Wake held for Rafael Ramos, 1 of 2 NYPD officers gunned down in attack

Hundreds of uniformed officers joined the wife and two sons of a New York policeman who was gunned down in broad daylight at a wake Friday.
The tribute to Officer Rafael Ramos took place at a Queens church were friends and colleagues spoke highly of him. Ramos was seen as the embodiment of selflessness and the kind of officer the New York Police Department wants its officers to project.
"He was studying to be a pastor. He had Bible study books in his locker, which is rare for a police officer, but that goes to show you the type of man he was," NYPD Capt. Sergio Centa said before entering Christ Tabernacle Church.
Ramos was dressed in his full uniform in an open casket. His funeral Saturday is expected to be attended by Vice President Biden and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Police union officials have criticized de Blasio, saying he contributed to a climate of mistrust toward police amid protests over the deaths of black men at the hands of white officers. Union officials have said the mayor's response, including his mention of how he often fears for the safety of his biracial son in his interactions with police, helped set the stage for the killings.
But de Blasio, who has praised officers for their service both before and amid the protests, has stood solidly behind the department since the Dec. 20 slayings of Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu as they sat in their patrol car on a Brooklyn street. The shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, later killed himself.
De Blasio temporarily called for a halt to demonstrations against police officers in the wake of grand juries in New York and Missouri declining to indict white police officers in killings of unarmed black men. He denounced as "divisive" a demonstration that took place anyway and on Thursday tweeted a thank you to police for arresting a man accused of threatening to kill officers. Still, on Friday an airplane hauling a banner insulting the mayor organized by a former police officer-turned-activist flew above New York City.
Pastor Ralph Castillo said Ramos was a beloved member of the church.
"Whether he was helping a mom with a carriage or bringing someone to their seats, he did it with so much love and so much vigor and so much joy," Castillo said.ork and Missouri declining to indict white officers in deaths of black men.
Mourners gathered in the streets to hear the eulogies. Ramos was a long-standing member of the church and served as an usher.
"We feel sorry for the family, and nobody deserves to die like this," said fellow churchgoer Hilda Kiefer as she waited to enter the wake.
His compassion was in contrast to the emotionally disturbed loner who killed the officers.
Investigators say Brinsley started his rampage by shooting and wounding an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore. He also posted online threats to police and made references to high-profile cases of unarmed black men killed by white officers.
Liu’s funeral arrangements have not been announced.
The life The Silver Shield Foundation, a charity founded by the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, has set aside $40,000 for the education of Ramos' sons. Bowdoin College said it will cover Ramos' older son's education costs as long as he remains a student there.
The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a charity created after 9/11, says it will pay off the home mortgages of the two slain officers.
Meanwhile, Centa said he's instructed officers at the 84th Precinct where Ramos and Liu worked to be vigilant on patrol.
"Things we took for granted maybe a week or two ago we can't take for granted anymore," Centa said. "You may be in your car and see someone walking up the street toward you. You have to be prepared. You never know. It's a scary time for the police department right now" long Brooklyn resident joined the NYPD in 2012 after working as a school security officer.

Coal Cartoon

Banner year for Biden? Top political gaffes of 2014

Any election year can pretty much guarantee a steady stream of political gaffes, and 2014 was no different. Democrats and Republicans alike had their share of foot-in-mouth moments -- as did, you guessed it, Vice President Biden. Here are a few gems that stood out this year.

• 1. Biden's swipe at US allies

  

  AP
  
  Perhaps the most significant stumble of the year -- considering the diplomatic damage it did -- came not during the campaign but a policy speech by Biden in October.
  While speaking at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the veep hit a diplomatic nerve after he sounded off on U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State, suggesting they contributed to the instability in Syria.
  "The Turks ... the Saudis, the Emiratis, etc. What were they doing?" he said. "They were so determined to take down [Syrian President Bashar] Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war." Biden added: "They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad — except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra and Al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.”
  Some analysts suggested there was a hard dose of truth in Biden's remarks. But they caused diplomatic problems at a very sensitive time -- just days earlier, the U.S. and some of those nations had launched a coordinated airstrike campaign against the Islamic State in Syria.
  Biden quickly apologized to the U.S. allies.
  Incidentally, the remark wasn't the only Bidenism that day. During the same event, Biden also replied to a question from a student who identified himself as the vice president of the student body. "Isn't it a b-tch?" Biden responded. "Excuse me ... the vice president thing."

• 2. Grimes and the 'sanctity of the ballot box'

  

  AP
  
  Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes tried for months to distance herself from President Obama -- but really went the extra mile during a cringe-worthy interview with a local newspaper.
  During an October sit-down with the Louisville Courier-Journal editorial board, Grimes three times refused to answer whether she voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. Instead, she replied, "I respect the sanctity of the ballot box." Her attempts to duck the question landed her in the media spotlight, and not in a good way. She continued to get hammered for the dodge until Election Day, when she lost to Republican Mitch McConnell. 

• 3. No place like home?

  

  AP
  
  Republican Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts was faced with the biggest challenge of his political career this year. In a race full of unexpected twists and turns, Roberts ended up facing independent candidate Greg Orman after his Democratic challenger dropped out. In the end, he won.
  But his campaign for months was shadowed by a telling gaffe from a radio interview over the summer. In the interview, Roberts said he goes back to Kansas "every time I get an opponent -- I mean, every time I get a chance, I’m home.”
  At the time, the gaffe fed into critics' narrative of Roberts as an absentee senator, one too close to Washington and out of touch with his state. 

• 4. 'A farmer from Iowa who never went to law school'

  

  AP
  
  While speaking at a fundraiser earlier this year, Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, was caught on tape dissing the state's Republican senator, Chuck Grassley -- and in one fell swoop, Iowa's farmers as a whole.
  Braley, a trial lawyer by training, appealed to the attendees, "if you help me win this race, you may have someone with your background, your experience, your voice." Braley, referring to Grassley, said the alternative is: "you might have a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law."
  Not exactly the kind of thing you want to say in Iowa.
  After the tape was made public, Braley apologized to Grassley and to anyone he may have offended. He lost the election to Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst.

• 5. Biden: 'I mean, these Shylocks'

  

  AP
  
  Biden had another doozy while speaking at an event in Washington, D.C., in September.
  Recalling how when his son was serving in Iraq, troops spoke about the tough housing market back in the U.S., he said: "People would come up to him and talk about what was happening to them at home in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans ... I mean, these Shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas."
  Shylocks is considered an offensive term for Jews by some groups. Biden later apologized for the remarks.

