Reid suffers broken ribs, facial bones in exercising accident

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid broke several ribs and facial bones when a piece of exercise equipment snapped at his Nevada home Thursday, causing the lawmaker to fall. 
In a statement issued Friday, Reid's office said the 75-year-old senator was hospitalized overnight at University Medical Center in Las Vegas as a precaution and was released on Friday. His security detail had initially taken Reid to St. Rose Dominican Hospital near his home in Henderson, Nevada. 
The accident happened when an elastic exercise band broke, striking Reid in the face and causing him to fall, said spokesman Adam Jentleson. Reid struck some equipment as he fell, breaking multiple bones near his right eye. 
As he hit the floor, he broke several ribs, Jentleson said. 
Tests found no internal bleeding, Jentleson said, and his vision should not be affected. 
"Senator Reid will return to Washington this weekend and be in the office Tuesday as the Senate prepares to reconvene," his office said. "His doctors expect a full recovery." 
Jentleson said Reid is likely to have severe facial bruises. 
Reid, majority leader since 2007, will hand over the top job in the Senate next week to Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky after Democrats lost their majority in November's midterm elections. Reid faces a potentially tough re-election campaign in 2016. 
In May 2011, Reid dislocated a shoulder and suffered a contusion above his left eye when he slipped after an early morning run in the rain. He fell when he leaned against a parked car. 
In October 2012, Reid suffered rib and hip contusions in a chain-reaction car crash. 
Reid has run marathons and was a boxer as a young man.

Iraq's Peshmerga desperate for US arms in fight against ISIS

MOSUL, Iraq –  Under a gloomy late November sky that dumped cold rain on their frontline fighting position overlooking Mosul Dam, some 16 Peshmerga fighters mustered around a small hut – the only visible means of protection from enemy fire – while others hovered around a small campfire for warmth.
Just hours earlier, the road leading into the Kurdish army's base was hit by artillery from Islamic State – or “Daesh” as it is known in the Middle East, forcing some closures. But the fighters were calm and collected – sharing jokes and cigarettes ahead of another long and cold night protecting their cherished land in the northern part of this embattled land.
“Now we know their key points and from where they try to attack us. It’s weather like now – the fog – over them that allows them not to be seen by the planes,” one high-ranking Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) official, who left an office job to fight on the frontlines with the Peshmerga, told FoxNews.com in reference to the war against the jihadist army. “When it is raining, it is a good time for them to start attacking. At the beginning, the villages in Iraq were communicating and helping them attack, they shot at us front and back. But the villagers soon realized that these people were not good. They were not human.”

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The back side of the Peshmerga fighting position, near Mosul Dam. (FoxNews.com)

The Peshmerga fighters don a mishmash of camouflage clothes, and wield whatever guns they can get their hands on. Their formal training is limited, and their best attributes are instinct and will.
“We have principles. We were brought up on those principles and an innate drive to serve. We treat Kurdistan like our second mother,” explains the official, who is a high-value target and thus asked to remain unnamed. “If you do something day after day you learn and we learn how to fight very fast.”
The Peshmerga – whose name literally translates to “those who face death” – began as something of a mountain militia in the 1920s when the push for Kurdish independence began. In recent decades, they faced unrelenting persecution from the Ba'ath loyalists of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. One Peshmerga fighter told FoxNews.com they don’t suffer from “psychological issues” pertaining to combat because they have grown up around fighting and have developed an early understanding that it is “just what we have to do.” While the issue of possible PTSD garners little – if any – mainstream attention, one daughter of a retired Peshmerger fighter said at least in her experience growing up, she witnessed the mental anguishes of battle.
The Peshmerga soldiers range from around 18 to over 70 years old, with many coming out of retirement in the quest to defeat the ISIS threat. During days of intense conflict, the Peshmerga are lucky to return to their base for two or three hours of sleep and a quick bite to eat, before returning to their fighting locus. As it stands, a majority of fighters are not soldiers but what they call “security advisors.” They don’t take a salary and have volunteered simply out of devotion.

