US-built Ebola treatment centers reportedly sit empty in Liberia

Several treatment centers built by U.S. troops and meant to receive Ebola patients are sitting empty or nearly empty in the West African country of Liberia, according to a published report. 
The Washington Post reports that the worst of the deadly outbreak appeared to have passed before the first treatment centers were even completed. A Liberian government official tells the Post that the centers were built "too late."
"If they had been built when we needed them, they wouldn't have been too much," the official, Moses Massaquoi, said. 
President Barack Obama dispatched 3,000 troops to West Africa as part of a $750 million plan to fight the spread of the Ebola virus. However, the Post reports that the response from the U.S. and the international community has far outstripped what was necessary. As an example, the Post cites one treatment center where only 46 patients have been admitted since it opened Nov. 18. In Liberia's capital, Monrovia, there are seven Ebola treatment centers. According to the Post, three of those will temporarily suspend operations, while a fourth will close completely. 
The sparsely populated centers are a positive sign that the worst of the outbreak may have passed. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that the outbreak has claimed over 8,400 lives, most of them in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. But for the week ending Jan. 11, WHO said Guinea reported its lowest weekly total of new Ebola cases since mid-August. Liberia had its lowest total since the first week of June and no confirmed new cases for the final two days of the week.
All schools in Guinea, which were closed due to the outbreak, are to reopen on Monday, while in Liberia, the schools are reopening "next month," the Liberian Embassy's Charges d'Affaires in Ghana, Musu Ruhle, told the Associated Press. 
The WHO says there are now enough beds to isolate and treat Ebola patients, but not all are in the hotspots where the disease is spreading fastest. The U.N. estimates that the number of scientists needed to track the outbreak must be tripled.
One place where the outbreak appears to be less contained is Sierra Leone, where at least 16 new cases were reported last week and schools will remain closed until further notice. 
U.N.'s Ebola chief, Dr. David Nabarro, cautioned Thursday that despite the gains "there are still numbers of new cases that are alarming, and there are hotspots that are emerging in new places that make me believe there is still quite a lot of the disease that we're not seeing."

Ted Cruz says 'Democrats will win again' if GOP picks moderate candidate in 2016

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, predicted late Sunday that Democrats would keep the White House in 2016 if Republicans selected a moderate nominee next year.
Speaking at the South Carolina Tea Party Conventions in Myrtle Beach, Cruz, himself a possible presidential candidate, referred disparagingly to political consultants as "Washington graybeards ... telling us about the mushy middle." Cruz has previously used the term when discussing former Massachusetts governor and 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who is widely rumored to be considering a third run for the highest office in the land.
"If we nominate another candidate in the mold of [1996 nominee] Bob Dole or [Arizona Senator and 2008 nominee] John McCain or Mitt Romney," Cruz said Sunday, "The same people who stayed home in 2008 and 2012 will stay home in 2016 and the Democrats will win again. There is a better way."
Cruz's comments echoed criticism of Romney made by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who visited two early primary states, New Hampshire and Nevada, over three days last week. 
"If we try the same thing again we might get the same result," Paul said. "So maybe we need to keep lookin'."
Romney says he has not formally decided whether to join the 2016 race. In a speech Friday at the Republican National Committee winter meeting in San Diego, he said only that he was "giving some serious consideration to the future." 
However, sources close to Romney have told Fox News that he has been been calling former aides, donors and supporters from his 2012 campaign -- as well as GOP leaders and insiders in the vital state of New Hampshire. One longtime adviser who has spoken to Romney in the last few days told Fox News it is "very likely" the 2012 Republican presidential nominee will announce a 2016 campaign for president in the next three to four weeks.
Another possible target of Cruz's remarks Sunday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is likely to join Romney in making a bid for the White House, according to Fred Malek, finance chairman for the Republican Governors Association. 
"They've taken this forward a lot faster and a lot further than I would have imagined," Malek told Fox News Tuesday. "And I don't think they would have done that unless they have a serious intent on moving ahead." Malek went on to say that he guessed there was an "80 percent chance" Romney would join the race.
Romney is scheduled to speak Monday in Indian Wells, Calif. at the kickoff of the 2015 "Desert Town Hall Speaker Series," which has drawn headliners ranging from former presidents George Bush and George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Senator Bill Bradley, and other luminaries.