Republicans prepare for battle with unions in 2015, after midterm gains

Republicans in statehouses across the country are plotting a tough new campaign to check the power of labor unions and chip away at their political influence. 
The GOP lawmakers, buoyed by sweeping midterm victories at the state level, are weighing so-called "right-to-work" bills in several capitals once new legislative sessions start in January. The measures, already in place in two-dozen states, generally prohibit unions from forcing workers in the private sector to join and pay dues. 
"The accumulated gains by Republicans in state legislatures will certainly increase pressure on, and within, the GOP caucuses to expand right-to-work laws," Louis Jacobson, state politics columnist for Governing magazine, told FoxNews.com. 
Wisconsin and Ohio are considered among the mostly likely to back the legislation, as Republicans control both chambers of those legislatures and the governorships -- though those governors seem lukewarm to the idea. Colorado, Missouri, New Hampshire and New Mexico also could see battles over union power next year. 
Once again, Wisconsin is expected to be at the forefront of the union drama. 
Republican state Rep. Chris Kapenga plans to propose a right-to-work bill for private-sector workers. And state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, the Senate majority leader, claims his chamber will act quickly to pass such legislation. Gov. Scott Walker, though, repeatedly has suggested he doesn't want the legislature to tackle the issue right now. 
"As he has said previously, Gov. Walker's focus is on growing Wisconsin's economy and creating jobs," spokeswoman Laurel Patrick recently said. "Anything that distracts from that is not a priority for him." 
The stance might seem unusual for Walker. 
In 2011, he pushed a law through the legislature that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public-sector workers and included right-to-work language for those workers. Walker's move -- prompting weeks of massive protests and a failed recall effort -- raised his national profile to the point that he's considering a run for president. 
But with a 2016 decision looming, he likely wants to avoid another potentially extended and perilous state-level fight, Marquette Law School professor Paul Secunda said. 
Kapenga told FoxNews.com that he and others are working on the union legislation but declined to speculate on what Walker might be thinking. 
"I don't want to put words in his mouth," he said. "My job is to lay out a compelling case. But I plan to sit down with him." 
Meanwhile, big labor is gearing up for a battle. 
"We'll fight this every step of the way," said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. The private-sector union also is reportedly planning similar efforts in other states. 
Twenty-four states already have right-to-work laws, including Michigan and Indiana. 
Supporters say the laws give workers more freedom since they aren't required to join unions or have dues deducted and argue such laws help attract businesses. 
Opponents -- including Democrats and the labor unions that often support Democratic candidates -- argue the laws are bad for workers, hurt the economy and are designed to weaken union power and political clout. 
Both sides likely would agree the battle would impact a relatively small and dwindling percentage of workers. 
Roughly just 11.3 percent of private- and public-sector workers were members of unions last year, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures. The number is down from 20.1 percent in 1983 and a record high of nearly 35 percent in 1954. 
In Ohio, right-to-work legislation died without a vote this year and failed in a 2011 referendum that was backed by GOP Gov. John Kasich. 
The issue is expected to resurface in 2015. But Kasich, who won reelection this fall, has not said whether he would sign such legislation. 
He told a Gannett newspaper editorial board in September that companies appear willing to come to Ohio despite no right-to-work laws. 
However, political observers suggest Kasich, who during his first term presided over an improving state economy, didn't want to jeopardize that success or his reelection bid by alienating pro-union voters and others. 
Jacobson said that while GOP state lawmakers may move toward pressuring the unions, "in 'purple' states, the governors may feel pressure to quietly downplay such efforts, especially if they have aspirations for national office." 
In New Mexico, Democrats have control of the state Senate. But in November, Republicans won the House majority, which could give them their best opportunity in decades to pass such a bill. 
"This time could be the time we get it through both houses," Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, a Republican, said just days after the Nov. 4 election. 
GOP Gov. Susana Martinez appears to support right-to-work legislation. But she did not make the legislation a big part of her successful re-election campaign, and whether she would sign such a bill remains unclear. 
In Missouri, the measure narrowly failed last year. But Republicans this fall added to their two-thirds-plus majority in both legislative chambers, which means they would be able to override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. 
In New Hampshire -- where a right-to-work bill died earlier this year -- a Democrat kept the governor's seat, but Republicans won control of the state House and maintained control of the Senate. 
Republicans also passed such a bill in 2011 when they controlled both chambers, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat.

'The Interview' release marked by capacity crowds

Hundreds of theaters made special arrangements for the highly-talked about comedy depicting actors James Franco and Seth Rogen assassinating the North Korean dictator to be shown in its theaters Christmas Day.
Tt turned out to be a mega hit.
Sony Pictures received a lot of backlash for initially calling off the release of the controversial film, “The Interview,” but the turnaround made the movie available on digital platforms and in more than 300 theaters on Christmas making it a special event for families around the nation.
"We are taking a stand for freedom," said theater manager Lee Peterson of the Cinema Village East in Manhattan, where most of Thursday's seven screenings had sold out by early afternoon. "We want to show the world that Americans will not be told what we can or cannot watch. Personally, I am not afraid."
At Atlanta's Plaza Theater, a sell-out crowd Thursday hailed the film's release, washing down popcorn with beer and cocktails and uniting for a boisterous sing-along of "God Bless America" before the opening credits.
"This is way more fun than it would have been," said Jim Kelley of Atlanta, who waited outside with his daughter, Shannon. The elder Kelley added, with mocking sarcasm, "This is almost dangerous, like we're living life on the edge."
Theater security was light as the movie industry took the threat of a 9/11-style attack more seriously than the government. Homeland Security shot down and credible threats in a statement last week.
Meanwhile, Darrell Foxworth, a special agent for the FBI in San Diego, said Wednesday the agency was sharing information with independent movie theater owners showing "The Interview" out of "an abundance of caution" and to educate them about cyber threats and what help the FBI can offer.
Kim Song, a North Korean diplomat to the United Nations, condemned the release Wednesday, calling the movie an "unpardonable mockery of our sovereignty and dignity of our supreme leader." But Kim said North Korea will likely limit its response to condemnation, with no "physical reaction."
Decisions to show the movie through the Internet could open up companies to hacking. Xbox and PlayStation's online gaming services were down Thursday afternoon but the cause was unclear. Meanwhile, YouTube and other Google products were not having any disruptions. A Microsoft spokesman confirmed the Xbox outage but declined further comment. Sony PlayStation representatives did not immediately respond to inquiries.
In Little Rock, members of an Arkansas family who say they otherwise would have never seen "The Interview" were among the first patrons at the Riverdale 10 theater. Kay Trice and her husband drove an hour from Stuttgart, Arkansas, to see the movie with their daughter and appreciated "the freedom to see it."
"It should be shown in this country and somebody in North Korea should not have the right to scare us out of seeing this," Trice said.
The threats and controversy ultimately did not stop moviegoers from seeing the movie. However, some attendants cautioned movie buffs about the politics of the movie.
"No one should go into expecting it to be a serious commentary on politics," 34-year-old Derek Karpel said. "But it's fun. People should go."

Merry Christmas

Christmas and fathers: Four lessons we can learn from Joseph

Mary, the mother of Jesus, features prominently in our Christmas celebrations. Christmas carols, greeting cards and nativity reenactments all celebrate the important role she played in the birth of the Messiah. But what about Joseph? What does the Christmas story say about the role of fathers?
The Gospel of Matthew, written in the second half of the first century to a predominantly Jewish audience, places Joseph at the center of the birth of Christ. Complimentary to the Gospel of Luke where most of the activity centers on Mary, Matthew reports that it is Joseph that is instructed by an angel in a dream not to call off his impending marriage to Mary. Joseph is pictured as a decisive leader, protector and provider for his family in this Gospel.
The birth narratives of Jesus in Matthew, not only highlights the importance of family as the building block of a stable society, but also communicates the importance of fathers in the raising of children. With Joseph as our example, four lessons for fathers can be taken from this Christmas story.

