Conservative Blogger
Monday, September 12, 2016
Dolphins players kneel during National Anthem, Seahawks lock arms
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| Jelani Jenkins, left, Arian Foster, Michael Thomas and Kenny Stills kneel during the National Anthem. |
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Seattle Seahawks players and coaches stand and link arms during the playing of the National Anthem.
(AP)
"I chose to get involved to see if I could create change, raise awareness. And I want to make it clear that there is no disrespect to the military or to police officers —I'm not about that. I love everyone," said Miami's Jelani Jenkins, one of the Dolphins to kneel. "I would like to keep moving forward in the right direction with everybody: equal rights, equal opportunity. From my position, it doesn't seem that it's happening. That's why I took a stand."
Peters' gesture was the only one visible throughout the early games Sunday, as the anthems took on more significance because of the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks.
"I come from a majority black community from Oakland, California ... so the struggle, I seen it," Peters said after the Chiefs beat San Diego 33-27 in overtime. "I still have some family in the struggle. All I'm saying is we want to educate those, the youth that's coming up."
The four Miami players — Arian Foster, Michael Thomas, Jenkins and Kenny Stills — registered their protest shortly before kickoff. The four players stood while President Obama's message played regarding the 15th anniversary of 9/11 before taking a knee. All four stood at the conclusion of the anthem.
"If it's about the knee that people are upset about, every Sunday people of faith take a knee to give thanks to their lord and savior, whatever faith or religion that they are," Foster said. "It's not about a knee, it's not about the (symbolism), it's about the message. They say it's not the time to do this, but when is the time?"
Several teams, including the Chiefs and Seahawks, saw their players link arms during the anthem. Peters, the 2015 defensive rookie of the year, was the last person in the Chiefs line and had his arm free to raise it.
"He spoke up about something he felt he needed to speak up about," Peters said last week. "I salute him for that."
Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall , a teammate of Kaepernick's in college at Nevada, took a knee during the anthem on Thursday night.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell weighed in on Kaepernick's protest last week as well, saying, "I don't necessarily agree with what he's doing."
Seattle's locker room was engaged in a lengthy discussion over the past few weeks about what type of message to send. The players enlisted coach Pete Carroll in the discussions almost from the start, and brought Dr. Harry Edwards to help direct the conversations.
"Gestures mean nothing without follow through. That's what Harry Edwards said and that's what I agree with," Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman said. "People get confused that you have to go out there and put on a show and make this gesture and make people aware of it, and we're more about action."
Wide receiver Doug Baldwin, who became a default spokesman for Seattle's actions, said the players are working to schedule a meeting with the mayor of Seattle and local law enforcement.
"We know that there has to be change and progress," Baldwin said. "Change is inevitable. Change will always happen. But you got to apply direction to change, and that's when it's progress. And so right now what we're doing as a team, we have a follow through."
Taped messages from Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were played at each stadium. Bush attended the Giants-Cowboys match in Arlington, Texas, while Vice President Joe Biden was in Philadelphia for Browns-Eagles.
Peters' gesture was also a tribute of sorts to U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who won the gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 200-meter race at the 1968 Olympics. Both then appeared on the medal stands with raised, black-gloved fists throughout the U.S. national anthem in what they called a "human rights salute."
And in the night game, New England's Martellus Bennett and Devin McCourty both held up their right arms. Teammate Danny Amendola was seen clutching the American flag unfurled on the field in Arizona.
The International Olympic Committee ordered Smith and Carlos expelled from the games because of the protest.
Rubio demands documents from Obama proving Iran money was not 'ransom'
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| Rubio: State Department should bar Clinton clearances |
“Each day brings new revelations about your administration’s efforts to deceive Congress and the American people regarding payments of billions of dollars to the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism,” Rubio wrote Saturday in a letter to President Obama. “The America people do not believe the story that your administration did not provide Iran an illicit and potentially illegal ransom payment.”
The administration in January announced an agreement between the U.S. and Iran to settle a failed, decades-old arms deal that included Washington returning to Tehran $400 million and an additional $1.3 billion in interest.
However, reports in early August revealed the initial $400 million was delivered on Jan. 17 -- the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners. And Republicans are calling it a ransom.
At least some of the money was in foreign currency, and a video originating on Iranian TV purports to show bundles of the cash on pallets.
