confirmed that Kassig was being held by Islamic State militants.
"At this point we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video released earlier today. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal — military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence — to try to bring Peter home to his family," Hayden said.
The video and threat were a heartbreaking development for Kassig's family and friends, who have stayed silent since his capture while working to secure his release.
Kassig's parents issued a statement Friday describing their son's work and asking for privacy.
"We ask everyone around the world to pray for the Henning family, for our son, and for the release of all innocent people being held hostage in the Middle East and around the globe," the statement said.
According to his parents, Kassig, an Indianapolis native, converted to Islam while in captivity and now goes by the name Abdul-Rahman.
Kassig enlisted in the Army in 2004, and became a Ranger, ultimately serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment, an Army special operations unit, according to his military record.
He trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 2006, and deployed to Iraq from April to July 2007. He was medically discharged at the rank of private first class in September 2007.
In a January 2013 interview with Time, Kassig said he traveled heavily throughout Lebanon to assess the needs of people there.
He said he designed his aid organization, Special Emergency Response and Assistance, or SERA, around a belief that "there was a lot of room for improvement in terms of how humanitarian organizations interact with and cooperate with the populations that they serve."
SERA, he said, focused on supplementing the work of larger organizations by delivering aid that could "do the most good for the most people over the longest period of time possible."
"It's about showing people that we care, that someone is looking out for those who might be overlooked or who have slipped through the cracks in the system for whatever reason," he said.
SERA has since suspended its efforts while Kassig's family has worked to win his release.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence asked for prayers Friday for Kassig and his family during "this unspeakably difficult time."
This is the fourth such video released by the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL. The full beheadings are not shown in the videos, but the British-accented, English-speaking militant holds a long knife and appears to begin cutting the three men, American reporters James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines.
ISIS has its roots in Al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate but was expelled from the global terror network over its brutal tactics and refusal to obey orders to confine its activities to Iraq. It metamorphisized amid the bloody three-year civil war in neighboring Syria, growing stronger to the point of being able to launch a lightning offensive across much of northern Iraq, routing security forces there.
The extremist group has been widely denounced by mainstream Muslim authorities.
Other foreigners are believed held by the Islamic State group. On Friday, the father of John Cantlie, a British photojournalist held by the group, appealed for his release in a video, saying he was a friend of Syria.

Fox News Poll: Voters reveal which state they want kicked out of the union

There’s lots of talk about it. Last month, Scotland voted against it. In 2013, some residents in California, Colorado and Maryland signed petitions to do it. And Texas has toyed with the idea off and on for years. What is “it”? 
Secession! 
But it’s a lot more talk than anything else, according to a Fox News national poll that asked voters if they would support their state splitting off from the United States. Just nine percent said they would. 
CLICK HERE TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
The poll also gave people another option: What if you could boot other states out of the union? 
Nearly twice as many -- 17 percent -- liked that idea.
Which state would be the first voted out? California. Of the voters willing to ditch a state or two, 53 percent pick the Golden State. 
Next out the door is New York (25 percent), followed by Texas (20 percent) and Florida (11 percent). Respondents were allowed to name multiple states they wanted out of the union.
Democratic pollster Chris Anderson says voters who want to kick out a state appear to have presidential politics in mind. 
“The top four states targeted for expulsion,” he observed, “are also the four most electorally rich states in the country.” Anderson conducts the Fox News poll with Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who for his part approvingly noted the first two states on the chopping block are solid blue. 
One reason more Democratic states end up on the chopping block is Republicans (21 percent) are more likely than Democrats (13 percent) to want to vote a state out of the union.
In addition, Republicans (12 percent) and independents (13 percent) are three times as likely as Democrats (4 percent) to want their state to secede. Nearly one in four voters who are part of the Tea Party movement would vote for their state to split off (23 percent). 
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,049 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from September 28-30, 2014. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Panetta unloads on White House for pulling US forces out of Iraq