NSA program reportedly helped US gather evidence against North Korea in Sony hack

A program implemented by the National Security Agency to help the U.S. and its allies track the computers and networks used by North Korean hackers was critical in gathering information that led Washington to conclude Pyongyang was behind last year's cyberattack on Sony Pictures.
The New York Times reported late Sunday that the NSA began placing malware in North Korean systems in 2010. Originally, the purpose of the surveillance was to gain insight into North Korea's nuclear program, but the focus shifted after a large cyberattack on South Korean banks and media companies in 2013. 
In the case of the Sony Pictures hack, which knocked nearly the entire company's system offline, investigators believe that the North had stolen the "credentials" of a Sony systems administrator, which enabled them to spend two months familiarizing themselves with Sony's network and plotting how to destroy files, computers, and systems. The attacks themselves, which Sony first reported to the FBI Nov. 24, are widely considered to be in retaliation for the release of "The Interview," a comedy that features an assassination attempt against Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Sony hack.
Skeptics have cast doubt on the official story that North Korea was behind the Sony hack, with many suggesting a disgruntled current or former Sony employee was responsible. Earlier this month, FBI director James Comey said U.S. investigators were able to trace emails and Internet posts sent by the Guardians of Peace, the group behind the attack, and link them to North Korea.
Comey said most of the time, the group sent emails threatening Sony employees and made various other statements online using proxy servers to disguise where the messages were coming from. But on occasion, he said, they connected "directly," enabling investigators to "see that the IP addresses that were being used to post and to send the emails were coming from IPs that were exclusively used by the North Koreans."
A senior military official told The Times that the evidence against North Korea that was presented to President Barack Obama was so compelling that he "had no doubt" the Communist regime was responsible. The White House has imposed new economic sanctions against North Korea as a response to the cyberattack. 
The Times report quotes a North Korean defector as saying that country's military first displayed interest in hacking in 1994, when it sent 15 people to a Chinese military academy to learn the practice. Two years later, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang's primary intelligence service, created Bureau 121, a hacking unit that has a substantial representation in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang. 
South Korea's military claims that the North has a staff of 6,000 hackers dedicated to disrupting the South's military and government. That estimate is more than double an earlier projection made by that country's Defense Ministry.

Hillary Cartoon

Clinton clearing primary field for potential 2016 run could leave her vulnerable

Mrs Hillary Benghazi Clinton

Hillary Clinton appears to have scared away much of the competition should she seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. But her early and practically all-encompassing effort also presents the potential liability that she will sail through the primary season largely untested for the bare-knuckled general election. 
And it could deny Democrats the chance to define themselves to Americans, strategists say.
“It's not good for a party because the Democratic Party needs a real debate about what it's for, who it's for, what it's about and where we'll take the country,” says Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic congressman, presidential candidate and a Fox News contributor.
The 67-year-old Clinton plans to make an official announcement in early 2015, leaving some doubt about whether she will indeed run. But her frontrunner status is unquestionable.
She has roughly 62 percent of the likely vote and leads all potential Democratic challengers by a numbing 49.5 percentage points.
And those numbers combined with an ambitious public-speaking schedule and the fundraising and cheerleading group Ready for Hillary are making it difficult for potential primary challengers to raise money.
In addition, Clinton’s most formidable, likely primary challenger now, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, insists she’s not running, leaving the Democratic field so wide open that 73-year-old Bernie Sanders, an independent and junior senator from Vermont, is now fourth behind Clinton, Warren and Vice President Biden, according an averaging of polls by RealClearPolitics.com  
“I think you miss the chance to vet ideals,” says Richard Fowler, a Democrat and host of the progressive-leaning “Richard Fowler Talk Show.” “I think that's what elections are about. Elections are about ideals and how ideals … would then turn into policy that will then turn into how we govern.”
Clinton, a former first lady, secretary of State and New York senator, hasn’t been in a campaign-style debate since 2008, when she lost the Democratic presidential primary to President Obama, then a freshman Illinois senator.
Still, a relatively easy 2016 primary, if Clinton indeed runs, would likely save her from the pummeling she took last time.
“You’re likeable enough, Hillary,” Obama said on stage to Clinton, who was the early Democratic frontrunner in that race, too.
Among the tough questions she will likely face, and needs to answer well, include what she knew about security at the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed in a 2012 terror attack.
Clinton, who is worthy millions of dollars, also will likely have to make a strong case that she will champion the country’s poor and working class, after saying on her 2014 book tour: “We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt.”
“Hillary Clinton, I think, has proven that when you're off the trail for a while, you come back rusty,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “She certainly came back rusty on that book tour.”

Despite horrors of Paris, Obama continues to free terror suspects from Guantanamo

While 40 world leaders marched in Paris to show solidarity against terrorist attacks, Obama not only skipped the event, he remains determined to free as many Al Qaeda, Taliban and affiliated jihadists from Guantanamo as possible.
Just this week he released five Yemenis, four to Oman and one to Estonia, despite their front-line service against U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. At least one is suspected of serving as a bodyguard to Usama bin Laden.
Like everyone else, Mr. Obama is aware that the Paris massacres aren’t the first mass casualty attacks carried out by extremists determined to kill Christians, Jews and any Muslims who stand in their way of power. 

