St. Louis Rams, police squabble over apology

A St. Louis Rams official and a county police officer differed Monday about whether the team had apologized for five of its players raising their hands in unison to show support for the Ferguson protesters.
St. Louis County Police PIO Sgt. Brian Schellman said Chief Jon Belmar was contacted by Rams' COO Kevin Demoff. Belmar did not ask for the Rams to contact him.
Schellman said Belmar sent an e-mail to the police staff saying Demoff called to "apologize to our department" for the players' actions on Sunday. The email from Belmar said Demoff "clearly regretted that any members of the Ram's organization would act in a way that minimized the outstanding work that police officers carry out each and every day."
However, in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Monday, Demoff denied apologizing to the police, but said he regrets and of the offenses the officers may have taken.
"We do believe it is possible to both support our players' First Amendment rights and support the efforts of local law enforcement as our community begins the process of healing," he said.
In an email sent to The Associated Press, St. Louis County police Sgt. Shawn McGuire said Belmar interpreted Demoff's comments as an apology.
Jared Cook, Kenny Britt, Chris Givens, Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin made the "Hands up. Don't Shoot!" gesture protesters in Ferguson — a suburb of St. Louis — have been using since a grand jury did not indict police officer Darren Wilson over the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, who was black. Some witnesses said Brown had his hands up before being shot by officer Wilson. Wilson, who is white, told the grand jury that he shot Brown in self-defense.
Rams coach Jeff Fisher said Monday that neither the team nor the NFL would discipline the players. He said it was their "choice to exercise their free speech," but he would not comment further on their actions.
"It's my personal opinion, I firmly believe, that it's important that I keep sports and politics separate," Fisher said. "I'm a head coach. I'm not a politician, an activist or an expert on societal issues, so I'm going to answer questions about the game."
Fisher says he plans to talk to his players in a closed-doors meeting.
The NFL responded with a one-sentence statement Monday from spokesman Brian McCarthy: "We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation."
After the game, the Rams players said they did not mean any disrespect from their actions.
"We just understand that it's a big tragedy and we hope something positive comes out of it," Bailey said, following his five catch 100-yard performance.
Added Cook: "We help build up the people around this community daily with our visiting schools and talking to kids, so coming out and showing that we're unified with the rest of them, it was key to us."

ISIS leader's wife, son have been detained in Lebanon

Lebanese officials say authorities have detained a wife and son of the Islamic State’s leader.
The two were detained 10 days ago using fake identification cards.
Both officials refused to give any details about the woman who is believed to be one of the wives of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group's reclusive leader.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The military official said Tuesday that the woman is a Syrian citizen.
The Lebanese daily As-Safir was the first to break the news, saying they were detained near a border crossing point with Syria. It added that the arrest was in "coordination with foreign intelligence agencies."

EPA staffers linked to 'alleged serious misconduct,' agency reveals

EXCLUSIVE: Eight Environmental Protection Agency employees who racked up a total of more than ten years’ worth of paid “administrative leave” between 2011 and 2014 -- valued at more than $1,096,000 -- apparently did so because they were involved in “cases of alleged serious misconduct,” Fox News has learned.
In a memorandum sent from EPA’s acting assistant administrator, Nanci  E. Gelb, to EPA’s inspector general, Arthur Elkins -- a draft also was given to Fox News -- the agency has revealed that at least three of the affected employees have now left EPA.
All of the eight “were or are subject to a disciplinary process,” an EPA official told Fox News, adding that, “we cannot comment on the circumstances of their departure from the agency for those who are no longer employed by EPA.”
The exact nature of the alleged wrongdoings has not been revealed, nor the specific times when they took place. But the lengthy absences -- up to three years in one case -- seem to indicate that the alleged misconduct actions, whether linked or separate, cover a substantial period of time, even after their discovery.
The document from EPA’s Gelb to EPA’s inspector general, intended as an elaboration on the highlighted periods of administrative leave, made no mention of the issue of wrongdoing in relation to the departures or to the leaves granted to any other employee included in the OIG report.
In response to questions from Fox News, OIG officials indicated that they had, to date, received no word from EPA in any form about any misconduct allegations.
The revelations about misconduct came as an email  response to questions from Fox News regarding the extraordinary paid absences.
In it, an EPA official declared tersely that the agency had “carefully exercised its discretion” in placing “certain employees”  on the paid form of absence “in cases of alleged serious misconduct,” and added that “the agency must work to address these [cases] in a way that is consistent with the law.”
Nothing in the EPA response indicated whether any of the allegations had been proved.
The existence of the huge amounts of paid time for just a few EPA employees for doing nothing -- in one case, more than three years -- has special resonance at EPA, where the revelation first became public knowledge on November 19, in a special “early warning” report published by EPA’s watchdog Office of the Inspector General, or OIG.
(Tallies for each of the eight employees, ranging from less than two months to about three years, are included in the document.)
CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT
Almost exactly a year ago, a top EPA official named John Beale was sentenced to 32 months in prison for getting $800,000 worth of paid time off while falsely claiming that he was an active CIA agent, a whopper that apparently went unchecked for years.
In the intervening months, OIG has charged that various EPA officials have stonewalled its efforts to investigate the Beale scandal, and that a separate EPA branch for homeland security has illegally prevented OIG interviews of employees and kept other evidence out of the watchdogs’ hands.
The stonewalling also has been mentioned in a special letter signed by 47 of the administration’s 73 inspectors general, spread across a spectrum of government agencies, and complaining about  “serious limitations on access to records” that were creating “potentially serious challenges” to “our ability to conduct our work thoroughly, independently and in a timely manner.”

