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| Saturday October 4th 2014 |
UK leader Cameron says British hostage's killing underscores need to smash IS militants
LONDON – Prime Minister David Cameron says the slaying of a British hostage in Syria demonstrates the necessity of destroying the Islamic State extremist group.Cameron said the video posted Friday night that showed Henning reading an anti-Western message before his captor put a knife to his neck demonstrated that IS was repulsive and beyond reason.
The 47-year-old Henning, a taxi driver from the town of Eccles in northwest England, was abducted minutes after his aid convoy entered Syria in December 2013. He was the fourth hostage killed by IS extremists.
Related: Alan Henning's brother-in-law: UK should've done more
ISIS Threatens To Execute American Peter Kassig
The Islamic State group released a video on Friday purporting to show the killing of British aid worker Alan Henning. In the video, a masked militant also threatens the life of U.S. citizen Peter Kassig.The short video titled "Another Message to America and its Allies" shows the two hostages wearing orange jump suits in a desert landscape alongside masked militants dressed in black. At the start of the clip, a man identified as Henning is seen kneeling. The video then shows a second hostage who the militants identify as Kassig.
"Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of Shams (Syria), which keeps on striking our people, so it is only right that we continue to strike the neck of your people," the masked militant in the video says, according to the Associated Press.
Peter Kassig is a 26-year-old American aid worker and former Army Ranger.
Hours after the release of the video, the Kassig family released a statement confirming their son is being held by the Islamic State group. The family also offered their condolences to the relatives of Alan Henning.
Kassig briefly deployed to Iraq in 2007 before receiving an honorable discharge on medical grounds. After leaving the military, he trained as a medic and worked with Syrians affected by the country's devastating civil war. “We each get one life and that’s it,” Kassig told CNN in 2012. “This is what I was put here to do,” he added, referring to his aid work. “I guess I’m just a hopeless romantic and an idealist.”
Kurds clash with Turkish security forces on Syria border
Turkish Kurds and
refugees from fighting in Syria have clashed with Turkish security
forces on the border between the two countries.
Troops used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters
angry at the situation in Syria, where IS militants are closing in on
the town of Kobane.Meanwhile unconfirmed reports say at least 35 militants were killed in US-led air strikes over northern Syria.
They come amid a Turkish-US row over alleged support for Syrian militants.
On Friday US Vice-President Joe Biden criticised Turkey and US allies in the Arab world for supporting Sunni militant groups such as Islamic State, prompting a sharp response from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"If Mr Biden used such language, that would make him a man of the past for me," he told a news conference in Istanbul.
"No-one can accuse Turkey of having supported any terrorist organisation in Syria, including IS."
Officials say attacks targeting Iraqi military convoy and a checkpoint around Baghdad kill 9
BAGHDAD – Officials in Iraq say two attacks targeting the country's military have killed nine people.
The deadliest attack struck Diyala province, west of the capital. A police official says militants with the Islamic State group targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint in the town of Mansouriya, killing four people and wounding 14.
A
second attack hit Tarmiyah, a town 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of
Baghdad. Another police official says a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi
military convoy there killed at least five people. The official says
three of those killed were civilians and two were soldiers, while eight
people were wounded.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with journalists.
The deadliest attack struck Diyala province, west of the capital. A police official says militants with the Islamic State group targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint in the town of Mansouriya, killing four people and wounding 14.
Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with journalists.
US jets attack Isis near northern Syrian town as Turkish leader rebukes Biden
- Kurdish-held town of Kobani besieged by Isis fighters
- Islamic State threaten to kill US hostage
- Isis warns US hostage Peter Kassig will be next to die
- Isis video shows murder of Briton Peter Henning
Also on Friday, a video was released of the murder of a British aid worker, Alan Henning, the fourth western hostage killed in recent weeks, and warning that an American, Peter Kassig, would be killed next.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday demanded an apology from the US vice-president, Joe Biden, and warned he would become “history for me” over comments in which he said the Turkish leader had admitted that Turkey had made mistakes by allowing foreign fighters to cross into Syria.
Erdogan denied ever saying that and told reporters in Istanbul that Biden “will be history for me if he has indeed used such expressions”.