Being a father is a matter of the heart. Joseph is a great role model for those fathers that have chosen to raise non-biological children as their own. Fathers create homes for children by enlarging their hearts and providing a safe and nurturing environment for them.

First, to be a father is not just a biological description. Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus, but as instructed by the angel took Mary as his wife and provided a home for Jesus. Being a father is a matter of the heart. Joseph is a great role model for those fathers that have chosen to raise non-biological children as their own. Fathers create homes for children by enlarging their hearts and providing a safe and nurturing environment for them.
Second, fathers model good values to their children. Matthew calls Joseph a just man. This is in sharp contrast to the wicked Herod in the same Gospel, who kills numerous boys in his narcissistic rage as he attempts to remove the pending threat of the birth of the King of the Jews. We are inundated with so many painful recollections of fathers that did not match the expectations of their children. 
Good fathers embody the moral and hopeful ideals of their children. They model the way.
Third, fathers do all in their power to protect their family. Joseph, warned in a dream about the murderous plans of Herod, moves his family to the safety of Egypt. This selfless act of Joseph illustrates what good fathers do best – they place the interest of their families above their own.
Lastly, fathers provide a future for their children. Once again, Matthew records that Joseph in returning from Egypt scanned the environment and decided to move Jesus and Mary to Galilee, far from the watchful eye of Archelaus, the ruler that succeeded Herod. Good fathers recognize that fathering does not end when children turn of age. Fathers consider the future of their children beyond their own mortality and work to provide a prosperous and successful future for them.
Perhaps the time has come to reconsider the role of Joseph in our celebration of Christmas. May we rediscover not only his good example, but the stabilizing and transformative effect that good fathers have on children, families and societies.

Never mind that indictment: Rep’s tenure defined by vulgar balcony threat

It's natural to distill great works of literature and cinema into single scenes. 
"Where's Papa going with that axe?" wrote E.B. White at the very beginning of "Charlotte's Web." The line is so simple. Yet the innocence of the question cuts to the bare conflict of the spider-pig saga, and foreshadows the morality play. 
It's masterful. 
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," penned Charles Dickens in launching "A Tale of Two Cities." Everyone knows the quotation even if they haven't read the book. 
Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is reduced to the famous shower episode. Jack Nicholson defines "The Shining" when he hacks his way through a door and shouts "Here's Johnny!" Who can forget Rocky Balboa bounding up the 72 steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art? 
Leitmotifs are not just the stuff of books and film. In fact, they serve as quintessential markers in political scandals. They illustrate the politician in question, their transgression and his or her ignominy. 
Such is the case with Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y. He pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to a single charge of tax evasion. People may not be familiar with the particulars of the congressman's 20-count, federal indictment which accused him of everything from mail fraud to lying under oath while operating a now-defunct restaurant called "Healthilicious." All of that is in the fine print. 
Instead, Grimm's scandal is encapsulated in a brutish exchange with NY1 congressional reporter Michael Scotto following President Obama's State of the Union address in January. After Obama's speech, Scotto interviewed Grimm on-camera from the third-floor Rotunda in the Cannon House Office. Near the end of the interview, Scotto follows up about the federal probe involving Grimm. The congressman is having none of it. In fact, Scotto doesn't even get the question out. Scotto only offers up the preface "since we haven't had a chance to talk about." 
Grimm cuts him off. 
"I'm not talking about anything that's off-topic. This is only about the president," fumes Grimm before storming away. 
A somewhat bewildered Scotto then turns to the camera. He tells viewers that Grimm "doesn't want to talk about some of the allegations concerning his campaign finances. We wanted to get him on-camera about that but as you saw, he refused to talk about that." 
Scotto then tosses back to his colleagues in the studio in New York. But that's not the end of it. Grimm returns to the camera frame and blusters about tossing of another kind. 
A former undercover FBI agent and Marine, Grimm stands around 5'8". But he's built powerfully with broad shoulders and thick arms. Grimm towers over the reedy Scotto, backing the reporter out of the picture. 
"Let me be clear to you. You ever do that to me again and I'll throw you off this f---ing balcony," warns Grimm. 
"It's a valid question," Scotto protests. 
"You're not man enough. I'll break you in half. I'll break you in half. Like a boy," Grimm threatens. 
And so goes the Grimm narrative. He may be a convicted felon. He could face anywhere from one to three years in a federal prison. He may be a tax cheat. He may not hold his congressional seat. In fact, the line of questioning Scotto hoped to pursue touched on the congressman's ethics challenges. Yet the entire episode is concentrated into Grimm's hectoring of Scotto and the consequences of being chucked off the mezzanine. 
Narrative: Michael Grimm and the congressional balcony. 
This is how people track political scandals. 
Former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., is serving the longest-sentence ever meted out to a lawmaker (13 years) for accepting bribes on behalf of a tech company and currying favor with African leaders. When FBI agents raided the congressman's home in 2005, they unearthed $90,000 in cash stuffed inside boxes of Boca Burgers and Pillsbury Pie Crust in Jefferson's freezer. 
Narrative: Cold, hard cash. 
A spokesman for former South Carolina governor and current Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., made headlines when his boss disappeared for six days in 2009. The flak explained that the governor was away, hiking the Appalachian Trail. Turns out he wasn't. The married Sanford had traveled to Argentina and was conducting an affair with Maria Belen Chapur. Sanford and his wife Jenny split. The now-congressman later engaged Chapur but broke it off in September. 
Narrative: "Hiking the Appalachian Trail" is now a euphemism in American politics. 
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., found himself in hot water when he sexted inappropriate pictures to women. Weiner later resigned and tried to run for mayor of New York. At first, Weiner denied the photos were of him. In fact the New York Democrat told reporters he could not "say with certitude" that the photos depicted him. Later during the mayor's race, it was found Weiner sent additional photos to a woman while using the handle "Carlos Danger." 
Narrative: No one will ever use the word "certitude" again. And everyone chortles at the vainglorious sobriquet, reminiscent of "Jonny Quest." 
In 2007, police at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport arrested then-Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, for soliciting a cop during an encounter in the restroom. Police say Craig tapped his foot and inched closer to the foot of an undercover officer while sitting in a restroom stall. The arrest report stated that Craig told officers he possessed what they termed "a wide stance." 
Narrative: Bathroom humor about "wide stances." 
Some scandals foist labels onto lawmakers who get into trouble. Reporters dubbed former Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., the "Cocaine Congressman" after officers picked him up in a sting where he purchased coke outside a Washington, D.C., restaurant. A few months later, pundits deemed Rep. Vance McAllister, R-La., the "Kissing Congressman" after a security video showed him making out with an aide. 
Narrative: Alliterative titles capture scandals with unparalleled efficiency. 
Former Rep. Eric Massa, D-N.Y., faced allegations of sexual harassment from male congressional staffers in 2009. During an appearance on Fox News, Massa contended that he not only groped an aide, but "tickled him until he couldn't breathe." Massa resigned after 14 months in office. 
Narrative: The phrase "tickle fight" entered the vernacular. 
And then there are some political scandals that barely even qualify as scandals. 
In 2011, then-Rep. Chris Lee, R-N.Y., who was married, sent shirtless pictures to a woman on Craigslist. Lee claimed he was a divorced lobbyist. The woman handed over the photos to Gawker. Lee wasn't accused of doing anything illegal. Just something odd which wasn't even lewd. The story broke on a February afternoon. Lee resigned his seat by 5:30 p.m. the same day and buzzed out of Washington. 
Narrative: None evolved. The only narrative was Lee's breakneck departure from Congress. 
The tales go on and on. They may reflect how sports aficionados condense major events into simple narratives. Try the phrase "wide right" on a Buffalo Bills fan sometime. A routine 1983 contest between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees is immortalized as the "Pine Tar Incident." You can strike up a conversation with any reputable Cincinnati Reds or Boston Red Sox partisan by simply uttering the phrase "Game Six." And the mere mention of "Steve Bartman" is sure to boil the blood of any Chicago Cubs loyalist. 
This is how we classify and scrub political scandals, too. Balcony. Cocaine Congressman. Carlos Danger. Tickle fights. It's a form of short-hand. A sorting system  which political devotees deploy to stay current. 
That's an important tool. Because everyone knows there's another political scandal lurking around the corner.