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is lashing out at President Obama’s inner circle for failing to secure a 2011 deal to leave U.S. troops in Iraq, effectively accusing the White House of sabotaging the talks – in turn, opening the door for the region to become a haven for the Islamic State.
Panetta, who served as CIA director and then Defense secretary during those negotiations, aired his complaints in his forthcoming memoir, “Worthy Fights.” Excerpts on the Baghdad talks were published by Time.
In them, Panetta explained that Iraqi leaders privately wanted some U.S. forces to stay behind after the formal 2011 withdrawal, though they would not say so publicly. The former secretary, though, said the U.S. had “leverage” to strike a deal, and the Defense and State departments tried to do exactly that.
“But,” he wrote, “the President’s team at the White House pushed back, and the differences occasionally became heated. … and those on our side viewed the White House as so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests.”
He said the negotiations with then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went down to the wire in December 2011, but the White House never stepped up.
“To my frustration, the White House coordinated the negotiations but never really led them,” Panetta charged. “Officials there seemed content to endorse an agreement if State and Defense could reach one, but without the President’s active advocacy, al-Maliki was allowed to slip away.”
The account from Panetta challenges the notion that the Obama administration would have left some troops behind – as U.S. military advisers wanted – if only the Iraqi government had been more willing to negotiate. While Panetta lays some blame at the feet of the Iraqis, he also argues that the White House never seized the chance at a deal.
Panetta claims that a residual troop presence like he and others had advocated could have made the difference.  
“To this day, I believe that a small U.S. troop presence in Iraq could have effectively advised the Iraqi military on how to deal with al-Qaeda’s resurgence and the sectarian violence that has engulfed the country,” he wrote.
Panetta also warned that the rise of the Islamic State “greatly increases the risk that Iraq will become al-Qaeda’s next safe haven.”
Gen. John Campbell, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, was asked Thursday about Panetta’s comments, but said “we absolutely left [the Iraqis] in the best possible condition militarily that we could.”
He put to onus on the Iraqi government.
“Things that were done by the government did not bring all the different factions in Iraq together was not something that … the U.S. military could have done or changed once we left there in 2011,” he said.
Asked again whether leaving a force in Iraq could have helped, he said: “I think any military guy is going to tell you if you could leave a force, you'd always leave a force.” 
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., though, seized on Panetta's comments -- as well as similar remarks by former Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker that the U.S. "could have gotten that agreement" if officials had been more persistent. 
"The latest statements by two of the most respected national security officials to serve under President Obama definitively refute the falsehood that this Administration has told the American people for years about their efforts to leave a residual force in Iraq," the senators said in a statement. "As we have said all along ... the Obama Administration never made a full effort to leave a residual force in Iraq."

Illinois Gov. Quinn embraces Obama, as other Dems keep distance

Unlike some other Democrats whose jobs depend on the November elections, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is not dodging an association with President Obama.
Despite a tough election, Quinn is embracing both the president and first lady.
“They do us proud. They stand for progress. They stand for doing the right thing. I’m with the president all the way,” Quinn said.
The president attended a fundraiser for the governor on Thursday, before delivering a speech on the economy that was heavy on election-year rhetoric.
Earlier, first lady Michelle Obama cut a radio ad for Quinn. “Pat’s fighting to raise the minimum wage,” she says in the ad, before reminding listeners she votes in Chicago. “For this election, Barak and I are casting votes for Pat Quinn.”
Quinn is in a statistical dead heat with Republican challenger and political newcomer Bruce Rauner. A few polls have put one or the other out in the lead, but the RealClearPolitics average puts the incumbent only a point-and-a-half ahead, 43.3 to 41.8 percent.
So, both candidates are trying to appeal to the everyman in Illinois. “If Pat Quinn wins, it’s because he is a populist,” pollster Mike McKeon said.
However, their attempts to appear average border on risible.
The former lieutenant governor, who moved up to the mansion, poses in a golf shirt and pretends he cuts his own lawn in one ad. “State government needed to be cut, like my lawn. So, I got to work,” Quinn says before he pushes a rickety manual mower across the grass, while wearing khakis.
Rauner, a North Shore billionaire, often poses in a workingman’s Carhartt jacket. In one ad, he highlights a rusty old van. “I've had this van 20 years,” Rauner says.
He’s also got nine homes.  
The attempts to connect take a backseat, however, to the negative barbs from the two candidates -- who seem to feel the attacks are working and appear to harbor a genuine dislike for each other.
A meeting with Quinn and Rauner before the Chicago Tribune editorial board melted down into a bickering match with extended index fingers. Quinn called Rauner a “profiteer,” who made “a fortune on the misfortune of others.” 
Rauner countered with a crack that involved the governor’s male pattern baldness. He said the only difference between Quinn and the now-imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was the hair.
The ads run negative and blanket the airwaves. When it comes to mud, both candidates leave behind rich soil to be harvested – Quinn, for his years in politics; Rauner, for the time spent financing companies. Neither candidate has been in trouble himself, but some of the executives and managers they put in charge have.
Rauner chaired an equity firm called GTCR, which left in its wake the bankruptcy of Home Banc Mortgage Corp. The provided fodder for an ad claiming the CEO fled with a $5 million parachute, while the employees received $20 gift cards along with their pink slips.
Quinn created the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative, which took in $54.5 million and apparently blew it. A panel of lawmakers will convene next week to interview managers and determine if there was any criminal wrongdoing. Quinn is not directly in the crosshairs, but close enough to drive the partisan rhetoric.
What voters miss in the process is any specific information about plans to improve Illinois’ struggling budget or underfunded pension. The candidates are largely running on a message that they’re not as bad as the other guy.
“I’ve done well financially. I don’t need any special interest money. I don’t need any patronage workers,” Rauner said. “I’m going to work for families. I can’t be bought, bribed or intimidated.”