Responding to questions following his speech at the Harvard Kennedy School on Thursday, Biden described Erdogan as “an old friend”. Biden added: “He [Erdogan] said: ‘You were right. We let too many people through.’ Now they’re trying to seal their border.”
Erdogan said: “I have never said to him that we had made a mistake, never. If he did say this at Harvard then he has to apologise to us. Foreign fighters have never entered Syria from our country. They may come to our country as tourists and cross into Syria, but no one can say that they cross in with their arms.”
The killing of Henning, meanwhile, drew immediate condemnation from western leaders. The British prime minister, David Cameron, said: “It is senseless. It is completely unforgivable. Anyone in any doubt about this organisation [Isis] can now see how truly repulsive it is and barbaric it is.
Lebanon 'imposes curfews on Syrian refugees'
Lebanese towns and villages are increasingly imposing curfews on Syrian refugees, restricting their movements, Human Rights Watch says.Police, and in some places vigilante groups, were enforcing the curfews in 45 municipalities, the group reported.
The restrictions were contributing to a "climate of discriminatory and retaliatory practices", HRW warned. Almost 1.2 million Syrian refugees are living in Lebanon, which has a population of only 4.5 million.
Tensions have risen since August, when clashes between Lebanese security forces and jihadists militants in and around the border town of Arsal left dozens dead. 'Hostile environment' Human Rights Watch said some of the curfews for Syrian refugees had been in place for more than a year, but that a number had been imposed following the fighting in Arsal.
The restrictions were typically announced with a large banner erected in a main street, outlining the times during which Syrians, "foreigners", or "foreign workers" could venture outside or gather, it reported.
Errant Taliban tweet claims spokesman in Pakistan
KABUL, Afghanistan – An apparently errant tweet by the Taliban's spokesman in Afghanistan gave his location as being in neighboring Pakistan.
On Friday, a tweet by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claiming an attack included geolocation information that suggested he sent the message from Sindh, Pakistan.
Mujahid later sent a tweet Saturday describing the location leak as
an "enemy plot." He also offered his Afghan telephone number to confirm
his identity and wrote: "With full confidence, I can say that I am in my
own country."
Twitter says such geolocation data is based on latitude and longitude data or other information provided by users at the time of their message.
In an explanation of geolocation, Twitter itself warns: "Remember, once you post something online, it's out there for others to see."
On Friday, a tweet by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claiming an attack included geolocation information that suggested he sent the message from Sindh, Pakistan.
Twitter says such geolocation data is based on latitude and longitude data or other information provided by users at the time of their message.
In an explanation of geolocation, Twitter itself warns: "Remember, once you post something online, it's out there for others to see."
Ukraine conflict: Heavy fighting for Donetsk airport
There have been more fierce clashes in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists are trying to capture Donetsk airport.
Heavy firing could be heard near the airport - strategically important for both sides in the conflict.A government spokesman said the rebels had broken into one of the terminals but were later pushed back. The rebels say they have seized the airport.
A truce agreed in eastern Ukraine on 5 September looks increasingly fragile.
On Friday US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to "express his concern about intensifying violence in eastern Ukraine".
"Russia must use its influence with the separatists and end these attacks immediately", state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
'Russian drones' "The situation in the area of Donetsk airport remains difficult," Ukrainian military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov told Ukraine's Kanal 5 TV.
Reality of oppression in East Germany
Professor Tom Lodge (Letters, 3 October) disputes the statement in my letter
(1 October) that “the Stasi did not ...torture its perceived enemies,
even if it was often heavy-handed and unjust”. He quotes Anna Funder’s
Stasiland – the one book invariably quoted, although written by an
Australian, now resident in the US, and based entirely on second-hand
evidence. Lodge says the “torture facilities” in the Hohenschönhausen
prison were “purpose-built by the Russians”. It was certainly used as a
prison and transit camp by the Russians for Nazis at the end of the war
and was later taken over and extended by the GDR in the 1950s. “In this
place,” Lodge says, “torture was routine and systematic.”