US military equipment being detoured for possible battle vs. ISIS

The U.S. military has been stockpiling huge quantities of gear in Kuwait in preparation for shipping it across the border into Iraq for possible use in a coordinated offensive against the terrorist group Islamic State, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The gear is being housed near a busy commercial port, which is now the place where roughly 3,100 vehicles -- mostly ambush-protected vehicles known as MRAPs – are parked, in addition to electronic equipment and other supplies, the magazine reported, citing defense officials.
The gear, which is primarily from the U.S. Army, will be repaired and assessed for use as planners decide what the United States and its allies will need to defeat Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

“I don’t want to disclose any timelines.”- Lt. Gen. James Terry

“From June to December, we’ve worked a lot on moving items into Kuwait,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Rowayne “Wayne” Schatz, the director of operations and plans for U.S. Transportation Command, told U.S. News. “The Army is holding the gear there, and it has room to hold it, as the mission fleshes out.”
The U.S. military reportedly is planning a massive spring offensive to help Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take back territory from Islamic State. But Lt. Gen. James Terry said, “I don’t want to disclose any timelines.”
The original plan, which included destroying, selling or giving away as much as $7 billion worth of equipment in Afghanistan to aid the war effort there, was scrapped as the rise of Islamic State -- also known as ISIL or by “Daesh,” its Arabic acronym -- prompted the military to stash some of that equipment back toward Iraq.
More than 1.1 billion pounds of equipment has been turned into scrap materials, U.S. News reported, citing documents the magazine was given by the Defense Logistics Agency.
Some of the excess equipment, known as “white goods” – like power tools, air conditioners and tractors – is sold in yard sales that have brought in roughly $2 million to date.
As many as 140,000 people and 333,000 tons of cargo shipments that have included thousands of vehicles and 20-foot shipping containers were moved so far this year.

Protesters rally for second night after shooting near Ferguson

BERKELEY, Mo. –  Demonstrators took to the streets for a second night after a white police officer in Berkeley, Missouri, killed a black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him.
Dozens of protesters held a vigil late Wednesday at the gas station in the St. Louis suburb where Antonio Martin was shot, and they briefly blocked traffic on Interstate 170 during a march before returning to the station. Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall told KMOV-TV that six to eight people were arrested.
Later, about 75 people staged a peaceful protest early Christmas morning outside of a nearby church, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Police in riot gear were present.
The actions were calmer than a night before, when a crowd of about 300 people gathered at the gas station, throwing rocks and bricks in a scene reminiscent of the sometimes-violent protests that followed the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson.
Unlike in the death of Brown, who was unarmed and whose shooting was not captured on video, Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said Wednesday that surveillance footage appeared to show Martin pulling a gun on the unidentified 34-year-old officer who questioned him and another man about a theft at a convenience store.
Hoskins urged calm, saying, "You couldn't even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York," a reference to the chokehold death of Eric Garner, another black man whose death was caused by a white police officer.
Hoskins, who is black, also noted that unlike in Ferguson -- where a mostly white police force serves a mostly black community -- more than half of the officers in his city of 9,000 are black, including top command staff.
State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat who has been critical of how police handled the Brown case, also said the Martin shooting was far different than Brown's, noting that Martin pointed a weapon at the officer.
"That officer not only has an obligation to protect the community, but he also has a responsibility to protect himself," said the senator, who is black. "Because of the video, it is more than apparent that his life was in jeopardy."
But Taurean Russell, co-founder of Hands Up United, asked if police had any reason to question Martin in the first place. Mistrust of police remains high among blacks, many of whom are weary of harassment, said Russell, who is black.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar did not provide more details Wednesday about the theft Martin was being asked about. He said Martin pulled a loaded 9mm handgun and the officer fired three shots while stumbling backward. One hit Martin, who didn't fire his own gun. He died at the scene.
"I don't know why the guy didn't get a shot off, whether his gun jammed or he couldn't get the safety off," said attorney Brian Millikan, who is representing the officer. He said that the officer was lucky to be alive and certain he had no choice but to use lethal force.
Police throughout the country have been on alert since two New York officers were gunned down in an ambush last weekend by a man who had made threatening posts online about killing police. He later killed himself.
St. Louis County police and the city of Berkeley are investigating the shooting of Martin, which Belmar called a tragedy for both Martin's family and the officer, who has been on the force for six years.
"He will carry the weight of this for the rest of his life, certainly for the rest of his career," Belmar said of the officer. "There are no winners here."
The officer wasn't wearing his body camera, and his cruiser's dashboard camera was not activated because the car's emergency lights were not on, Belmar said.
Police released surveillance video clips from three different angles. The men can be seen leaving the store as a patrol car drives up. The officer gets out and speaks with them.
About 90 seconds later, one appears to raise his arm, though it's difficult to see what he's holding because they were several feet from the camera. Belmar said it was a 9mm handgun with one round in the chamber and five more in the magazine.
Police were searching Wednesday for the other man, who ran away.
Belmar said Martin had a criminal record that included three assault charges, plus charges of armed robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.
Phone messages left for his parents were not returned. His mother, Toni Martin-Green, told the Post-Dispatch that Antonio was the oldest of four children.
"He's like any other kid who had dreams or hopes," she said. "We loved being around him. He'd push a smile out of you."
His was the third fatal shooting of a young black man by a white police officer in the St. Louis area since Brown was killed by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. Kajieme Powell, 25, was killed Aug. 19 after approaching St. Louis officers with a knife. Vonderrit Myers, 18, was fatally shot on Oct. 8 after allegedly shooting at a St. Louis officer.
Each killing has led to protests, as did a grand jury's decision last month not to charge Wilson in Brown's death.