The letter from Rubio -- a failed 2016 presidential candidate now in a tough race for a second Senate term -- came two days after administration officials told House Republicans that Iran wanted "immediate access" to the $1.7 billion paid by the United States in cash.
Rubio also wants to know why the administration didn’t issue a check, which he says is the required method when a transfer is inappropriate, according to another U.S. code.
“Iran has pocketed this money and continued to hold and take more American hostages,” Rubio also wrote. “It has likely used this foreign currency to fund its military including its ballistic missile programs and to support Iran's terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East.”
Though the administration has claimed the payment and the prisoner release were separate incidents, it recently acknowledged the cash was used as leverage until the Americans were allowed to leave Iran.
State and Justice officials at the hearing Thursday defended the payment and its cash delivery.
Christopher Backemeyer, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said Iran wanted immediate access to the money, but he said he wasn't aware whether Iran had asked for cash. He said it was his understanding that the money was going to "critical economic needs" in Iran.
Clinton health 'episode' could revive calls to release medical records
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Are Clinton's health issues a legitimate campaign issue? |
The candidate, after resting at her daughter Chelsea’s apartment, told reporters late Sunday morning she was “feeling great.” Her campaign said that she left the 9/11 commemoration ceremony after 90 minutes due to feeling “overheated.”
According to the campaign, she is “feeling much better.”
"She is fine," a senior campaign aide said.
But the campaign for weeks has been dealing with – and working to quell – speculation about the candidate’s health, including a 2012 concussion, and Sunday’s incident is sure to fuel that fire. One video appeared to show the candidate stumbling as she was helped into a van. A law enforcement source who witnessed the episode said she appeared to faint.
The campaign last year already released a summary of Clinton’s medical records and conditions.
2016 Election Headquarters
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics.Bardack concluded that Clinton was in “excellent physical condition and fit to serve.”
But the summary has not satisfied some skeptics, who have pointed not only to the concussion but her occasional coughing bouts on the campaign trail.
The letter falls short of steps taken by 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who invited reporters to review the full 1,173 pages of his medical records.
Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has made glancing references to his opponent’s health and “stamina,” on Aug. 28 tweeted that both candidates “should release detailed medical records.”
Clinton’s chief strategist Joel Benenson recently said the campaign has no plans to release more detailed records.
A campaign spokeswoman also blamed the health controversy on Roger Stone, a longtime conservative political operative who had a formal role as a Trump adviser until he left a year ago.
“Donald Trump is simply parroting lies based on fabricated documents promoted by Roger Stone and his right-wing allies," said campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri. "Hillary Clinton has released a detailed medical record showing her to be in excellent health plus her personal tax returns since 1977, while Trump has failed to provide the public with the most basic financial information disclosed by every major candidate in the last 40 years.”
“I think the questions being raised are legitimate given that it impacts who leads our nation," Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, said last month. "As a physician, you cannot help but to ask questions. But given that our information is limited, it would be wrong for any physician to diagnose someone without seeing them themselves.”
Orient said she has received both positive and negative responses to her column on the Association’s blog which asked whether Clinton is “medically unfit” to serve as president.
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| Dr. Lisa Bardack, an internist in Mount Kisco, N.Y. |
Clinton cancels West Coast visit to rest after health episode
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| Doctor: Clinton receiving treatment for pneumonia |
The Democratic presidential nominee fell on her way into her van and had to be helped by her security, according to witnesses and video of her leaving. A law enforcement source told Fox News that she “clearly (was) having some type of medical episode.” Clinton’s doctor revealed later that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.
Clinton had planned two days of fundraising and made plans to appear on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show.
Clinton’s campaign released a statement more than an hour after the incident saying the former Secretary of State “felt overheated,” and later Sunday issued another release blaming the episode on pneumonia and dehydration.
"Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies," Dr. Lisa R. Bardack said in the statement. "On Friday, during follow up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely."
But a witness told Fox News that Clinton stumbled off the curb, her "knees buckled" and she lost a shoe as she was helped into a van during her "unexpected early departure." The NYPD was sent to retrieve Clinton's shoe, according to NBC.
2016 Election Headquarters
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics."Everything was fine, everything was good before," said Gazda, who snapped several shots of Clinton before taking the video. "I take a lot of pictures of her. She looked very nice and everything, and I don’t know what happened to her."
After Clinton left the ceremony, the reporters following her on the campaign trail were prevented from leaving the media area for a period of time.
Clinton emerged from Chelsea Clinton's apartment just before noon and said she was "feeling great."