While I don’t want to become drawn into defending the state security forces of the GDR, which were certainly very often an oppressive and ugly organisation, I do still dispute that “torture was systematic and routine”. There is a significant difference between harsh prison conditions and torture as a technique of interrogation and oppression, but by comparison with the Nazis, or even the US use of water-boarding and hooding etc, there is little evidence of the Stasi being as bad or worse.
Well-known GDR dissidents, like the environmentalist Rudolf Bahro, the publisher Walter Janka, the philosopher Wolfgang Harich and artist Bärbel Bohley, were imprisoned in Hohenschönhausen in unjustifiable and harsh conditions, but none, as far as I am aware, alleged any form of horrific torture. While the Federal Republic was extremely reticent after the war in condemning the Nazis for the horrors they committed, and even gave many of the perpetrators their jobs back, it is determined to demonise the GDR, not simply to confront its failings or forms of oppression, but to vilify the whole idea of an alternative and socialist German state.
After a night of trouble which resulted in 19 arrests, supporters of the city's pro-Beijing government rallied next to pro-democracy protesters in Mong Kok, a working class neighborhood near the popular shopping district of Tsim Tsa Shui.
Many Hong Kong residents expressed anger and frustration at police handling of the unrest, with some accusing security forces of co-operating with criminal gangs, failing to make arrests and helping some attackers to exit the scene quickly.
"We condemn the violence used against Hong Kong civilians yesterday," said student leader Joshua Wong.
"I find it ironic how people accuse us of being violent and radical and now after one week of peaceful protests the ones who use violence is them - the government that allows Triads to exercise brutality on peaceful protesters."
After a week of largely peaceful demonstrations demanding Beijing grant Hong Kong the unfettered right to choose its own leader, the mood turned ugly on Friday night in an area notorious for being the home of Triads.
A rowdy crowd of around 2,000 filled the narrow streets of Mong Kok, one of the world's most densely populated areas, in the small hours of Saturday and the atmosphere was highly charged as police in riot gear tried to keep them under control.
Among those detained by police were eight suspected gang members. Eighteen people were injured, including six police officers, according to local broadcaster RTHK.
The flat in Dallas where he lived before being isolated is being cleaned by hazardous materials specialists.
The four people living there have been moved to a private home offered by a volunteer.
Louise Troh, thought to be Mr Duncan's girlfriend, her 13-year-old son and two nephews have spent days inside the flat under the orders of health officials.
The family was driven away from the home in a police car, after officials failed to find shelter for them.
Hotels, flats and others had refused to offer them accommodation, before a private residence was offered.
"No one wants this family,'' said Sana Syed, a Dallas city spokeswoman.
More than 3,431 people have died in four West African countries in what has become the world's worst ever Ebola outbreak.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby said the US could deploy as many as 4,000 troops to West Africa to help contain the outbreak.
Although Mr Duncan is the first person to be diagnosed within the US, four Americans have contracted the virus in Liberia.
One person has been killed and three others injured after a medical helicopter crashed in a Texas downtown area.
The Wichita Falls fire chief, Jon Reese, told the Times Record News that the Bell 206 LongRanger III operated by the Air Evac Lifeteam was carrying three crew members and one patient when it crashed at 1.56am on Saturday. He says the aircraft was transporting the patient to nearby United regional health care system.
Reese says the pilot is in serious but stable condition. The flight nurse and flight paramedic are in critical condition at Parkland health & hospital system in Dallas.
The victims have not been identified and no cause has been determined.
Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board officials will assist the investigation.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday provided some details about what Canada will contribute to the U.S.-led mission to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Here are five things we learned through his speech and information provided by his office.
Students and others packed the board's hearing room Thursday night and also watched the meeting on a big screen outside in the parking lot with popcorn. The students turned in two cardboard boxes of an online petition they said was signed by over 40,000 people across the U.S.
Students across a majority of the 17 high schools in Colorado's
second-largest school district have left classes in droves over the past
few weeks in protest.
Some students, parents and residents have accused the conservative-led board of trying to influence children with their political views.
A parent, Robert Gleason, after pointing at the Colorado flag in the front of the room, told the board he didn't want the school district to follow in the path of Texas, where the state school board has told teachers to stick to state history standards, not the new national Advanced Placement course framework that some critics view as anti-American.