Emergency, Call the Mayor Cartoon

US government offering $5M reward for Al Qaeda leader freed from Gitmo

Yet Obama Keeps Letting Them Go!

The Obama administration is scrambling to track down an Al Qaeda terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay years ago, offering a $5 million reward for information on him and placing him on a global terrorist list. 
Ibrahim al-Rubaysh was originally released in 2006 by the George W. Bush administration and put into a Saudi Arabian "rehabilitation" program. However, al-Rubaysh returned to the battlefield and now serves as a top leader with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- one of the most dangerous Al Qaeda affiliates. 
The case underscores the continued risks in transferring detainees from the controversial prison camp -- another four were released over the weekend to Afghanistan. 
The Pentagon, though, insists that it continues to take precautions before releasing prisoners. 
Lt. Col. Myles Caggins, Defense Department spokesman for detainee policy, said more than 90 percent of detainees transferred under the Obama administration "have resumed quiet lives in various countries." 
Al-Rubaysh, he said, was held at Guantanamo from 2002 and transferred in 2006. 
"Since 2009, the Defense Department and five government departments and agencies conduct thorough security and intelligence reviews prior to transferring Guantanamo detainees," Caggins said. 
Recent alerts from the State Department revealed how al-Rubaysh has reestablished himself in militant circles since his release. 
A briefing posting on the department's Rewards for Justice website offers up to $5 million for information that "brings justice" to the former detainee. It says he has served as a senior "sharia official" with AQAP since 2013 and as such, "provides the justification for attacks conducted by AQAP." He also is involved in planning attacks, the posting says. 
A statement released last week by the department putting him on a list of "Specially Designated Global Terrorists" offered more details about his activities. The department said al-Rubaysh has made public statements, including this past August, "where he called on Muslims to wage war against the United States." 
Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch first reported on the reward offer for the former Gitmo inmate. 
The group criticized the "laughable Saudi rehab program, which started under Bush and continued under Obama." 
Judicial Watch wrote: "It turns out that al-Rubaysh is the poster child for the Saudi rehab's failures. He's a dangerous Al Qaeda operative based in Yemen and now, years after freeing him, the United States wants him captured." 
Detainee transfers have continued at a steady clip, to countries all over the world, since the Bush administration. A total of 23 detainees have been released this year, and more of the 132 detainees left at Guantanamo are expected to be transferred in the coming months. 
GOP lawmakers have raised security concerns, warning that some could return to the battlefield and endanger U.S. troops serving overseas. But the administration says the camp itself undermines national security and should still be shuttered.

Parting Shot: Outgoing Arizona Gov. Brewer calls Obama a ‘failed president’

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, stepping down after six years in office where she was a perpetual thorn in the side of the Obama administration, is leaving with a parting shot -- calling President Obama a "failed president." 
"He's been a very big disappointment to me," Brewer told Fox News in an interview. "I think he has done things that certainly we would never have expected any president to do -- by executive order and because he says so." 
Brewer has spent the last few years locked in legal battles with the Obama administration and others, largely over provisions in her state's strict immigration bill, SB1070. 
Multiple times, the federal courts have rejected provisions in the bill as unconstitutional. Even this week, just days before leaving office, a federal court rejected Brewer's effort to deny driver's licenses to young undocumented immigrants known as "dreamers." 
Brewer said her biggest disappointment during her tenure was not getting the Arizona-Mexico border secured -- though she tried with SB1070, which would have made it a crime for immigrants to be in Arizona without the proper papers, before that too was struck down. 
Brewer, in the interview, rejected the criticism of those who have called her a racist for supporting the bill. 
"Those of us born and raised in the southwest are not racists," she insisted. "Those people are our neighbors. We go to church with us. Their children go to school. They marry into our families. This has nothing to do with racism. The bottom line is the rule of law and what it is doing to our country." 
As Brewer and her allies struggle to preserve the state's strict immigration measures, Obama is charging ahead with his own immigration policies, via executive action, to suspend deportations and give work permits to potentially millions of illegal immigrants. 
Brewer is not letting up on her criticism of the president. 
The governor made headlines in January 2012, when cameras caught her wagging a finger in the president's face on an airport tarmac. 
Does she regret it? 
"No, not really," she said. "He was not very nice to me that day." 
According to Brewer, the president had objected to her portrayal of him as dismissive and patronizing in her book, "Scorpions for Breakfast." 
"He is very thin-skinned. He was very concerned about how I portrayed him in my book," she said. "It was a truth-telling book and we need our borders secure, and he walked away from me." 
At the time, Obama downplayed the exchange, saying: "I think it's always good publicity for a Republican if they're in an argument with me. ... I think this is a classic example of things getting blown out of proportion." 
Brewer isn't a typical governor. She did not attend college and worked as an apartment building superintendent, pumping toilets and drains to put her husband through school. In 1982, she was elected as a state representative. Later, she moved to the state Senate and then Arizona secretary of state before taking the governorship when Janet Napolitano left to become Obama's secretary of homeland security. 
As for her future, Brewer is a proven fundraiser and a good draw on the speakers' circuit. It's likely some 2016 presidential candidates will seek her support, allowing her to continue her push for states' rights and laws limiting illegal immigration.

St. Louis County police officer kills man who pulled gun, authorities say

DEVELOPING: Police in St. Louis County, Mo. say a police officer in the town of Berkeley shot and killed a man who pointed a handgun at him late Tuesday. 
County police spokesman Sgt. Brian Schellman says a Berkeley police officer was conducting a routine business check at a gas station around 11:15 p.m. Tuesday when he saw two men and approached them.
Schellman says one of the men pulled a handgun and pointed it at the officer. The officer fired several shots, striking and fatally wounding the man. Schellman says that the second person fled and that the deceased man's handgun has been recovered.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that a group of around 60 people had gathered at the site of the shooting. The paper said that the crowd included local ministers and people who have been involved with protests surrounding the Michael Brown grand jury decision. Berkeley is about two miles from Ferguson, where a white police officer shot and killed Brown, who was black, in August. 
The St. Louis region saw unrest after Brown's killing, and protests were renewed last month when a grand jury chose not to indict Wilson
The Post-Dispatch reported that officers made at least three arrests after protesters confronted them. The paper also reported that explosive flashes were set off. There were no immediate reports of any other injuries.