“If ISIS is an existential threat as the Iraqis claim; and if it really threatens U.S. interests abroad and its security at home then more must be done to arm the Peshmerga.”- Kurdish military official

“There is a Special Forces that has been arranged for these people that have come in, they don’t register their names and don’t sign contracts. They just want to serve Kurdistan,” the official said.
Due to a limited supply of weapons, volunteers often have to bring their own firearms – usually a basic AK-47 – with the M4 and M16 rifles, BKC—an Iraqi clone of the Soviet PKM machine gun – and the DshK heavy machine gun, called the “doshka” in Iraq, being the staple weapons used in the battle against much better equipped opponents.
Despite their lack of advanced technology, the Peshmerga remain acutely aware of precisely how many Islamic State fighters they take out each night at battle, and exactly where in the close vicinity those dead bodies lay even days after the fact – subject to the elements and hungry wild dogs. Although they are outgunned, the Kurdish fighters keep their wits about them, a tactical advantage over the enemy. One Peshmerga soldier explained how Islamic State commanders often drug young fighters with “special tablets” that leave them disoriented and shooting wildly, sometimes taking several rounds before they go down.
“For those who survive, when they realize what they have done they sometime regret,” acknowledged the official.
The Peshmerga also rely on a growing intelligence-gathering network that supplies logistical support to those who battle in the field. 
“We have secret service inside ISIS-controlled villages in Mosul and other places passing information, some are even living with ISIS and they don’t know,” the official said.
U.S. airstrikes are said to have helped Kurdish and Iraqi government forces seize control of the critical Mosul Dam in late August after Islamic State seized the area weeks earlier. Before Islamic State, the Tigris River dam was operated and controlled by around 1,200 Iraqi families. Just more than half have since returned, amid fears the almost two-mile long dam could be deliberately blown up to flood Mosul, some 30 miles downstream, and even Baghdad.
Built exclusively for Hussein in the early 1980s, the dam, according to a 2006 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report is particularly dangerous and “constructed on a very poor foundation,” and U.S. authorities subsequently spent tens of millions on interim fixes.
Much of the Kurdish population now view the United States of America as their only dependable ally in the ongoing war against the terrorist organization – and their desperation to be supplied with American equipment and weapons remains the eclipsing message.
“The airstrikes are good, but we need weapons,” stressed the official, dismissing the notion that U.S. ground troops are the ultimate answer. “We already have military on the ground, but we’re fighting an enemy that has acquired all the sophisticated U.S. weapons that went to the Iraqis and now ISIS has them. This isn’t a balanced fight.”
Due to internal conflict over oil exports between the semi-autonomous KRG and the Iraqi Central Government, the Kurds have not received the billions of dollars in military supplies since the 2003 U.S. invasion. The Kurdish region is legally entitled to 17.5 percent of the Baghdad budget, but for almost a year, it has not received its portion. Kurds do not control their air space and not allowed to purchase their own weapons and supplies without approval from the Central Government.

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Two soldiers stand guard at the entry to the Peshmerga base near the Kurdistan/Iraq border. (FoxNews.com)

“We tried to buy weapons from the outside, from places like Russia and America but the Foreign Ministry wouldn’t allow it,” the official explained. “The Iraqi government hasn’t even given us one single bullet.”
Earlier this fall, an agreement between the two Iraq-based governments was announced, stating that the KRG should send 250,000 barrels of oil per day to the central government and in turn receive its budgetary share as part of the Iraqi defense system, but according to one official very close to KRG President Masoud Barzani, funds have not been disbursed.
Western powers view the Kurds as a crucial safeguard against further Islamic State advances, but in order to take the offensive, the Peshmerga say they need more help.
“The United States really needs to think about the message it is sending,” added the KRG official. “If ISIS is an existential threat as the Iraqis claim; and if it really threatens U.S. interests abroad and its security at home then more must be done to arm the Peshmerga.”