During remarks at the Harvard Institute of Politics, an audience member asked Biden if he thinks the United States should have acted sooner to arm Syrian moderates to counter Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as to combat Islamic State militants. Biden said no, explaining that the United States has been engaged in a long process to identify who those moderates are.
"We Americans think, in every country in transition, there's a Thomas Jefferson hiding behind some rock or a James Madison beyond one sand dune," he said. "The fact of the matter is, the ability to identify a moderate middle in Syria was, there was no moderate middle, because the moderate middle are made up of shopkeepers, not soldiers."
The vice president then took aim at Panetta, without naming him, for his harsh words on Obama's Syria strategy in his forthcoming book, Worthy Fights. In it, Panetta, who also served as CIA chief under Obama, slams the president for "hesitation and half steps" in his approach to stemming Syrian violence.
"I’m finding that former administration officials, as soon as they leave, write books, which I think is inappropriate. But any rate," Biden said, trailing off as a few in the audience laughed. "No, I’m serious. I do think it's inappropriate. At least give the guy a chance to get out of office."
Nolen's mother and several other close sources describe him as a kind and non-violent man. They claim that the man accused of beheading his coworker last week was not the Alton that they knew. This as the mainstream media continues to report the incident as "workplace violence."
"He comes from good Christian people," said Randy Watkins, who lives in the same neighborhood as Nolen's mother. "He had a strong, Baptist upbringing."
Despite strong evidence that shows a progressive conversion to radical Islam through aggressive posts on Nolen's Facebook page, mainstream media continue to assert that the suspect's behavior was not an act of terror, which is eerily reminiscent of their stance on the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.
Sources say that Nolen began attending worship services this May at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City. This is the same Mosque that Breitbart News reported that Imam Suhaib Webb, who had ties to al-Qaeda mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki, used to attend. Al-Awlaki, an American citizen who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, also had ties to Fort Hood shooter Major Nadal Hassan.
Below, a look at the governors who look the most vulnerable with 30 days to go until Nov. 4. The list excludes close open-seat races in Arkansas, where former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R) is favored to succeed retiring Gov. Mike Beebe (D), and in Arizona, where state Treasurer Doug Ducey (R) maintains a lead over former state Board of Regents member Fred DuVal (D).
Despite governing a deep red state, Brownback is vulnerable due to the steep income tax cuts he signed off on that have catalyzed dire revenue shortfalls. State House Minority Leader Paul Davis (D) has been attacking Brownback over the shortfall's impact on education spending, and the approach seems to be working, as he leads in the polls.
Democrats are using LePage's outspoken comments to call him an embarrassment and a detriment to the state's reputation. Republicans are defending LePage by calling him "blunt, honest, one-of-a-kind" and "unique, just like Maine." However, his Democratic challenger, Rep. Mike Michaud, may be hampered by the presence of independent Eliot Cutler on the ballot. The Democrat would become the first openly gay person ever elected governor if he wins on Nov. 4.
In Illinois, venture capitalist Bruce Rauner (R) is narrowly leading Quinn in the polls, as the Democratic governor suffers from low approval ratings. Rauner has emphasized his relatively moderate stances on abortion rights and marriage equality, while Democrats have seized on his comment that he's probably a member of the "0.01 percent" and his membership in a private wine club to characterize him as out of touch.
Continue reading......
The people who brew America's beers and the people who farm the ingredients used to make them are finding themselves on opposite sides of a debate sparked by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Back in March, the EPA issued a draft proposal for new guidelines under the Clean Water Act that it argues will clarify which bodies of water fall under its jurisdiction. The EPA maintains it is not seeking to expand its authority, but that's how many critics see it.
Opponents say the EPA is trying to regulate everything from a puddle on someone's property to a creek that might be dry most of the year. Not so, is the message the EPA is struggling to get across; the guidelines would clarify rules for streams and wetlands and do not add any new bodies of water to the ones already covered under the legislation, the agency says.
The new rule, if finalized, would cut red tape and more efficiently enforce the Clean Water Act, which would mean cleaner water, the EPA argues.