"It's a beautiful day in New York," Clinton yelled to press waiting across the street.
She bent down to take a photo with a young girl and said "thanks everybody" to a nearby crowd cheering her. Asked again about her health, Clinton said she was "great, feeling great" and then got into her van. A spokesperson said she was headed to her house in Chappaqua, where former President Bill Clinton, who did not attend the 9/11 ceremony, was waiting. She was examined by her doctor after arriving in Chappaqua.
"I am glad to learn that Secretary Clinton is already feeling better and I wish her a speedy recovery," said DNC Interim Chair Donna Brazile in a statement. "I look forward to seeing her back out on the campaign trail and continuing on the path to victory."
Asked about Clinton's early exit, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he didn't know anything about it. But Rep. Peter King told The Washington Post that during the ceremony it was Trump who informed King of Clinton's health issue.
“It was actually Trump who told me what was going on," King told a Washington Post reporter. "He leaned over and told me that 'Hillary wasn’t feeling well.' I said, 'Really?'"
Clinton was in New York for Sunday’s ceremony commemorating 15 years since the 9/11 terror attacks.
Clinton and Trump earlier greeted supporters as they entered the downtown Manhattan 9/11 memorial. Both had promised to suspend campaign activities to mark the 15th anniversary of the attacks.
Questions surrounding Clinton's health have emerged in recent weeks, and calls for the candidate to release her full medical records may intensify after Sunday's incident.
Clinton previously sustained a concussion in December 2012 after fainting, an episode her doctor attributed to a stomach virus and dehydration.
Clinton's doctor reported she is fully recovered from the concussion, which led to temporary double vision and discovery of a blood clot in a vein in the space between her brain and skull. Clinton also has experienced deep vein thrombosis, a clot usually in the leg, and takes the blood thinner Coumadin to prevent new clots.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
9/11 after 15 years: Those who were there remember
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| 15 years later, a solemn spot for reflection |
Ask an American where he or she was when the Towers fell, and you’ll most likely get a reply with no hesitation. For people who were part of one of America’s darkest days, the answers follow somber reflection. Words are chosen carefully, and the anguish of 15 years ago comes through in quiet and sometimes cracking voices. Their stories are of survival, heroism, loss and pain that remain a decade and a half on.
FoxNews.com talked to several who were there, and others familiar with the evil men who plotted the attack and live on to this day. Here are their stories:
The Governor
Gov. George Pataki was in his second of three terms when the biggest test of his career came. Fifteen years later, Pataki, now 71, said 9/11 feels “like it was yesterday.” But it is the heroism he witnessed, and not the horror, that has stayed with him.
“I will always remember that bright clear morning, the friends that I lost and the people not running away from the towers, but rushing toward them to help,” Pataki recalled. “And I'll always remember the people standing in line to give blood, waiting hoping for the injured and wounded who would never come that day.”
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Pataki believes the US must stand firm against those who would attack it.
(Associated Press)
“Whether it's Al Qaeda, ISIS or any other radical Islamic terrorist group, we must remain committed to denying them safe haven both on land and online,” he said. “We must not allow them a base of operations to train, recruit and organize attacks against Americans at home or abroad. “
*****
The Healers
Dr. Antonio Dajer, now 57 and director of New York-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital’s emergency department, recalls being in the restroom on the second-floor conference room windows of the hospital when every intern and resident looked out the window to see the first tower ignite.
“Respiratory stat to the emergency room!” came a voice over the intercom, as the charge nurse shouted that “an American Airlines plane hit the World Trade Center!”
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Dr. Antonio Dajer remembers triaging patients as they flooded into the emergency room, then it slowed to a trickle.
A half hour later, Dajer walked to City Hall Park, three blocks away.
“The smoke funneling up Broadway was black and endless,” he continued. “Discarded shoes were everywhere. A crust of papers and thick gray dust blanketed the park, the streets.”
He remembers a young man dying, his lungs slowly and inexorably giving out and a trembling resident having to tell the patient’s wife her husband is dead.
“She dropped to the ground,” Dajer observed. “And when the resident tried to help her up, she punched him with brutal force.”
John Episcopo, a 38-year-old New York-Presbyterian Emergency Medical Services Technician, went to breakfast that morning with two co-workers – Keith Fairben and Mario Santoro. Both would die on the fateful morning, killed by the rubble of a falling building as they tended the wounded.