NYPD commissioner warns officers not to make political statements at wake

Mourners of a New York Police Department officer killed with his partner in an ambush shooting plan to gather at a funeral home on Saturday for his wake.
Officer Wenjian Liu will be remembered at the Aievoli Funeral Home in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. His funeral is scheduled for Sunday with a Chinese ceremony led by Buddhist monks to be followed by a traditional police ceremony with eulogies led by a chaplain. Burial will follow at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Liu was killed Dec. 20 along with his partner, Officer Rafael Ramos, as they sat in their patrol car on a Brooklyn street. Their shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had made references online to the killings of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers and had vowed to put "wings on pigs."
Investigators say Brinsley was an emotionally disturbed loner who started off his rampage by shooting and wounding an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore. He later killed himself.
The police killings ramped up emotions in the already tense national debate over police conduct. Since Ramos and Liu were killed, police in New York have investigated at least 70 threats made against officers, and more than a dozen people have been arrested.
At Ramos' funeral, hundreds of officers turned their backs to TV monitors displaying Mayor Bill de Blasio's remarks to show their frustration for what police union officials have said is the mayor's role in creating an environment that allowed the killings.
In a message to be read to officers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said that act "stole the valor, honor, and attention that rightfully belonged to the memory of Detective Rafael Ramos's life and sacrifice."
"I issue no mandates, and I make no threats of discipline, but I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it," Bratton said.
Liu, 32, had been on the police force seven years and had gotten married two months before he died. His widow, Pei Xia Chen, gave a tearful statement days after the shooting.
Ramos was buried Dec. 27 amid tens of thousands of officers and mourners who went to pay their respects at a church in Queens. Liu's funeral arrangements were delayed so his relatives from China could get travel documents to the U.S. and fly to New York.
The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a charity created after Sept. 11, 2001, has said it will pay off the home mortgages of the two slain officers.

Libyan on trial for US embassy bombings dies

A member of Al Qaeda with ties to Usama Bin Laden died in New York Friday while awaiting trial to face charges of planning the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.
The Department of Justice confirmed  Abu Anas al-Libi's death citing "long-standing medical problems."
Al-Libi, 50, was captured by the U.S. Army's Delta Force in Tripoli, Libya on Oct 5, 2013 and brought to New York where he was due to stand trial. He had been wanted for more than a decade and there was a $5 million reward for his arrest. 
U.S. forces raided Libya in 2013 and seized al-Libi on the streets of the capital, Tripoli. He was brought back to America to stand trial in New York. 
His wife, Um Abdullah told the Associated Press he died of complication from liver surgery.
"I accuse the American government of kidnapping, mistreating, and killing an innocent man. He did nothing," Abullah said.
Al-Libi was once on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list for his alleged involvement in the bombings. He pleaded not guilty to any involvement.
In December 2013, Bernard Kleinman, an attorney for al-Libi, said his client was only accused of participating in visual and photographic surveillance of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in late 1993 and researching potential sites for other attacks with members of Al Qaeda in 1994.
Abdullah told the Associated Press she spoke with her husband Thursday stating that he was in bad condition.

DHS FAILING TO KEEP US SAFE? Department's role needs refocusing

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn released his final oversight report on the Department of Homeland Security, which has found major problems in the branch.
The report finds that Homeland Security is not successfully executing any of its five main missions.
“Ten years of oversight of the Department of Homeland Security finds that the Department still has a lot of work to do to strengthen our nation’s security,” Coburn explained.  “Congress needs to review the Department’s mission and programs and refocus DHS on national priorities where DHS has a lead responsibility.”
Homeland Security spent $50 billion over the past 11 years on counterterrorism programs, but the Department cannot demonstrate if the nation is more secure as a result.
Coburn also found that 700 miles of the nation’s southern border remain unsecured. The DHS is not effectively administering or enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, while only 3 in 100 illegal immigrants will ever face deportation.
The report also found that the DHS spends more than $700 million annually to lead the federal government’s efforts on cybersecurity, but struggles to protect itself, federal and civilian networks from the most serious cyberattacks.
The Department has spent $170 billion for natural disasters since 2002 because of an increased federal role in which the costs of small storms are declared “major disasters.”
Even with the grim findings, Coburn expressed optimism about the Department’s future if Congress acts swiftly to address the problems in the report.
“I am confident that Secretary Jeh Johnson is leading the Department in the right direction,” Coburn commented.  “One of the biggest challenges that Sec. Johnson and DHS face is Congress and its dysfunctional approach to setting priorities for the Department.  Congress needs to work with the Department to refocus its missions on national priorities and give Secretary Johnson the authority to lead and fix the Department.”
Coburn served his final day as senator. He thanked his fellow members of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