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While I don’t want to become drawn into defending the state security forces of the GDR, which were certainly very often an oppressive and ugly organisation, I do still dispute that “torture was systematic and routine”. There is a significant difference between harsh prison conditions and torture as a technique of interrogation and oppression, but by comparison with the Nazis, or even the US use of water-boarding and hooding etc, there is little evidence of the Stasi being as bad or worse.
Well-known GDR dissidents, like the environmentalist Rudolf Bahro, the publisher Walter Janka, the philosopher Wolfgang Harich and artist Bärbel Bohley, were imprisoned in Hohenschönhausen in unjustifiable and harsh conditions, but none, as far as I am aware, alleged any form of horrific torture. While the Federal Republic was extremely reticent after the war in condemning the Nazis for the horrors they committed, and even gave many of the perpetrators their jobs back, it is determined to demonise the GDR, not simply to confront its failings or forms of oppression, but to vilify the whole idea of an alternative and socialist German state.
Rival Protesters Face Off In Hong Kong
HONG KONG, Oct 4 (Reuters) - More than a thousand rival protesters, some wearing helmets, faced off in a densely populated, gritty district of Hong Kong on Saturday, fueling concerns that the Chinese-controlled city's worst unrest in decades could take a more violent turn.After a night of trouble which resulted in 19 arrests, supporters of the city's pro-Beijing government rallied next to pro-democracy protesters in Mong Kok, a working class neighborhood near the popular shopping district of Tsim Tsa Shui.
Many Hong Kong residents expressed anger and frustration at police handling of the unrest, with some accusing security forces of co-operating with criminal gangs, failing to make arrests and helping some attackers to exit the scene quickly.
"We condemn the violence used against Hong Kong civilians yesterday," said student leader Joshua Wong.
"I find it ironic how people accuse us of being violent and radical and now after one week of peaceful protests the ones who use violence is them - the government that allows Triads to exercise brutality on peaceful protesters."
After a week of largely peaceful demonstrations demanding Beijing grant Hong Kong the unfettered right to choose its own leader, the mood turned ugly on Friday night in an area notorious for being the home of Triads.
A rowdy crowd of around 2,000 filled the narrow streets of Mong Kok, one of the world's most densely populated areas, in the small hours of Saturday and the atmosphere was highly charged as police in riot gear tried to keep them under control.
Among those detained by police were eight suspected gang members. Eighteen people were injured, including six police officers, according to local broadcaster RTHK.
Ebola crisis: Family moved out of Texas Ebola flat
The occupants of a flat in Texas where a man lay sick for days with Ebola have been moved from their home.
Thomas Duncan, who caught the virus in his native Liberia, is
now in a serious condition in hospital. This is the only Ebola case
recorded so far in the US.The flat in Dallas where he lived before being isolated is being cleaned by hazardous materials specialists.
The four people living there have been moved to a private home offered by a volunteer.
Louise Troh, thought to be Mr Duncan's girlfriend, her 13-year-old son and two nephews have spent days inside the flat under the orders of health officials.
The family was driven away from the home in a police car, after officials failed to find shelter for them.
Hotels, flats and others had refused to offer them accommodation, before a private residence was offered.
"No one wants this family,'' said Sana Syed, a Dallas city spokeswoman.
More than 3,431 people have died in four West African countries in what has become the world's worst ever Ebola outbreak.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby said the US could deploy as many as 4,000 troops to West Africa to help contain the outbreak.
Although Mr Duncan is the first person to be diagnosed within the US, four Americans have contracted the virus in Liberia.
Harvard staff and students receive emails threatening they will be shot
- Sender threatens campus shootings ‘tomorrow’ in Friday mail
- University police unable to verify threat but step up security
Hundreds of students and staff at Harvard University received emails
on Friday from a sender who threatened to come to the Ivy League school
“tomorrow” and shoot them, according to campus police.
The Harvard University Police Department said it could not verify that the threat was authentic but said it would step up security around the university’s campus, centered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
Police were increasing uniformed and plainclothes presence all weekend. A campus safety advisory urged people call police if they saw anything suspicious or had safety concerns or pertinent information.
Boston-area residents have been on an elevated state of alert since a pair of homemade bombs were set off at the city’s marathon in April 2013, killing three people and injuring 260.
University police said they had alerted the FBI and local law enforcement.