Episcopo wasn’t scheduled to work, but had subbed for a co-worker and came close to losing his own life by the World Trade Center.
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John Episcopo was an EMT who treated patients on the scene. Two of his co-workers died that day.
With a broken wrist and cuts and bruises all over his body, Episcopo dragged himself back the hospital where he continued the grim and grueling work of treating broken strangers.
“We continued to work day and night in the days following,” Episcopo said. “All the while, mourning the loss of our colleagues.”
Dr. JoAnn Difede, director of the Program for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Studies at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, had just taken her son to his second day of pre-school when the first plane hit the North Tower. Her beeper immediately started going off – and didn’t stop. To this day, Difede is haunted by the faces of young victims and their families.
“I remember walking through the emergency room and it was completely empty,” she recalled. “There was medical staff all geared up waiting to receive survivors. And there just weren’t any.”
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Dr. JoAnn Difede at first wondered why the emergency room was empty, but soon it was full.
A few days later, Difede brought in renowned yoga expert Beryl Bender-Burch to teach breathing exercises to the many tired and terrified family members jamming the waiting rooms.
“They needed a respite,” she said. “But there was no changing the horror.”
*****
The Fire Commissioner
As head of the storied FDNY, Thomas Von Essen led a department through what would be both its finest and its darkest hour. Now 71, Von Essen had been appointed five years earlier by Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“I think about it, unwillingly, every day. It just pops into my head,” Von Essen said. “The activity of that day was so incomprehensible that you just go through it doing the best you can, trying to make sense out of it.”
One of the most haunting images for the Commissioner was that morning, watching Father Mychal Judge – the FDNY chaplain – standing in the lobby of the North Tower. Judge was one of 343 FDNY members to die that day.
“I was watching his lips moving and I guess he was praying and he watched the firefighters run up the stairs, really not knowing what they would find up there,” he said. “We say that he was the first person from the fire department to die that day. That will always be the folklore, him being the first one in heaven welcoming all the heroes that had fallen that day.”
In a 2002 memoir entitled “Strong Heart: Life and Death in the Fire Department of New York,” Von Essen would chronicle 9/11, as well as many other dark and dangerous days that preceded it. He kept no mementos from 9/11, but regularly visits the Ground Zero memorial site.
“It’s always painful,” he added. “But the memorial is spectacular – a national remembrance of a horrific event and it is well done and appreciated.”
*****
The Police Commissioner
Bernard Kerik had been running the NYPD for just over a year when the World Trade Center was attacked. By the end of the first exhausting day, his department would have lost 23 cops.
He watched from the street as workers trapped on the upper floors of the towers joined hands and jumped to their deaths. The images from that day, and the loss, pain and hard work that would follow has never left him.
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Kerik's life would take twists and turns following 9/11, but he remembers that day vividly.
That evening, Kerik met with the families of police officers and firefighters who were missing. He spoke to John Vigiano, a retired firefighter whose sons were, at that point, unaccounted for.
“His courage and strength was an inspiration for not only me, but everyone in that room,” he recalled.
It would later be learned that John Vigiano Jr. a New York City firefighter, and his younger brother, Joe, an NYPD detective, both perished in the World Trade Center.
Kerik would later serve as interim interior minister in Iraq under President George W. Bush, who nominated him to be the second Secretary of Homeland Security in late 2004. The nomination was rescinded after reports emerged that Kerik hired illegal immigrants in his house. Kerik would later serve time in a federal prison for charges that included tax fraud, and was released in May, 2013.
In 2014 Kerik published the book “From Jailer to Jailed: My Journey from Correction and Police Commissioner to Inmate.” He has since become an advocate of criminal justice reform and the need to avoid “over-criminalization” in the U.S prison system, as well as advocating for new strategies to “defeat radical Islamic terrorism.”
“The events of 9/11 taught me never to take life for granted,” he said. “That there is an enemy that we will be fighting for decades and that real leadership is the key to our success and survival.”
*****
The Major General
On Sept. 11, 2001, Maj. Gen. Larry Arnold was Commander of 1st Air Force and of the Continental U.S North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). During and after the attacks, it was the Vietnam veteran’s responsibility to organize, equip and command hundreds of fighter, tanker and AWACS aircraft to circumvent potential attacks.
“My memories of that morning remain well ingrained in my consciousness not only for the tragic events, loss of life and our Air Force response, but for the emotions my team of airmen and I felt as we helplessly tried to thwart additional attacks,” said Arnold, now 73.