Ebola patient’s family quarantined as officials search for possible exposures

The family of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan were legally quarantined Thursday after they did not comply with Dallas health officials requests that they stay home.
Doctors are taking the temperatures of four family members in the unit where Duncan was staying twice a day to monitor symptoms as part of the health surveillance efforts being led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local Dallas government.
“If people leave, even though they’re asymptomatic, if they’re not at home when we go out to do our surveillance test on them, then that defeats the purpose of that surveillance test and that endangers them … if they were to be infected, they need to know that as quickly as possible,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. “So it’s for their benefit and everyone else’s.”
Texas health officials said during a press conference Thursday that the family would be quarantined in their apartment unit for the next 20 days until the potential incubation period for Ebola is over.
Health officials widened their search Thursday to 100 individuals possibly exposed to the disease – tracing contacts of the patient and medical staff who initially treated him. Also on Thursday, officials said three more young children potentially had contact with Duncan, bringing the number of kids being monitored to eight.
“We’re going to break that risk down to high-risk, no-risk and low-risk, and that’s going to be the basis of our contact tracing,” said David Daigle, associate director for communications, public health preparedness and response at the CDC.
Daigle expressed concern about infection control at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Duncan is currently in isolation, and said that a team was dispatched to conduct the same kind of contact tracing officials are doing in the local community.
Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, tried to quell fears in the community of the virus spreading and stressed transparency during the investigation.
“A lot of the individuals that we come in contact with will not have any symptoms, they will not have any association other than the fact that someone said they were there, or they might have had contact,” Thompson said. “This is local public health surveillance at its best, in what we do day in and day out.”
Police were stationed at the Ivy Apartment complex where the family lives Thursday to keep the peace and assist residents and health officials in the community during the investigation.
“We want to make sure we create a calm and safe environment for [health officials] to do their work – that’s our primary focus.  We have had reverse 911 calls to all the residents … We’ve talked to them, we’ve explained what happened, and we’ve given them the option to call us back,” said Dallas city mayor, Mike Rawlings. ”If citizens have any questions, they need to call 311. We will be able to give them a full explanation of what’s happening and answer any questions that are challenging.”
Additional nurses and health professionals were called into schools where the five students that were potentially exposed to Ebola attended.
“Our nurses are making two rounds every school day to every classroom just to check to see if anyone has questions or if there are any symptoms,” said  Mike Miles, superintendent of Dallas Independent School District, adding that additional custodial staff was on hand to clean and disinfect the buildings the students attended. Miles stressed the fact that the potential for contamination in the schools was minimal, but said they were doing extra cleaning to take the possibility off the table.
The eight students in the potential contacts were enrolled in a homebound program where they will receive curricular and technology support to complete their coursework while they are out of school. Attendance at the five schools involved in the investigation was down 10 percent Thursday, but Miles said he expects it to go back up.
Sally Nuran, manager of the Ivy Apartments where Duncan was visiting family, said during a press conference Thursday that health officials alerted her of the Ebola case on her property late Monday night. She confirmed that the lease for that particular unit lists one adult and two children, but said she does not know how many people are currently occupying the space.
As part of the monitoring process, the CDC has quarantined the family inside the unit, with strict instructions not to leave the apartment or even step out on the porch, according to Nuran. The family was set to move out of the apartment when their lease expired on September 30.
According to Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of Texas Department of State Health Services, the family’s apartment will be cleaned by a cleaning company.
“The house conditions need to be improved,” Lakey said in a press conference Thursday. “We have been working to identify an entity that will go out and there and do cleaning— there has been hesitancy… but we have identified and that will take place today.”
Lakey also noted that there is a local law enforcement agent monitoring the apartment.
The complex is home to residents of many different nationalities and translators have been on hand to distribute information in at least eight different languages, according to Nuran, who said she’s working with the CDC and other government agencies to educate residents about the current situation.
Fliers were placed on residents’ doors in the apartment complex Wednesday night and more translated fliers will be handed out during a community meeting Thursday, according to Nuran, who said that language barriers have made it difficult to disseminate information. Nuran added that all common areas have been disinfected by the CDC.