The Long, Expensive History of Defense Rip-Offs

A timeline of more than 230 years of military waste, from gouging George Washington to ditching $7 billion worth of stuff Afghanistan.

—By Eric Wuestewald

Wed Dec. 18, 2013 3:00 AM GMT

 

It didn't start with the F-35 or even the $640 toilet seat. Military overruns and rip-offs have a long (and expensive) history, starting in the earliest days of the republic:

1778	General George Washington decries the suppliers overcharging his army: "It is enough to make one curse their own Species, for possessing so little virtue & patriotism." George Washington Wikipedia
1794	The Navy's first order for frigates faces shipyard delays, and its cost shoots up to more than $1.1 million. USS Constitution Wikipedia
1861	A House committee exposes fraud, favoritism, and profiteering in Civil War contracting. Its findings, writes the New York Times, "produce a feeling of public indignation which would justify the most summary measures against the knaves whose villainy is here dragged into daylight."
1941	"Investigator Truman" Time/Wikimedia Commons Sen. Harry S. Truman kicks off a dogged investigation of wasteful war production. The Truman Committee, which runs into World War II, is credited with saving as much as $15 billion (more than $230 billion in today's dollars).
1975	Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire calls out the Pentagon for maintaining 300 golf courses around the world. (Today it has 200.) Golfing at a DoD course US Department of Defense
1983	President Ronald Reagan announces the Strategic Defense Initiative, a.k.a. "Star Wars," a system of ground- and space-based lasers that will stop incoming nuclear missiles. Still unrealized, the program has cost more than $209 billion. President Ronald ReaganThe Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library
1985	Pentagon profligacy makes headlines with reports of $640 toilet seats, $660 ashtrays, $7,600 coffee-makers, and $74,000 ladders. "Our attack on waste and fraud in procurement—like discovering that $436 hammer—is going to continue," Reagan says, "but we must have adequate military appropriations."
2001	No-bid Pentagon contracts explode after 9/11, jumping from $50 billion in 2001 to $140 billion in 2010.
2001	Halliburton subsidiary KBR takes over a contract to feed soldiers in Iraq. It raises the price of a meal from $3 to $5 while subcontracting the services back to the previous contractor.
2009	F-22s Wikimedia Commons After safety problems and cost overruns, the Pentagon cancels the F-22 Raptor fighter jet (estimated price tag: $412 million per plane) and puts the money toward buying F-35s.
2010	The Government Accountability Office finds that the Defense Logistics Agency is sitting on $7.1 billion worth of excess spare parts.
2010	An anonymous congressional earmark sets aside $2.5 billion for 10 C-17 aircraft the Air Force says it does not need.
2011	Boeing charges the Army $1,678 apiece for rubber cargo-loading rollers that actually cost $7 each.
2012	One-quarter of the $1.6 trillion being spent on major weapons systems comes from unexpected cost overruns.
2012	The Air Force scraps a new logistics management system that has shown "negligible" results—after spending $1 billion on it.
2012	Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) slams $68 billion in frivolous Pentagon spending: "Using defense dollars to run microbreweries, study Twitter slang, create beef jerky, or examine Star Trek does nothing to defend our nation." The Starship Enterprise Paramount
2012	The House oversight committee finds that the Swiss contractor that fed troops in Afghanistan was overpaid by $757 million. The company claims it's still owed $1 billion.
2013	The military and VA are found to have spent $1.3 billion on a failed health records system for vets. That's after the Pentagon already spent $2 billion on an unsuccessful upgrade of its electronic medical records system.
2013	The Army announces plans to replace its camouflage pattern, which was introduced in 2004 and cost $5 billion to develop. The new one will cost $4 billion. US Army uniforms Wikipedia
2013	Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) decries the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as "one of the great national scandals that we have ever had, as far as the expenditure of taxpayers' dollars are concerned."
2013	The Pentagon plans to scrap more than 85,000 tons of equipment in Afghanistan, part of $7 billion worth of gear being left behind as the troops come home.

Larry Klayman's On-Air Fight With Don Lemon And Jeffrey Toobin

By John Amato December 18, 2013 12:30 P.M.

Crazy Larry Klayman dukes it out with Don Lemon and Jeffrey Toobin on CNN over the recent court ruling on NSA surveillance - which quickly turns personal. 