According to Arnold, just as the attack on Pearl Harbor remained instilled in the minds of the “Greatest Generation,” which was inspired to fight and win World War II, “we need to unceasingly to remember the 9/11 attack.”
“Our enemy this time, Islamic extremist or Jihadist – the enemy has a name – is of a different sort as we all know and shouldn't forget,” he said. “They rely on terror and the mindlessly ruthless and indiscriminant killing of all people who they consider ‘infidels’ - non-Muslims and Muslims of a different sect equally.”
Prior to his retirement in 2002, Arnold was also the commander of all military aircraft for Operation Noble Eagle – the U.S. military response to Sept. 11. These days, he is a consultant in the defense industry and President of the Arnold Group, aiding and supporting numerous government agencies and defense industry leaders in various areas from aircraft sales and strategic planning to Army and Air Force Missile systems and corrosion protection programs.
“I just hope we never forget those who died on that fateful day and continue to have the resolve to defeat those who hate us and our way of life,” he said.
*****
The Survivors
It started as an ordinary Manhattan morning for businessman Edward Fine, now 59, who worked at Intercapital Planning, but when the towers were hit he was thrust into the international spotlight. He became known across the world as “The Dustman,” after a photo of him covered head-to-toe in dust walking through the debris circulated around the world, and appeared on the cover of Fortune magazine a few days later.
“I don’t have any particular feelings with regard to that photo, but it does serve as a constant reminder to me of that day… as if the day’s events were not enough of a reminder in and of themselves,” he said.
Fine noted that his memories of that day remain raw and real, but amid the chaos, he came across several people he now credits with saving his life.
“The woman who gave me the wet paper towel as we descended the stairs and which I later used to breathe through; the firefighters who were ascending the stairs as we were descending; the Catholic priest who put his hand on my shoulder and prayed for us as we lay on the street being covered by dust and debris,” he said. “Then there was the bus driver who took us uptown… those people all come to my mind.”
Today, Fine continues to work as a business consultant and views his mission in life to help narrow the income gap between the rich and poor. He and his son are developing the website www.Vc4all.com as “an opportunity for all Americans to invest in companies that up to now have usually been reserved for the ultra-wealthy and well-connected investors.”
“Since 9/11, I have watched Americans miss out on some of the best investment opportunities because they didn’t have enough money,” he said. “It has been my mission to help America since this tragedy, and I believe I have found the best way.”
Sept. 11 marked Rebecca Lazinger’s one-year anniversary at Morgan Stanley. Now 38, she remembers rushing excitedly through the revolving doors to be at her office on the 74th floor of World Trade 2 before 9 a.m.
“I didn’t make it up to my office,” she recalled. “There was that impact moment and it was the loudest thing I had ever heard in my life. And everything went silent, followed by chaos and confusion.”
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Rebecca Lazinger's first anniversary at investment bank Morgan Stanley was on the fateful day.
(Courtesy: Rebecca Lazinger)
“I still had a coffee in my hand,” she said. “Then I ran in the opposite direction, haphazardly through the courtyard. I wasn’t thinking. I just started running. I collapsed on the floor and people started running to get out of the building. Somebody pulled me off the floor and dragged me out the door. That was the same time that the second plane hit. Then it became running for your life.”
Lazinger would continue to work for Morgan Stanley for a couple of years following the tragedy, shuffling around to different offices attempting to get the company’s database back in order.
“The temporary office we had was right across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue and there were funerals every day for the longest time,” she said. “That music – the bagpipes. Still when I hear bagpipes, it just sends me into a weird place. Some particular smells and sights and sounds are alive. A garbage truck. The subway. It’s a live memory. I still have nightmares three times a week.”
Lazinger kept the thin, patterned Chinese slippers she got from a nearby deli after fleeing that morning. Last year, she gave them to her father.
“My grandparents were Holocaust survivors. He lived as the son of survivors,” she explained. “He is the common thread.”
New Jersey native Brian Branco was in his mid-thirties and owned his own small computer business on the 78th floor of the south tower on Sept. 11.
“I felt a little vibration, and thought something was happening above us,” he recalled. “The plan was to go downstairs, see what was going on, and go back up. That was the plan I had with another guy, Stephen. We left, and he said he forgot something in his office... He didn’t make it.”
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Branco still has his building pass - and his painful memories from 9/11.