Ex-Gitmo men have become leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Ansar Al-Sharia in Libya. One became a suicide bomber in Iraq. They’ve killed Americans and our allies in each place, most notably in Benghazi.  Between 20 and 30 have reportedly joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Madrid, London, Istanbul, Mumbai, Nairobi and Bali — let alone Washington, D.C., and New York on 9/11 — have been rocked for over more than a decade by large-scale terror attacks carried out by those shouting “Allah Akhbar,” Arabic for “God is Great.” Canada, Australia, Belgium, The Netherlands and Bulgaria have suffered through smaller attacks.
And in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, deadly terrorist attacks on civilian and military targets happen practically every week.
Mr. Obama also knows that nearly one in three former Gitmo detainees are confirmed or suspected of returning to terrorism. 
Ex-Gitmo men have become leaders of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Ansar Al-Sharia in Libya. One became a suicide bomber in Iraq. They’ve killed Americans and our allies in each place, most notably in Benghazi.  Between 20 and 30 have reportedly joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Yet Mr. Obama continues to free them. 
Mr. Obama believes the fight against Al Qaeda and affiliates is law enforcement action, not a war. Incredibly, he can’t even bring himself to say that we’re defending ourselves against “radical Islam.”
He doesn’t believe enemy combatants should be held without a trial, and he has pushed to extend full constitutional protections for foreign terror suspects on American soil, even those trying to kill countless Americans. 
To his left-leaning political base, Guantanamo represents the Bush administration’s so-called “overreach.” America’s enemies, both foreign and domestic, typically portray detainees as the victims — practically modern versions of Che Guevara, simply fighting the power. 
As Mr. Obama continues to release detainees in an effort to go around Congress and shutter Gitmo by emptying it, Americans ought to know more about who left in 2014.
Five were top Taliban leaders exchanged for a reputed Army deserter; four have suicide operations training; two explicitly said they’ll return to terrorism. Ten were at Tora Bora, Bin Laden’s last stand in Afghanistan. One was arrested for possession of Stinger missiles and uranium “which detainee’s recovered documents indicate was intended for use in a nuclear device,” according to his file. 
Considering how dangerous these men are, why would any American official release them?
They say Guantanamo hurts America’s reputation. Well, if/when another country loses 3,000 people in one single terrorist attack, we’ll see how they react.
They say we must live by our values and the rule of law. Yet during wartime, America has always kept enemy combatants locked up. And isn’t protecting the public an important value?
They say Guantanamo is too expensive per detainee, citing wildly inflated costs as those troops guarding them would just be deployed elsewhere. Even so, how expensive was 9/11? What is the price tag on the lives of Americans killed? With the State Department just issuing a $5 million bounty on an ex-Gitmo Saudi who is now a top Al Qaeda leader, we know exactly how costly that is.
And finally, they say the detainees should be brought to the U.S. mainland, and that no one has ever escaped Supermax. Well, they don’t have to escape if left-wing activist judges let them out. Which is Mr. Obama’s little secret on Gitmo.  
Americans should be outraged at how Mr. Obama is placing his far-left ideology and an ill-advised campaign promise over our lives. 
Congress should act to stop this madness before more Americans are killed.

Chaffetz removes Issa portrait and signals new direction for high-profile, hard hitting Oversight panel

Utah GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the new House Oversight Committee chairman, is explaining his decision to remove the portrait of preceding GOP chairman Rep. Darrell Issa from the panel’s hearing room.
Chaffetz said Thursday the move was not personal but suggested it was indeed ideological.
"I really felt strongly that in that committee room we should be inspired by those we serve, not inspired by past committee chairmen," he said.
Chaffetz has indicated that he will focus more on government reform and committee reports than political scandal and seek fewer headlines.
“Issa didn’t do many reports,” he recently told Roll Call newspaper. He did “big press releases.”
While Issa surrounded his investigations and hearings with political drama and theatrics, his approach brought and sustained national attention to such issues as the Benghazi scandal as well as Fast & Furious, the federal government’s botched gun-tracking program.
Chaffetz will replace the Issa portrait, hung just last month, with photos of American history and life that the committee oversees, including the U.S. postal service, coal mining and civil rights.
Issa’s portrait was reportedly removed with those of other former committee chairmen and will be relocated to a meeting room.
Chaffetz said he first informed Issa and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee’s top Democrat, of his decision.
He said Issa told him: “You're the new chairman. You can do it as you want.' He was actually very nice about it."
Chaffetz is also replacing more than half of the committee’s 60-member staff for the 114^th Congress, a move, along with removing the portraits, that has reportedly upset some Issa loyalists.