Protesters flood New York City streets despite mayor's call for moratorium

Mayor Bill de Blasioand and ex-lesbian Wife Chirlane McCray.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of New York City Tuesday night, defying a call by Mayor Bill de Blasio for a moratorium on demonstrations until two NYPD officers killed Saturday could be laid to rest. 
The New York Post reported that over a thousand activists marched through one of midtown Manhattan's most prominent shopping districts two nights before Christmas. The march began at 5th and 59th Street and headed south to 53rd Street before turning north. Marchers told the paper they planned to end with a protest at a precinct in East Harlem. 
Some of the activists turned their fury on de Blasio, who was elected mayor last year on a platform of reforming the city's police force, including ending the controversial so-called "stop and frisk" tactic.
"The mayor says stop that, we say [expletive] that!" yelled activists, while jumping in place.
"We're protesting tonight, because the mayor specifically said not to," 25-year-old Tarik Grand, of Brooklyn told the Post. "They asked for a moment of silence for the cops, but not for [Eric] Garner."
Garner died this past July after apparently being placed in a chokehold by NYPD officers on State Island during a confrontation over his selling of so-called "loosies," or untaxed cigarettes. A grand jury's decision to not indict the officer has sparked ongoing protests. 
The tension surrounding the nationwide debate over police tactics and conduct, as well as recent high profile shootings of unarmed black men, was heightened by Saturday's murder of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn. The killer, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had previously shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend at her home outside Baltimore, then made threatening posts online, including a vow to put "wings on pigs". After shooting the officers, Brinsley ran into a subway station and committed suicide.
De Blasio, who called for a pause in the protests Monday, faces a widening rift with members a grieving police force who accuse him of creating a climate of mistrust that contributed to the killings of the officers. The mayor's request was summarily rejected by activist groups, one of which called it an attempt to "chill the expression of free speech rights."
New York Police Commissioner William Bratton, speaking Tuesday in Rhode Island, said it was "unfortunate" that some protests continued despite the mayor's plea.
Many of Tuesday's marchers directed inflammatory chants toward police officers, such as "How do you spell murderers? N-Y-P-D!" Another chant went "NYPD, KKK, how many kids did you kill today?"
"Personally, I feel it was horrible what happened to the police officers," Rutgers University student Frangy Pozo (see photo below) told the Post. "We’re not saying we're against them. [But] just because they died shouldn’t slow us down."
Also Tuesday, city landmarks including the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree dimmed their lights from 9 p.m. to 9:05 p.m. Tuesday to honor the slain officers.
The mayor and his wife quietly visited the site of the shooting on Tuesday morning, spending several minutes there. De Blasio folded his hands before him and stood with his head bowed. His wife placed flowers among dozens of tributes.
Later, de Blasio observed a moment of silence at 2:47 p.m., the time the officers were shot.

 Frangy Pozo

Jeb 2016 Cartoon

Hey, ill-tempered atheist, hands off the baby Jesus, step away from the manger

My atheist readers should prepare to have their egg nog curdled because I’m about to reveal something that’s politically incorrect.
I believe that Jesus is the reason for the season and that makes me about as politically incorrect as they come – especially among our nation’s ill-tempered atheists.
I made that revelation in my upcoming Fox News Radio special, “The Todd Starnes All-American Christmas” set to air on Christmas Eve. 

I believe that Jesus is the reason for the season and that makes me about as politically incorrect as they come – especially among our nation’s ill-tempered atheists.

I’ve often wondered why folks like the Freedom From Religion Foundation get their Christmas stockings in a twist at the mere mention of the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Maybe all they got for Christmas one year was a package of underwear and a can of Aunt Edna’s fruit cake?
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What’s even more bizarre is how they get so worked up over something they don’t even believe is real. I’m no psychologist – but I’m sure there’s a clinical term for such a condition.
Nevertheless, the atheists have sworn some sort of oath to push Christmas celebrations underground. “Away with the Manger” seems to be their battle cry.
Their modus operandi has traditionally been to target small towns and bully City Hall and the public school system. They mail nasty letters and threaten them with lawsuits.
Sarah Palin talked about the assault on Christmas during my upcoming Fox Radio Christmas special.  
“There are crazy things going on in society,” she said. “They are trying to take Christ out of Christmas.”
And unfortunately, many Americans are letting the atheists do just that.
“Today unfortunately, they feel they have to be so politically correct – that the joy of Christmas is diminishing,” she said.
Gov. Palin is correct. Many of communities have thrown in the towel. The excuses vary from town to town – but most folks worry about spending tax dollars on lengthy court battles. So instead of standing up for their constitutional rights, they shove the Baby Jesus into storage and take down their “Merry Christmas” signs.
The atheists have been allowed to wage their yuletide warfare for the most part without so much as a fight. But that’s not the case this year. This year, the town folks are fighting back and they are ready to deck somebody’s halls and jingle somebody’s bells.
One of my new heroes is Terry Calhoun. He’s the mayor of Rainbow City, Alabama. The FFRF sent him a terse letter demanding that the town remove its Nativity. 
Mayor Calhoun told the Wisconsin atheists to go back to where they came from.
“As long as I am mayor, I’m going to do what I think is right and I’m not moving that manger scene,” he told television station KTRK.
The FFRF also tried to bully a fire station in Utica, New York. It was a strategic error.
The firefighters posted a holiday sign outside Fire Station 4 declaring “Happy Birthday Jesus. We Love You.”
An FFRF lawyer fired off a letter complaining about out it’s “bad policy” for a government agency to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Syracuse.com reported the FFRF fretted that the message excluded – among other people – Muslims. 
Well, there’s a good reason for that. We aren’t celebrating the birthday of Mohammed on December 25.
Fire Chief Russell Brooks decided to stand his ground. He told television station WKTV that the firefighters erected the sign after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
“9/11 brought a lot of the guys closer to God, and they just wanted to show their faith in Jesus,” Brooks said. “They had no idea a controversy would arise.”
The FFRF bunch nearly had a win in Piedmont, Alabama after they demanded the town drop the “Keep Christ in Christmas” theme for the annual holiday parade.
The town complied – but with a slight caveat. They allowed all the parade entrants to post the theme on their floats and trucks and tractors. On the night of the parade, virtually every parade float was promoting the reason for the season.
The FFRF should know better than to mess with folks in Alabama. They don’t take too kindly to out-of-town atheists trying to stir up trouble.
So let not your heart be troubled, my friends. The atheists are on the losing side of this battle.
Sarah Palin told me during our Christmas special that it’s not too late to return to the true meaning of Christmas.
“We can get that back and work together to put the joy back into Christmas – by putting Christ back into Christmas,” she said.
So let me reaffirm what I shared with our audience in the “Todd Starnes All-American Christmas” – Jesus is the reason for the season.  
And that, my friends, is what Christmas is all about.