Parts of the elite university were evacuated in December, when the school received a bomb threat from a person who turned out to be a student trying to get out of taking a final exam. That student was later arrested and is facing federal charges of making a hoax bomb threat.
Two 17-year-old players collapsed and died after a warm-up and a game in North Carolina and Alabama on Friday.
In the past decade, 12 high school athletes died on average every year playing football.
A recent study by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina found that over the past decade, three died directly due to "participation in the fundamental skills of football" - for example through spine fracture or head injury.
Another nine on average died from indirect causes due to the exertion, such as from heat stroke or an undiagnosed medical condition, or from complications due to a non-fatal injury.
'Typical contact' Even at secondary school level, the teenage players can collide at high speed dozens of times during games and practice.
Veterans of the university and professional game can suffer permanent health effects, from chronic joint and back pain to memory loss and early-onset dementia.
On Thursday, Mr Cohen told reporters that Cutinella, a guard and linebacker, suffered a head injury from "typical contact" during the game.
• Pilot in serious but stable condition
The Harvard University Police Department said it could not verify that the threat was authentic but said it would step up security around the university’s campus, centered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
Police were increasing uniformed and plainclothes presence all weekend. A campus safety advisory urged people call police if they saw anything suspicious or had safety concerns or pertinent information.
Boston-area residents have been on an elevated state of alert since a pair of homemade bombs were set off at the city’s marathon in April 2013, killing three people and injuring 260.
University police said they had alerted the FBI and local law enforcement.
Parts of the elite university were evacuated in December, when the school received a bomb threat from a person who turned out to be a student trying to get out of taking a final exam. That student was later arrested and is facing federal charges of making a hoax bomb threat.
Three US student footballers die in a week
A student in New York
state who died on Wednesday became the third US high school footballer
to die playing the game in the last week.
Tom Cutinella, 16, died after colliding with an opponent, Shoreham-Wading River superintendent Steven Cohen said.Two 17-year-old players collapsed and died after a warm-up and a game in North Carolina and Alabama on Friday.
In the past decade, 12 high school athletes died on average every year playing football.
A recent study by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina found that over the past decade, three died directly due to "participation in the fundamental skills of football" - for example through spine fracture or head injury.
Another nine on average died from indirect causes due to the exertion, such as from heat stroke or an undiagnosed medical condition, or from complications due to a non-fatal injury.
'Typical contact' Even at secondary school level, the teenage players can collide at high speed dozens of times during games and practice.
Veterans of the university and professional game can suffer permanent health effects, from chronic joint and back pain to memory loss and early-onset dementia.
On Thursday, Mr Cohen told reporters that Cutinella, a guard and linebacker, suffered a head injury from "typical contact" during the game.
Texas helicopter crash leaves one dead and three injured
• Medical aircraft carrying patient came down in Wichita Falls• Pilot in serious but stable condition
One person has been killed and three others injured after a medical helicopter crashed in a Texas downtown area.
The Wichita Falls fire chief, Jon Reese, told the Times Record News that the Bell 206 LongRanger III operated by the Air Evac Lifeteam was carrying three crew members and one patient when it crashed at 1.56am on Saturday. He says the aircraft was transporting the patient to nearby United regional health care system.
Reese says the pilot is in serious but stable condition. The flight nurse and flight paramedic are in critical condition at Parkland health & hospital system in Dallas.
The victims have not been identified and no cause has been determined.
Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board officials will assist the investigation.
Prime minister reveals new details of the Canadian contribution to the U.S. fight in Iraq and Syria
Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday provided some details about what Canada will contribute to the U.S.-led mission to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. Here are five things we learned through his speech and information provided by his office.
1. Canada is sending up to 10 aircraft and 600 personnel
The Prime Minister's Office said that Canada's contribution will include one CC-150 Polaris air-to-air refuelling aircraft, two CP-140 Aurora surveillance aircraft, one dedicated airlift aircraft for refuelling, air surveillance and transportation, and up to six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets. There will be about 280 aircrew and other personnel to support the Polaris, Aurora and airlift planes, and another 320 aircrew and personnel for the fighter jets.