Almost exactly a year ago, a top EPA official was sentenced to 32 months in prison for getting $800,000 worth of paid time off.

As Kevin Christensen, the OIG’s assistant inspector general of audit, told Fox News, OIG in October launched the payroll research that led to its November 19 revelations precisely in order “to see if there are other John Beales around.”
In the process of uncovering the absentee eight, the inspectors also made a further intriguing discovery. One of the off-work staffers also had run up more than seven months of additional absences -- at a cost of $57,636 -- that were charged to payroll codes for “dispute resolution” and “general labor management.”
According to an EPA official, “federal regulations allow the use of these codes when an employee is involved in a dispute resolution and/or engaged in working with their union representative to work on their case.”
In response to questions from Fox News, EPA revealed that the staffer in question was a member of the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, one of five unions that have status with EPA allowing specified members to gain such paid leave under the referenced payroll codes.
The OIG’s office declined to specify which of the eight employees tallied in its “early warning” report -- all identified only by numbers -- had also rung up the labor-management-related absences.
So far, much EPA effort has apparently been devoted to questioning or downplaying the methods and conclusions of the Inspector General’s Office, as drawn up in the “early warning” report.
In her letter to Inspector General Elkins, for example, EPA’s Nanci Gelb claims that only three EPA employees were on leave for more than a year, rather than four, as the OIG report alleges. Moreover, the document says that much of the leave was not continuous.
An OIG official notes, however, that the existence of such things as intervening federal holidays or sick leave could technically create formal conditions for the discontinuous claim
Just how firm EPA is in its defenses is not clear.
In the draft copy of the memorandum given to Fox News, one of the agency’s top lawyers, principal deputy general counsel Kevin Minoli, indicates in a sideline note that he’s having difficulty coming to the rebuttal conclusions based on the evidence in his hands. 
Minoli asks another individual named “Don”-- presumably another EPA official -- to “please walk me through it.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE DRAFT MEMORANDUM
How all the new revelations of possible wrongdoing at EPA will play out is equally unclear.
But at a time when EPA is aggressively launching a massive escalation in its regulatory campaign to limit carbon emissions, among other things, a red flag like prolonged periods of paid-for time off linked to “serious misconduct” is unlikely to be overlooked.  