(Courtesy: Brian Branco)
“I was a block away, walking up Church Street and to the left, there was a movie theater. As soon as I turned, I felt the hit,” he continued. “I felt pressure from it; I felt heat from it. The federal building I was by rippled like in a movie.”
Branco has kept several tokens from that ominous day – his building identification, ferry pass and a bank receipt –and has since gotten two 9/11 tattoos in honor of his friends who died. He still owns a small computer business, BNC Consulting, and does volunteer work – along with his wife and then eight-year-old daughter – at the museum.
“One thing I have learned is, don’t sweat the small stuff,” Branco said. “Enjoy every day because you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Appreciate your loved ones.”
*****
The Masterminds
He was once one of Usama bin Laden’s top deputies and is believed to have been the key mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. Years earlier, the U.S.-educated, plane-crazed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 52, was a wanted man by U.S intelligence officials due to outspoken efforts to plot attacks against Americans.
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Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is shown in this file photograph during his arrest on March 1, 2003. (Reuters Photo)
Mohammed remains at Gitmo awaiting trial for war crimes.
One of several players sometimes referred to as the “20th hijacker,” Yemen-born Ramzi Bin al-Shibh is alleged to have wired money and passed pertinent information between Al Qaeda and the hijackers. The now 44-year-old was slated to take part in the Sept. 11 operation, but was denied a U.S. entry visa. Shibh was captured on Sept. 11, 2002, and was held at a CIA “black site” in Morocco before being moved to Gitmo in 2006, where he remains. His trial has been delayed multiple times, and as of 2014 military psychiatrists were said to be determining if he was fit to take the stand.
Anna Nelson, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, declined to comment on individuals, but told FoxNews.com that the ICRC visits the detainees on regular basis – four routine visits annually, each lasting two to three weeks, plus ad-hoc visits as necessary.
“During the visits, we are able to meet with the detainees on an individual basis and in-private. Each individual is free to agree or decline to meet with us,” Nelson said. “We facilitate contact between the detainees and their relatives through written messages as well as phone calls and Skype-like video calls. Communications between the detainees and their relatives are monitored and censored by authorities. Our role is strictly to facilitate the contact.”
And while the Gitmo detention facility has repeatedly come under the scrutiny of defense lawyers, human rights groups and much of the mainstream media, retired Army Colonel Gordon Cucullu argues that the likes of Mohammed and Shibh – who are held at the ever secretive Camp 7 – are treated not only humanely but with an almost groveling “understanding of their culture.”
“’Infidel’ Americans were not allowed to touch the Koran, for example. By giving in to this we simply validated the concept that we are lesser people and not good enough to meet their standards,” he told FoxNews.com. “We went to extremes to furnish them halal food. Detainee meals were prepared with far more expensive and nutritious ingredients than the food provided to the Americans stationed at Gitmo and their meals varied more than the U.S menus.”
Cucullu also observed that at the outset, there were probably detainees transported there who didn’t need to be there and were sufficiently weeded out – but those remaining like Mohammed and Shibh – are all hardcore, committed terrorists.
“They will not change,” he said.
Also known as the “20th Hijacker,” French-born Zacarias Moussaoui, 48, is the only 9/11 suspected terrorist to have been tried in the United States. He took flying lessons at the same Oklahoma school hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi attended, but his odd behavior prompted his flight instructor to notify the FBI. Moussaoui was arrested a month before the 9/11 attacks for an immigration violation, and months later, a slew of other charges including conspiracy to commit terrorism and to use weapons of mass destructions were added.
Having pled guilty, Moussaoui is currently serving six life sentences without parole at the Federal ADX Supermax Prison in Florence, Colo. The facility is home to the male inmates characterized as the most dangerous and in need of the tightest security. Moussaoui, along with other high-risk inmates, is said to be locked in his cell for 23 hours a day – one hour spared for recreational activity in an outdoor enclosure while flanked by armed guards and donning handcuffs, stomach chains and leg irons.
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Moussaoui will spend the rest of his life in prison, confied for 23 hours to a cement cell.
However, each 7-by-12 foot concrete cell has an immovable desk, stool, toilet and shower and walls are in place to stop prisoners from even seeing other prisoners. Even contact with security personnel is severely limited, with meals delivered through small cavities in the door.