The Prime Minister's Office said that Canada's contribution will include one CC-150 Polaris air-to-air refuelling aircraft, two CP-140 Aurora surveillance aircraft, one dedicated airlift aircraft for refuelling, air surveillance and transportation, and up to six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets. There will be about 280 aircrew and other personnel to support the Polaris, Aurora and airlift planes, and another 320 aircrew and personnel for the fighter jets.
2. There's a deadline on the mission
The government initially offered up to 69 military advisers for 30 days, of which they said 26 were on the ground this week. That pledge has been extended, but the Canadian contribution has a six-month limit.
The government initially offered up to 69 military advisers for 30 days, of which they said 26 were on the ground this week. That pledge has been extended, but the Canadian contribution has a six-month limit.
3. Canadians will attack by air, not land
The government's motion specifically rules out ground combat operations.
The government's motion specifically rules out ground combat operations.
4. Air combat over Syria is an option
Harper pledged to strike ISIS "where — and only where — Canada has the clear support of the government of that country." That doesn't include Syria right now, he said, but Canada would expand its airstrikes to include Syria if that changes.
Harper pledged to strike ISIS "where — and only where — Canada has the clear support of the government of that country." That doesn't include Syria right now, he said, but Canada would expand its airstrikes to include Syria if that changes.
5. Harper doesn't expect to eliminate ISIS
In his speech, Harper made it clear that he doesn't expect to bring an end to ISIS, also known as ISIL. He differs there from U.S. President Barack Obama, who aims to "ultimately destroy" ISIS.
"We intend to significantly degrade the capabilities of ISIL," he told MPs. "Specifically, its ability either to engage in military movements of scale or to operate bases in the open."
"But, again, to be clear," he said later in his speech, "while ISIL will not be eliminated, the risks presented from the territory in which it operates will be significantly reduced."
In his speech, Harper made it clear that he doesn't expect to bring an end to ISIS, also known as ISIL. He differs there from U.S. President Barack Obama, who aims to "ultimately destroy" ISIS.
"We intend to significantly degrade the capabilities of ISIL," he told MPs. "Specifically, its ability either to engage in military movements of scale or to operate bases in the open."
"But, again, to be clear," he said later in his speech, "while ISIL will not be eliminated, the risks presented from the territory in which it operates will be significantly reduced."
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Denver school board refuses to drop curriculum review that promotes patriotism
GOLDEN, Colo. – Students and parents say they will renew protests Friday after a suburban Denver school board refused to back off a proposed review of a U.S. history course with a goal of promoting patriotism and downplaying disorder.Students and others packed the board's hearing room Thursday night and also watched the meeting on a big screen outside in the parking lot with popcorn. The students turned in two cardboard boxes of an online petition they said was signed by over 40,000 people across the U.S.
Some students, parents and residents have accused the conservative-led board of trying to influence children with their political views.
A parent, Robert Gleason, after pointing at the Colorado flag in the front of the room, told the board he didn't want the school district to follow in the path of Texas, where the state school board has told teachers to stick to state history standards, not the new national Advanced Placement course framework that some critics view as anti-American.
Joe Biden Dings Leon Panetta For 'Inappropriate' Criticisms Of Obama's Syria Strategy
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden took a shot at former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday night for his 'inappropriate" criticisms in a new book of President Barack Obama's strategy in Syria.During remarks at the Harvard Institute of Politics, an audience member asked Biden if he thinks the United States should have acted sooner to arm Syrian moderates to counter Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as to combat Islamic State militants. Biden said no, explaining that the United States has been engaged in a long process to identify who those moderates are.
"We Americans think, in every country in transition, there's a Thomas Jefferson hiding behind some rock or a James Madison beyond one sand dune," he said. "The fact of the matter is, the ability to identify a moderate middle in Syria was, there was no moderate middle, because the moderate middle are made up of shopkeepers, not soldiers."
The vice president then took aim at Panetta, without naming him, for his harsh words on Obama's Syria strategy in his forthcoming book, Worthy Fights. In it, Panetta, who also served as CIA chief under Obama, slams the president for "hesitation and half steps" in his approach to stemming Syrian violence.
"I’m finding that former administration officials, as soon as they leave, write books, which I think is inappropriate. But any rate," Biden said, trailing off as a few in the audience laughed. "No, I’m serious. I do think it's inappropriate. At least give the guy a chance to get out of office."