Obama Golf Cartoon

Senate wants more answers from feds about fake cell towers, other devices that collect smartphone data

The Senate Judiciary Committee wants more answers about law enforcement agencies across the country deploying surveillance technology, including trick cellphone towers, that gather cellphone data, according to a letter obtained Thursday by FoxNews.com
The bipartisan letter was sent to the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, following a recent FBI policy change regarding search warrants that committee leaders say raises questions about privacy protections and how the equipment was used.
Among the tools singled out in the letter is a Stingray, a device that pretends it is a cellphone tower and tricks cellphones into identifying some of their owners' account information.
In addition, the U.S. Marshal Service is deploying an airborne device -- called a “DRT box” or “dirtbox” -- from five metropolitan-area airports across the United States that also “mimic standard cell towers, forcing affected cell phones to reveal their approximate location and registration information,” the Dec. 23 letter states.
“It remains unclear how other agencies within the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security make use of cell-site simulators and what policies are in place to govern their use of that technology,” states the letter from Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman, and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, reported first by The Associated Press.
The letter also states: "The Judiciary Committee needs a broader understanding of the full range of law enforcement agencies that use this technology, the policies in place to protect the privacy interests of those whose information might be collected using these devices, and the legal process that DOJ and DHS entities seek prior to using them."
A Justice Department spokeswoman told the wire service that agency officials are reviewing the letter.
Law enforcement authorities have said the technology, which allows police to obtain cellphone information without having to ask for help from service providers, is useful for catching criminals, though civil liberties advocates have raised privacy concerns.
The senators’ letter says that FBI officials in recent months have told committee staffers that the agency recently changed its policy so that it now generally seeks a search warrant before using the cell-site technology but with certain broad exceptions -- such as cases that involve a fugitive, pose an imminent public safety danger or in which the technology is used in a public place where no expectation of privacy would exist.
The senators demanded answers about how the FBI and other law enforcement agencies protect the privacy of people whose cellphone information is collected, even when they're not targeted or suspected of any wrongdoing. The letter had a list of questions, including ones about how often the technology has been used and about how often law enforcement has requested a search warrant.
The FBI confirmed that officials had met with committee staff members and said it would respond to oversight questions but otherwise referred questions about the letter to the Justice Department.