Inside Moussaoui’s cement box, just a slither of the sky can be seen from below.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Former Fox Host Greta Van Susteren Is Regretful She Didn't Believe Gretchen Carlson's Sexual Harassment Allegations
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| Greta Van Susteren |
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| Gretchen Carlson |
Greta Van Susteren is regretful that she didn't believe Gretchen Carlson's claim of sexual harassment against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.
Following her departure from the network on Tuesday, the longtime On the Record host no longer defends Ailes after he quit the network July 21 amid Carlson's sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against the former CEO.
"I read Geraldo's FB post in which he said he regretted not believing Gretchen Carlson's claim of sexual harassment. We all regret it – I made my regret self evident in my GretaWire posting about 3 weeks ago which ended with this: 'Gretchen, you go girl.' That said it all," Susteren, 62, penned in a Facebook post Friday.
"It is indeed true, when I read the complaint written by lawyers – I never spoke to Gretchen as she was long gone from Fox – I found it inconsistent with what was my experience and information at the Fox News Channel, admittedly working 200 miles from the 'scene of the crimes.' It was hidden from all of us," the post continued.
Though Susteren and Geraldo Rivera initially defended the Fox head and were skeptical of Carlson's claims – Rivera posted a lengthy apologetic note to Facebook – the two news personalities have each publicly shared their remorse for not believing her.
"But I have regrets beyond Geraldo's and beyond not believing a civil complaint written by lawyers," the 14-year Fox employee continued in her public post. "I regret that Roger Ailes was not supervised by those in a public corporation who had the duty to supervise him. This included his seniors, the CFO's of both Fox News Channel and 21CF (and its predecessor NewsCorp), the Board of Directors and what I assume this public corporation had, outside auditors. Checks written that were suspicious should have been spotted."
In early July, Susteren shared her support and defense of Ailes and cited Carlson's claims as those of a bitter employee.
"Of course, the first thing that occurred to me is that, unfortunately, we have a disgruntled employee, a colleague," she told PEOPLE.
"People come to me because I've been there so long," Susteren saif. "That's why this doesn't have any ring of truth to me. I would have heard it. People don't keep things silent."
On Tuesday, PEOPLE confirmed that former Fox News host Carlson reached a settlement with the network and is expected to receive $20 million.
Why Greta Van Susteren Quit Fox News
Fox News has faced some major changes in recent months, and the
latest is the surprise departure of longtime host Greta Van Susteren.
She anchored On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren for fourteen
years and became one of the most recognizable names on the network.
Viewers have gotten used to her coverage of current affairs, but it
turns out that she has a pretty solid reason for choosing to leave Fox
and On the Record. Van Susteren had this to say about her decision to move on in her career:
Yes, I have left the Fox News Channel. On Thursday night, I made my decision and informed Fox News of my decision that I was leaving Fox News Channel per my contract. Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years and I took advantage of the clause in my contract which allows me to leave now. The clause had a time limitation, meaning I could not wait.
It's hard to blame Greta Van Susteren for leaving a job if she no
longer felt at home in the environment. She's a high-profile media
personality who shouldn't have trouble finding a new outlet for her
career. If she didn't want to remain at Fox News
and doesn't necessarily need her job at Fox News, there was no reason
for her to stick around in an unhappy situation. The announcement that
she'd be leaving did feel somewhat abrupt, but it sounds like she was in
a time crunch to make the big call.
Greta Van Susteren may have had extra motivation to leave Fox News
thanks to recent events involving CEO Roger Ailes. Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit
against Ailes that was distinctly ugly and drew lines in the sand at
Fox News. Van Susteren was one of the Fox News personalities who sided
with Ailes. Rumor had it that she would consider leaving the network if Ailes got the boot. Ailes ultimately resigned,
so Fox News never had to deal with the extra controversy of firing him.
Still, it may have been a contributing factor to Van Susteren leaving.
If her unrest has been brewing for years, the ousting of Ailes
coinciding with the expiration of her contract could have been enough to
drive her away from the network.
The announcement from Greta Van Susteren came via Facebook
post, and she shared her decision without hinting at any deep
bitterness. She was gracious about her staff, her crew, and her viewers.
The only clue that she harbored any ill will toward Fox News was her
comment that the network no longer felt like her home. Van Susteren
didn't burn any bridges with inflammatory remarks, but she doesn't seem
like she regrets her decision.
Greta Van Susteren may be gone from the airwaves for a while before she finds a new home, so be sure to check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you will be able to catch on the small screen in the near future.
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