GOP report: Top IRS official considered admitting targeting before 2012 election -- but didn’t

A top IRS official considered going public with the agency’s targeting of conservative groups at a hearing just months before the 2012 presidential election but ultimately decided against revealing the bombshell news, according to a new report from a GOP-led House committee.
Then-Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller wrote in an email in June 2012, about a month before a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, that he was weighing whether to testify to “put a stake” in the “c4” issue -- apparently a reference to allegations about politics playing a role in the agency’s denial of tax-exempt, 501(c)(4) status to conservative-leaning groups.
“I am beginning to wonder whether I should do [the hearing] and affirmatively use it to put a stake in politics and c4,” Miller told his chief of staff, Nikole Flax, in a June 2012 email obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Miller ultimately testified at the July 25 hearing but never revealed his knowledge of the misconduct.
“Because he did not, he did a great disservice to the American taxpayers,” the House oversight committee report states.
The detail is one of many findings and allegations in the 226-page Republican-authored report, obtained by Fox News in advance of its release on Tuesday. The report highlights numerous examples of what House Republicans say is agency officials misleading congressional investigators and trying to slow their investigations.
Miller testified before Congress on at least six occasions as deputy commissioner and later as acting commissioner, from May 2012 until May 2013, when he was forced to resign.
During a final hearing, Miller apologized for the agency’s “poor service” but maintained the targeting was not motivated by politics.
The report states: “Though Miller was never asked as directly as [Commissioner Doug] Shulman about the targeting … Miller likewise never told Congress about the IRS misconduct. Miller’s multiple missed opportunities to tell Congress about the targeting continued the IRS’s pattern of failing to inform Congress.”
Now-retired IRS official Lois Lerner, in charge of the agency’s tax-exempt division during the 2010-2012 targeting, eventually revealed the scandal at an American Bar Association event in May 2013 -- roughly six months after President Obama won re-election and just days before an inspector general report on the allegations was scheduled for release.
“They used names like Tea Party or Patriots and they selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the title,” she said at the time. “That was wrong, that was absolutely incorrect, insensitive and inappropriate.”
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, on Monday accused the authors of the GOP-generated report of taking information out of context and selectively releasing information.
“It is revealing that the Republicans -- yet again -- are leaking cherry-picked excerpts of documents to support their preconceived political narrative without allowing committee members to even see their conclusions or vote on them first,” he said in a statement. “By leaking information to reporters on condition that they not disclose it to Democrats, Republicans are intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction.”
The report follows a recent congressional budget agreement for fiscal 2015 that cuts IRS funding to roughly fiscal 2000 levels, which agency officials argue will make oversight and other jobs even more difficult.
Other conclusions in the report, including several already made public, are that the Obama administration appears so far to have done an incomplete investigation and at times has been uncooperative.
“Only a month after Attorney General (Eric) Holder announced the administration’s investigation, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller was unable to answer basic questions about the status,” the report states. “Even as recently as July 2014, after the IRS informed Congress that it had destroyed two years of Lerner’s e-mails, the FBI continued its refusal to provide any information about its investigation.”
In addition, the Justice Department at one point was willing to pursue criminal prosecutions against the tax-exempt groups, based on information obtained by the IRS, according to documents obtained by House GOP investigators.
And the IRS failed to provide sufficient internal oversight, the report concludes.
“Congress created administrative oversight entities within the Executive Branch to ensure the IRS carries out its mission efficiently and responsibly,” the report states. “These entities -- specifically, the IRS Oversight Board and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration -- exist to ensure that IRS misconduct does not occur and, if it does, to identify and address it immediately. In the case of the IRS’s targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants, these administrative oversight entities failed in their missions.”

North Korean websites back online after widespread Internet outage

Prominent North Korean websites were back online Tuesday after an hours-long shutdown that led to speculation by some researchers and web watchers that the country's Internet connections could be under cyberattack.
South Korean officials told the Associated Press that Internet access to the North's official Korean Central News Agency and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper were working normally Tuesday after being inaccessible earlier. Those sites are the main channels for official North Korea news, with servers located abroad.
The outage came less than a week after the U.S. vowed an unspecified response to a massive hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment over the release of the comedy film "The Interview." The plot of the comedy centers on the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, leading to widespread speculation that the country was responsible for the attack. Late last week, the FBI publicly blamed North Korea in the incident, though Pyongyang has denied involvement.
The White House and the State Department on Monday declined to say whether the U.S. government had any role in North Korea's Internet problems.
"We have no new information to share regarding North Korea today," White House National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan told Fox News. "If in fact North Korea’s Internet has gone down, we’d refer you to that government for comment."
North Korean diplomat Kim Song, asked Monday about the Internet attack, told The Associated Press: "I have no information."
North Korea is one of the least connected countries in the world. Few North Koreans have access to computers, and even those who do are typically able to connect only to a domestic intranet that works with its own browsers, search engine and email programs, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry. Though North Korea is equipped for broadband Internet, only a small, approved segment of the population has any access to the World Wide Web. More than a million people, however, are now using mobile phones in North Korea. The network covers most major cities but users cannot call outside the country or receive calls from outside.
Doug Madory, the director of Internet analysis at New Hampshire-based Dyn Research, a company that studies Internet connectivity, said the problems were discovered over the weekend and grew progressively worse to the point that "North Korea's totally down."
"They have left the global Internet and they are gone until they come back," he said.
He said one benign explanation for the problem was that a router may have suffered a software glitch, though a cyberattack involving North Korea's Internet service was also a possibility.
Routing instabilities are not uncommon, but this particular outage had gone on for hours and was getting worse instead of better, Madory said.
"This doesn't fit that profile," of an ordinary routing problem, he said. "This shows something getting progressively worse over time."
Another Internet technology service, Arbor Networks, which protects companies against hacker attacks, said its monitoring detected denial-of-service attacks aimed at North Korea's infrastructure starting Saturday and persisting Monday. Such attacks transmit so much spurious data traffic to Internet equipment that it becomes overwhelmed, until the attacks stop or the spurious traffic can be filtered and discarded to allow normal connections to resume.
President Obama said Friday that the U.S. government expected to respond "proportionately" to the hacking of Sony, which he described as an expensive act of "cyber vandalism" that he blamed on North Korea. Obama did not say how the U.S. might respond.
"We aren't going to discuss, you know, publicly operational details about the possible response options or comment on those kind of reports in anyway except to say that as we implement our responses, some will be seen, some may not be seen," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said last week.