George Russell is editor-a

Obama's plan to shut down Guantanamo Bay suffers major setback

President Obama’s plan to close the federal prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba hit a major snag Monday as lawmakers finalizing the annual defense policy bill rejected the steps in order to shut down the facility.
The final defense bill will not have a provision giving the president the power to transfer terror suspects to the U.S.  if Congress signs off on the plan, said Sen. Carl Levin.
"Our language ... (on Guantanamo) ... will not be in," Levin said.
Levin backed the authority for Obama to transfer the suspects and enthusiastically herald it in May as the “path to close Guantanamo.”
The House and Senate are expected to vote and overwhelmingly approve the sweeping policy bill in the coming days, sending it to Obama.
The president has pushed to close the post-9/11 prison since his inauguration in January 2009. He has faced strong resistance from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress who don't want terror suspects housed in U.S. facilities and have warned of suspects returning to the fight when they are transferred back to their home countries.
In the previous version of the defense bill, the Senate Armed Services Committee included the provision authorizing the transfer of terror suspects to the U.S. for “detention, trial and incarceration.”
The House version of the defense bill prohibited the transfer to U.S. soil, and Republican and Democratic lawmakers who have repeatedly and successfully fought White House efforts to move detainees prevailed in the final version of the defense bill.
Currently, the prison holds 142 men, including 73 already cleared for release.
Obama was approached by a store patron during his holiday shopping Saturday.
"Hope you can close Guantanamo," said the patron.
"We're working on it," Obama replied, then jokingly added to the nearby crowd of shoppers: "Any other issues?"
The U.S. has released a number of prisoners over the last few weeks.
Saudi national Muhammad al-Zahrani was allowed to return to his country Nov. 22 after five prisoners were released a few days prior.
The board cleared him for release in October, citing a number of factors including his willingness to participate in the Saudi rehabilitation program.
Al-Zahrani was the 13th prisoner to leave Guantanamo Bay this year and the seventh in just the past couple of weeks. Officials have said more prisoners will be released in the coming weeks as part of a renewed effort to close the site. Seventy three are already cleared for release.
The Associated Press contributed to this report

St. Louis police group demands punishment for Rams players in Ferguson protest

A St. Louis police officers' group called on the NFL to punish five Rams players who stood with their hands raised before trotting onto the field for pregame introductions Sunday. 
The St. Louis Police Officers' Association said it was "profoundly disappointed" with what it called a "display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory." It called for the players involved to be disciplined and for both the league and team to issue a "very public apology."
The so-called "hands up, don't shoot" gesture has been commonly used by demonstrators protesting the decision of a St. Louis County grand jury to not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the August 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in suburban Ferguson. Some witnesses said Brown, who was black, had his hands up before being fatally shot by Wilson, who is white. 
Prior to kickoff of their game against the Oakland Raiders, Rams wide receivers Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt came out together and raised their hands, but the move was obscured by a smoke machine in the upper reaches of the Edward Jones Dome. Jared Cook, Stedman Bailey and Chris Givens then came out and stood together with hands raised in the fog.
"I just think there has to be a change," Cook said after the Rams' 52-0 win. "There has to be a change that starts with the people that are most influential around the world.
"No matter what happened on that day, no matter how the whole situation went down, there has to be a change."
Coach Jeff Fisher said he'd not been aware the gesture had been planned by the players, all of them black.
Cook said players have been too busy to go to Ferguson, plus "it's kind of dangerous down there and none of us want to get caught up in anything."
"It takes some guts, it takes some heart, so I admire the people around the world that have been doing it," he added.
SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda was quoted in a statement released by the organization as saying " All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson ... then, as the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis's finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance."
Across the street from the stadium, about 75 protesters gathered in the second half as about 30 police wearing riot gear watched from a distance. Protesters chanted "Hands up, don't shoot!" ''No justice, no football!" ''This is what democracy looks like," and "We're here for Mike Brown."
James Weaver of St. Louis was among the protesters outside the stadium and argued with two fans leaving. They were separated by police.
"People don't understand what this is about," Weaver said. "This is about a young man lying on the street for four hours. People are mad."
Weaver added that police are "clicking their boots like the Gestapo."
The Rams had additional security measures in place for the game, including armed personnel from the National Guard. The team has wanded fans outside entrances all season.
Roorda also played down the notion that the players were exercising their right to free speech, saying ""I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Well I've got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours.
"I'd remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser's products," Roorda added. "It's cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it's not the NFL and the Rams, then it'll be cops and their supporters."