Mainstream Media Continues to Call Oklahoma Beheading 'Workplace Violence'
Another seemingly brazen act of terror, this time in America's heartland, has authorities looking closely at the background of the man accused of beheading a coworker. Witnesses say that the man had recently attempted to convert others in the warehouse to Islam, and had screamed Islamic phrases as he committed the gruesome crime.
Alton Alexander Nolen, or Jah'Keem Yisrael as he was known on his Facebook page, is the 30-year-old Muslim convert who brutally attacked two co-workers, beheading one and stabbing another, after being fired from his job at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Oklahoma last Thursday.Nolen's mother and several other close sources describe him as a kind and non-violent man. They claim that the man accused of beheading his coworker last week was not the Alton that they knew. This as the mainstream media continues to report the incident as "workplace violence."
"He comes from good Christian people," said Randy Watkins, who lives in the same neighborhood as Nolen's mother. "He had a strong, Baptist upbringing."
Despite strong evidence that shows a progressive conversion to radical Islam through aggressive posts on Nolen's Facebook page, mainstream media continue to assert that the suspect's behavior was not an act of terror, which is eerily reminiscent of their stance on the 2009 Fort Hood shooting.
Sources say that Nolen began attending worship services this May at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City. This is the same Mosque that Breitbart News reported that Imam Suhaib Webb, who had ties to al-Qaeda mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki, used to attend. Al-Awlaki, an American citizen who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, also had ties to Fort Hood shooter Major Nadal Hassan.
The 10 Most Vulnerable Governors In The Country
While the odds favor a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate, the story is slightly different across the gubernatorial map. Democrats are optimistic they'll take back the governor's mansion in Pennsylvania, Maine and Kansas, while the margins remain close in a handful of other states.Below, a look at the governors who look the most vulnerable with 30 days to go until Nov. 4. The list excludes close open-seat races in Arkansas, where former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R) is favored to succeed retiring Gov. Mike Beebe (D), and in Arizona, where state Treasurer Doug Ducey (R) maintains a lead over former state Board of Regents member Fred DuVal (D).
Despite governing a deep red state, Brownback is vulnerable due to the steep income tax cuts he signed off on that have catalyzed dire revenue shortfalls. State House Minority Leader Paul Davis (D) has been attacking Brownback over the shortfall's impact on education spending, and the approach seems to be working, as he leads in the polls.
Democrats are using LePage's outspoken comments to call him an embarrassment and a detriment to the state's reputation. Republicans are defending LePage by calling him "blunt, honest, one-of-a-kind" and "unique, just like Maine." However, his Democratic challenger, Rep. Mike Michaud, may be hampered by the presence of independent Eliot Cutler on the ballot. The Democrat would become the first openly gay person ever elected governor if he wins on Nov. 4.
In Illinois, venture capitalist Bruce Rauner (R) is narrowly leading Quinn in the polls, as the Democratic governor suffers from low approval ratings. Rauner has emphasized his relatively moderate stances on abortion rights and marriage equality, while Democrats have seized on his comment that he's probably a member of the "0.01 percent" and his membership in a private wine club to characterize him as out of touch.
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Some farmers and beer brewers are on opposite sides of a rift over clean water
A battle over water, and who should regulate it, has been brewing for months in the United States, and its outcome has the potential to affect a vital industry and product — beer.The people who brew America's beers and the people who farm the ingredients used to make them are finding themselves on opposite sides of a debate sparked by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Back in March, the EPA issued a draft proposal for new guidelines under the Clean Water Act that it argues will clarify which bodies of water fall under its jurisdiction. The EPA maintains it is not seeking to expand its authority, but that's how many critics see it.
Opponents say the EPA is trying to regulate everything from a puddle on someone's property to a creek that might be dry most of the year. Not so, is the message the EPA is struggling to get across; the guidelines would clarify rules for streams and wetlands and do not add any new bodies of water to the ones already covered under the legislation, the agency says.
The new rule, if finalized, would cut red tape and more efficiently enforce the Clean Water Act, which would mean cleaner water, the EPA argues.
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