NYC protesters say they won't stop demonstrations despite de Blasio's wishes

Activist groups in New York City have rejected a call by Mayor Bill de Blasio to hold off on any new demonstrations until after the funerals of two NYPD officers who were ambushed and murdered Saturday in Brooklyn. 
The killings have aggravated tensions between police, City Hall, and protesters who have staged regular demonstrations since a Staten Island grand jury refused to indict an officer earlier this month in connection with the death of 43-year-old Eric Garner. Amateur video appeared to show the officer putting Garner in a chokehold while questioning him over the sale of untaxed cigarettes. 
"We are in a very difficult moment. Our focus has to be on these families," de Blasio said Monday at police headquarters. "I think it's a time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things that we will talk about in all due time."
However, the Rev. Al Sharpton told Reuters late Monday that de Blasio's request was too "ill-defined" to heed. 
"Is a vigil a protest? Is a rally?" Sharpton asked. 
Another group, The Answer Coalition, said it would go ahead with a long-planned march Tuesday evening, and denounced the mayor for what it called an "outrageous" attempt to chill free speech. The New York Post reported that a few dozen protesters staged a "die-in" at Grand Central Terminal before marching toward Times Square. 
"We will not let recent tragic moments derail this movement," one protester shouted. "This is the revolution and we will not be repressed."
De Blasio's relations with the city's police unions have tumbled to an extraordinary new low following Saturday's shooting, which the gunman claimed was retaliation for the deaths of Garner and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
In a display of defiance, dozens of police officers turned their backs to de Blasio at the hospital where the officers died Saturday night, and Patrolman's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the mayor had "blood on his hands" for enabling the protesters.
Late Monday, de Blasio and New York Police Commissioner William Bratton held a joint press conference at which Bratton claimed to have spoken with leadership of all the police unions, and claimed they have agreed on "standing down" until after the funerals of the officers.
The funeral for one of the officers, Rafael Ramos, is scheduled for Saturday. Arrangements for the funeral of his partner, Wenjian Liu, are pending the arrival of relatives from China. 
Despite Bratton's apparent efforts at conciliation, the murders of Ramos and Liu has blown open a rift with the police force unlikely to heal soon. some pundits say the level of animosity between the unions and de Blasio had reached a critical point and the officers were even more inflamed than when thousands of officers stormed City Hall and stopped traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1992 to protest Mayor David Dinkins' efforts to create a civilian oversight board.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani accused de Blasio late Monday of fueling an "atmosphere of hate" toward officers.

"I don't put the blood of these police officers on the mayor's doorstep," Giuliani told Fox News. "I lost police officers, Bloomberg lost police officers. What I do hold him responsible for is letting those demonstrations get out of control. ... He's guilty of creating an atmosphere of police hatred in certain communities."   

Chickenwood Cartoon

Satanic Temple, Christian state senator mount dueling displays outside Michigan Capitol

LANSING, Mich. –  Christians and Satanists put up competing displays Sunday on the Michigan Capitol grounds as Christmas week got underway.
The Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple set up its "Snaketivity Scene" featuring a snake offering a book called "Revolt of the Angels" as a gift. The snake is wrapped around the Satanic cross on the 3-feet-by-3-feet display. Capitol rules require that displays have to be taken down each night.
In a videotaped interview with the Lansing State Journal, Satanic Temple spokeswoman Jex Blackmore said her group doesn't worship Satan but does promote individuality, compassion and views that differ from Christian and conservative beliefs.
Blackmore said that the "holiday season is a time of year that is celebrated in many different ways."
"Having our government endorse one singular viewpoint or method of celebrating the season is problematic when we have a diverse community of people in Michigan," she said.
Word of the Satanic Temple's plans led state Sen. Rick Jones, a Grand Ledge Republican, to erect a Nativity scene on Friday featuring baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary. He put it back up Sunday morning.
Jones said he was happy to "represent the light and not the darkness."
"They could have put theirs up in July or April or sometime. They didn't need to put it up in the Christmas season," Jones said. "That's OK. We're going to ignore them. I'm not afraid of the snake people. I'm sure that Jesus Christ is not afraid."
Blackmore told MLive.com her group is "really pleased to be part of what is perhaps a new holiday tradition at the Capitol."
Martin Diller, a 28-year-old who served two tours in Iraq with the Michigan National Guard and one in Afghanistan, visited the Capitol grounds after attending Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing. He said he wanted to see how the constitutional rights issue played itself out.
"A few of my friends in the military, we like to see the First Amendment in use," Diller said. "We all went overseas, we fought for it, it's kind of interesting to see it in action."

In 2016, Republicans will be fighting to hold Senate majority

Senate majority in hand, ascendant Republicans are set to challenge President Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill come January. But a much tougher election map two years from now could force the GOP right back into the minority.
In November 2016, Republicans will defend 24 seats, Democrats 10. Seven of the GOP seats are in states that President Barack Obama won with 50 percent or more of the vote in 2012.
It's a stark reversal from this past November, when Democrats were the ones contending with a brutal map, including candidates running in seven states Obama had lost. Democrats were crushed on Election Day, losing nine seats and their Senate majority.
It will be a tough climb for Democrats to make up those losses, and there's no guarantee they will. But coming off November's trouncing, Democrats sound eager about their chances in states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Illinois, while Republicans are preparing more to defend past victories than try to score new ones.
"There's no doubt about it, it's going to be a bigger challenge than 2014," said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, among the Republicans at the top of the Democrats' pickoff list. "But I think we have a really good opportunity here in the next couple years. We will reach out to the other side. I think Americans, Wisconsonites, will find out that we're not the party of `no.' "
Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, one of the Democrats likely to be safely re-elected in 2016, said his party already is eyeing a path to retake control of the Senate. Democrats would have to gain a net of four seats if there's a Democrat in the White House -- because the vice president can cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate -- or five if the GOP wins the presidency.
"Picking up four or five seats is no small task, but we are certainly in a position to do so," Schatz said. "The electorate is going to be different and I think Democratic elected officials and candidates and most importantly voters are going to be excited for a presidential race, and we're excited to play offense."
Democrats faced strong headwinds on numerous fronts in November: Obama's low approval ratings, a scandal involving Department of Veterans Affairs' hospitals, the Ebola outbreak, the rise of Islamic State extremists. Compounding everything was the painfully slow economic recovery.
It's too soon to say what new issues may arise in the next two years or how strong the economy will be. But presidential elections can favor Democratic congressional candidates by increasing turnout of young and minority voters, and Democrats will not have to spend time distancing themselves from an unpopular incumbent.
Operatives in both parties are looking at many of the states Obama won in 2012, plus a few others, as the most contested places in 2016 where Democrats could try to defeat Republicans. In addition to Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Illinois, the list includes New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.
Democrats are concerned mainly about defending seats in Colorado and Nevada, where Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid faces what could be a bruising re-election fight if he seeks a sixth term.
Some analysts and Republican strategists say that as tough as the map looks for the GOP, there are some factors in the GOP's favor. Republicans have strong incumbents in Democrat-friendly states, such as Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Rob Portman in Ohio, and Marco Rubio in Florida, if he runs for re-election rather than the presidency.
The GOP's strong showing in November gave them breathing room with a 54-seat majority, making it that much harder for Democrats to make up the difference. States such as New Hampshire or Illinois may be easier for Republicans to defend than strongly GOP-leaning Arkansas, Louisiana and others were for the Democrats this year.
"In the face of what can seem to be a very steep climb for the Republicans you really have to look at each individual race and ask yourself about the vulnerability of each of those candidates," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "These Republicans are pretty skillful politicians. I don't see Kelly Ayotte as a particularly easy mark for the Democrats."
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who will lead the National Republican Senatorial Committee through 2016, acknowledged a "difficult map." But, he added, "You take them one by one and I feel very, very good about it."
"The main thing that helps our candidates is, state by state, the fact that they've tended to business, they've been diligent legislators and taken care of the home folks," Wicker said.
Republicans' fortunes may depend in part on how the newly GOP-controlled Senate functions and whether incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky can advance legislation or gets hamstrung by the tea party faction in his caucus led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, another potential White House candidate.
"The key question is will the Republicans want to work with us or will the tea party pull them too far over," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.