Obama to call for new tax increases in State of the Union address

 

King Unimpeachable.

President Obama plans to call for billions in tax increases on top earners – including a hike in investment tax rates -- in order to fund new tax credits and other measures the White House claims will help the middle class.
The president's proposals, which also include eliminating a tax break on inheritances, are likely to be cheered by the Democratic Party's liberal base when they are announced Tuesday night in his State of the Union address. However, the tax increases are all but certain to be non-starters with the new Republican majority on Capitol Hill.
The president's address -- his first to a Republican-led Congress -- will call for $320 billion in tax increases over 10 years. Aside from funding new tax credits including a tax credit for working families and expanding the child care tax credit, the White House says that money would go to funding measures to make college more afforable and accessible, including the president’s recently announced plan to make community college free for many students.   
The centerpiece of the president's tax proposal is an increase in the capital gains and dividends rate on couples making more than $500,000 per year to 28 percent, the same level as under President Ronald Reagan. The top capital gains rate has already been raised from 15 percent to 23.8 percent during Obama's presidency.
Obama also wants to close what the administration is calling the "Trust Fund Loophole," a change that would require estates to pay capital gains taxes on securities at the time they're inherited. Officials said the overwhelming impact of the change would be on the top 1 percent of income earners.
While GOP leaders have said they share Obama's desire to reform the nation's complicated tax code, the party has opposed many of the proposals the president will outline Tuesday. For example, most Republicans want to lower or eliminate the capital gains tax and similarly want to end taxes on estates, not expand them.
Administration officials pointed to a third proposal from the president as one they hope Republicans would support: a fee on the roughly 100 U.S. financial firms with assets of more than $50 billion. Officials said the fee is similar to a proposal from former Republican Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, who led the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Camp's plan, however, was part of a larger proposal to lower the overall corporate income tax rate.
The Obama administration claims that raising the capital gains rate, ending the inheritance loophole and tacking a fee on financial firms would generate $320 billion in revenue over a decade. Obama wants to put the bulk of that money into a series of measures aimed at helping middle-class Americans. Among them:
--A credit of up to $500 for families in which both spouses work. The administration says 24 million couples would benefit from the proposal, which would apply to families with annual income up to $210,000.
--Expanding the child care tax credit to up to $3,000 per child under age 5. The administration says the proposal would help more than 5 million families with the cost of child care.
--Overhauling the education tax system by consolidating six provisions into two, a move that could cut taxes for 8.5 million families. Republicans have been open to the idea of consolidating education tax breaks.
The president's address will also include calls for lawmakers to increase paid leave for workers and enact broad cybersecurity rules.
Obama's call for higher taxes on the wealthy is likely to further antagonize Republicans who are already angry with the president over his vows to veto several of the party's priorities, including legislation to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, make changes to the president's signature health care legislation and block his executive actions on immigration.
Republicans say Obama's veto threats are a sign of a president who didn't get the message from voters who relegated his party to minority status in the November election. New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the president still has a chance to change his tone.
"Tuesday can be a new day," McConnell said. "This can be the moment the president pivots to a positive posture. This can be a day when he promotes serious realistic reforms that focus on economic growth and don't just spend more money we don't have. We're eager for him to do so."
Beyond rolling out new proposals, Obama's address is also expected to focus on making the case to the public that recent economic gains represent a real and lasting recovery. The approach reflects the White House's belief that it has been too cautious in promoting economic gains out of fear of looking tone deaf to the continued struggles of many Americans.
White House advisers have suggested that their restraint hindered Democrats in the November elections and helped Republicans take full control of Congress for the first time in eight years. But with hiring up and unemployment down, the president has been more assertive about the improving state of the economy in the new year. Tuesday's prime-time address will be his most high-profile platform for making that case.
"America's resurgence is real, and we're better positioned than any country on Earth to succeed in the 21st century," Obama said Wednesday in Iowa, one of several trips he has made this month to preview the speech.
Obama isn't expected to make any major foreign policy announcements. He is likely to urge lawmakers to stop the pursuit of new penalties against Iran while the U.S. and others are in the midst of nuclear negotiations with Tehran. In a news conference Friday, Obama said legislation threatening additional penalties could upend the delicate diplomacy.
"Congress should be aware that if this diplomatic solution fails, then the risks and likelihood that this ends up being at some point a military confrontation is heightened -- and Congress will have to own that as well," he said.
The president also is expected to cite his recent decision to normalize relations with Cuba, as well as defend the effectiveness of U.S. efforts to stop Russia's provocations in Ukraine and conduct air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.