ObamaCare's small business site reportedly opens to scant interest

A long-delayed section of the federal health care exchange website intended to help small business owners enroll their employees in health insurance plans for 2015 has drawn relatively little interest compared to the site's plans for individuals, according to a published report. 
The Washington Post, citing data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, reported Sunday that the home page for the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) drew 200,000 visits during its first week. By contrast, more than 1.5 million people visited Healthcare.gov's plan page for individuals over the same period. It was not immediately clear how many employers have offered health coverage to their employees through the plans or how many employees have bought them. 
The Post also reported that insurers are having trouble accessing their accounts on the site and are not appearing in the system's master lists of professionals available to advise small businesses. The paper reported, citing confidential federal documents, that parts of the online marketplace are still being tested. CMS spokesman Aaron Albright claimed that the sections of the site needed to explore and select health plans has been "thoroughly tested."
The SHOP Marketplace was originally intended to debut on Oct. 1 of last year, along with the other health care exchanges. However, amid massive problems with the launch of Healthcare.gov, the Obama administration announced that the start of online enrollment would be delayed. Initially, the postponement was only supposed to last until November of 2013, but the White House ultimately pushed the launch back to November of this year. 
The administration also postponed a requirement that small business employees be offered a choice of health plans in their area. Earlier this year, federal health officials told states that they still didn't have to honor that requirement. In all, the Post reports, 18 of the 32 states using SHOP to offer coverage declined to offer choices. 
Brokers tell the paper that another reason for the tepid interest in the SHOP website as that under ObamaCare, businesses only qualify for tax credits if they have fewer than 25 workers, specified salary levels and other characteristics. Even if businesses do meet the criteria for tax credits, they only last for two years.

Iraq's Prime Minister said Sunday that the country's army has been paying salaries to at least 50,000 soldiers who do not exist, the latest sign of corruption in a force that the U.S. hopes to help contain the Islamic State militant group. 
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the country's Parliament that the practice was revealed as part of a preliminary investigation, and that further probes would likely show "more and more" false names. 
"Ghost soldiers" refer to people whose names appear on military rolls and who are paid salaries, but are not in military service. The Washington Post reported that the practice is often carried out by officers, who pretend to have more soldiers on their books then they really do and pocket the extra salary. 
The Post reported that an entry level soldier in the Iraqi army receives a salary of approximately $600 per month. If the 50,000 figure is accurate, the "ghost soldiers" are costing Iraq's treasury at least $350 million per year. However, Iraqi officials say that the true number of false names could be far greater than al-Abadi reported. 
"It could be more than triple this number," Hamid al-Mutlaq, a member of the parliamentary defense and security committee, told the Post. "The people who are responsible for this should be punished. Iraq’s safe has been emptied."
Widespread corruption and mismanagement in the Iraqi army under former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been blamed for the collapse of four of its divisions this summer in the face of an Islamic State offensive that overran Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul. 
The Pentagon has already requested $1.2 billion from Congress to better train and equip Iraq's army to improve its performance against the militants. U.S. officials told the Post earlier this week that the military hoped to build up nine new brigades that could work with Kurdish and Shiite fighters against the Islamic State.

Incoming senators talk compromise on jobs, immigration but partisan divide still an issue

Newly-elected senators from both parties agreed Sunday on several issues facing the incoming Congress, including job creation and the passage of immigration-reform legislation, but also hinted that elusive bipartisan compromise will be difficult to attain.
Arkansas GOP Rep. Tom Cotton, elected in November to the Senate, said the House wants to pass an immigration reform bill, just as the Democrat-controlled Senate did last year. However, the lower chamber’s bill will likely be different.
“I think we should pass a bill that addresses our problems,” Cotton told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He said the priorities in a House version would be border security and enforcing existing laws on people living illegally in the United States.
Cotton also repeated his concern that Middle East terror groups could be trying to cross through security gaps in the U.S.-Mexico border.
The House faces increasing pressure to pass a bill to override the executive action President Obama took earlier this month on immigration reform.
Incoming Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., also agreed that their parties should work together to create more and better-paying jobs for Americans and to bring overseas manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
“I think there are a number of opportunities for Republicans and Democrats to work together,” Tillis told CBS’s “Meet the Press.”
Peters agreed, adding that “I’m sure we can find ways to get people back to work and … find common ground.”
Still, their remarks, though perhaps unintended, suggested the continuing divide that frustrates Americans.
Tillis said Obama needs to find “consensus” for administration nominees, including those for the open posts of U.S. attorney general and Defense secretary, that work for “both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue,” meaning the White House and Congress.
He said Congress has failed on immigration reform but agreed with Cotton that border security comes first and argued that Obama’s executive actions could “set us back.”
Peters, the only Democrat newly elected to the Senate in November, called Congress’ inaction on the issue a “constant frustration.”
“Congress needs to act, instead of wringing our hands about the presidential action,” he said. “We have a bill that's been on the table for a year-and-a-half in the House. I believe that if the speaker would put it on the floor, it would actually pass. … If my Republican friends want to work in a bipartisan way and find common ground, we're already almost there.”
Tillis also suggested voters dumping some incumbents during the midterms and giving Republicans control of the Senate was not a mandate to change or compromise, only a “chance” in part to “work across the aisle.”