New 2015 laws tackle wages and weed, pet tattoos and tiger selfies

Soon, more Americans will be able to legally light a joint. Workers across the country will see a higher minimum wage. And states will crack down on everything from pet tattoos to cramped hen cages to selfies with tigers. 
The new year will usher in thousands of new laws, covering these areas and much, much more. 
Grabbing the headlines lately have been the marijuana legalization measures approved on Election Day in Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia. 
Though marijuana is still considered illegal by the federal government, the two states and D.C. follow Colorado and Washington state in allowing it locally. 
But residents there should stick to champagne to celebrate New Year's -- the Alaska measure isn't expected to take effect until February, and the Oregon measure doesn't green-light possession until July 2015. And the Washington, D.C., measure already is getting caught in the congressional grinder, as lawmakers try and block implementation. 
On another front, a number of cities and roughly 20 states are raising their minimum wage next year. 
The highest is in Oakland, Calif., which raised its citywide wage to $12.25 beginning in March, setting an increase every January based on cost-of-living adjustments. Similarly, San Francisco passed its own incremental hike, starting with a raise to $11.05 on Jan. 1. 
Others expecting a wage increase in 2015 include workers in: Alaska ($8.75); Arkansas ($7.50); Nebraska ($8); and South Dakota ($8). 
States are tackling issues that go well beyond marijuana and the minimum wage. They include: 
Animal tattoos. In New York, a law signed Dec. 15 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo will make it a crime to pierce or tattoo animals. 
The only exception will be for markings done under a veterinarian's supervision for a medical reason or identification. But anyone thinking of getting Fido a "ma" tattoo ... should think again. Penalties for violations range up to 15 days in jail and up to a $250 fine. 
The law reportedly gained traction after the case of a woman trying to sell "gothic kittens" with piercings, as well as a New Yorker who tattooed his pit bull. The law takes effect in about four months. 
Hen cages. In California, a 2008 ballot initiative going into effect on Jan. 1 will restrict the confinement of egg-laying hens, breeding sows and veal calves. The new law will require that they have enough space to move around, and not be kept in cramped cages. 
It could be costly for farmers, but animal rights groups are hailing the changes. The Humane Society of the United States says the law goes further than any in the country when coupled with a law signed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that extends the space requirements for egg-laying hens to out-of-state suppliers. 
Driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Starting Thursday, California illegal immigrants will be able to apply for a state drivers' license under a 2013 law. Hundreds of thousands of applicants are expected. 
Bag ban. Starting in July of 2015, the first part of a controversial plastic bag ban is set to go into effect in California. 
In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB270. It would pull plastic bags out of checkout counters at large grocery stores and supermarkets such as Wal-Mart and Target in the summer of next year, and convenience stores and pharmacies in 2016. The law does not apply to bags used for fruits, vegetables or meats, or to shopping bags used at other retailers. 
However, business groups trying to overturn the law said Monday they've collected more than enough signatures to put their referendum on the November 2016 ballot. If the referendum qualifies, the nation's first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags will be suspended until voters weigh in, effectively buying plastic bag manufacturers more time. 
Fracking bans. In November, voters in Athens, Ohio; Denton, Texas; and California's Mendocino and San Benito counties passed measures banning fracking, a practice in which high-pressure liquid, typically water, is shot through a drill hole in the earth as a means of getting at oil or natural gas. An oil company, Citadel Exploration, which had planned to conduct oil exploration on private lands in San Benito, has already filed a $1.2 billion claim with the county saying that is how much the company will lose from the fracking ban. 
Data destruction. A Delaware law takes effect Jan. 1 requiring companies to scrub a host of customer information. It requires all "commercial entities" to take "all reasonable steps" to destroy consumers' personal identifying information that is "no longer to be retained by the commercial entity" by "shredding, erasing, or otherwise destroying or modifying" it -- "to make it entirely unreadable or indecipherable through any means." 
Laptop rules. In New York, the state later this week will make it illegal to throw away laptops and other electronics in the regular trash. Instead, consumers must begin recycling old computers, televisions and video game consoles. 
Tiger selfies. In New York in February, it becomes illegal to pose for a photo with a lion, tiger or other big cat. The measure, which specifically prohibits contact between members of the public and big cats at animal shows, passed after self-portraits with the animals started becoming more popular online, particularly with some young men on dating sites. 
'Yes means yes.' In California, a "yes means yes" standard for sex between college students takes effect on Thursday, requiring "an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity," meaning silence or a lack of resistance can no longer be deemed consent. 
Sweet-beverage tax. In November, voters in Berkeley, Calif. passed a one-cent tax on certain sugary drinks, including soda and other beverages such as Snapple and Gatorade. The tax, in effect Jan. 1, will be paid by distributors, not retailers, but it is unclear how or if the higher cost will be passed on to consumers. 
Pregnancy accommodation. As of Jan. 1, all employers with one or more workers in Illinois will be violating the civil rights of a pregnant employee if they do not make reasonable accommodations for that employee, or force them to take leave or fail to reinstate them to their position (or an equivalent position) after childbirth. 
'Right to try.' A "Right to Try" law was passed by Arizona's citizens who will now be given access to medications, medical devices and other treatments that have passed first clinical trials but have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Eligible patients would have to be terminally ill and have exhausted all other FDA-approved treatments.