Wild man Larry Klayman, who routinely calls for Obama to put down his Koran, got into a shouting match on CNN with Jeffrey Toobin and Don Lemon over his victory in a lawsuit challenging NSA surveillance.

Conservative legal activist Larry Klayman got into an argument on CNN with host Don Lemon and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin when he was brought on to discuss his victory this week in a lawsuit challenging NSA surveillance, resulting in Lemon cutting him off the screen and Klayman comparing Lemon to disgraced former MSNBC host Martin Bashir.

Klayman’s appearance Tuesday night on CNN was preceded by a profile of him that included a quotation from a former George W. Bush staffer saying his lawsuits were about “fighting for himself and his own, in my opinion, delusions of grandeur.”

When Klayman was brought into the conversation, he came out firing.“I think it is important to note that you’re a big supporter of Obama,” Klayman said to Lemon. “That you have favored him in every respect. You have to try to do a hit piece to diminish a very important decision.”

Lemon interjected to clarify that Klayman was speaking about him personally, saying, “None of that is true, but go on.”

“Well, it is true. I’ve watched you for many years. You’re an ultra-leftist and you’re a big supporter of Obama,” Klayman said. “Let’s talk about the NSA, let’s not talk about Larry Klayman. This victory is for the American people. It wasn’t for me. And you, as somebody from the left … should appreciate that you don’t have a police state in this country that’s going to be able to intimidate Americans to chill their free speech rights.”

Lemon again protested the characterization, saying that only he knows his political affiliation, over interruptions from Klayman, prompting the host to threaten to cut Klayman’s mic. He then brought on Toobin, CNN’s legal analyst, who slammed Klayman as a “lunatic.”

This segment got personal and turned ugly from the get-go. I do always enjoy when a real lunatic like Klayman calls somebody else a lunatic. Here's a quick round up of some of Klayman's recent remarks:
 
In July, he called for the military to overthrow him.

In September, he vowed to force the "evil tyrant Obama" from office by November 16th.

Then he slid the date to November 19th.Just last week, he sadly announced that he believed violent revolution was imminent.

He used the very same language today that he used in mid-September, except then he added some rhetorical flourishes:

“[Obama] will finally know that his time has come to leave his perverted, Islamic concept of Mecca, our nation's hallowed capital,” Klayman concludes. “I do not advocate violence, but it is time we show Obama that we mean business. He would be well advised to ride off into his Islamic sunset, link up with 72 virgins and party on at his expense – not ours!”

Klayman's funding comes from billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has some serious legal problems right now. Adelson seems to have no problem with this kind of dangerous and violent rhetoric from Klayman, especially if it means he can duck federal charges.

The highly-educated working poor: Adjunct professors

Posted by Jim Hightower

Listen to this Commentary

There's a growing army of the working poor in our US of A, and big contingents of it are now on the march. They're strategizing, organizing, and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Walmart, McDonald's, and colleges.

Wait a minute. Colleges? You go there to get ahead in life. More education makes you better off, right? Well, ask a college professor about that – you know, the ones who earned PhD's and are now teaching America's next generation.

The sorry secret of higher education – from community colleges to brand-name universities – is that they've embraced the corporate culture of a contingent workforce, turning professors into part-time, low-paid, no-benefit, no-tenure, temporary teachers. Overall, more than half of America's higher-ed faculty members today are "adjunct professors," meaning they are attached to the school, but not essentially a part of it.

It also means that these highly-educated, fully-credentialed professors have become part of America's army of the working poor. They never know until a semester starts whether they'll teach one class, three, or none – typically, this leaves them with take-home pay somewhere between zero and maybe $1,000 a month.

Poverty.

Adjuncts usually get no benefits, no real chance of earning full-time positions, no due process or severance pay if dismissed, no say in curriculum or school policies… sometimes not even office space. Like their counterparts at Walmart and McDonald's, adjunct college professors are not treated as valuable resources to be nurtured, but as cheap, exploitable, and disposable labor.

Unsurprisingly, this contingent of the low-wage army is organizing, too. For information, contact New Faculty Majority: www.NewFacultyMajority.info.

"Adjunct Project Reveals Wide Range in Pay," www.chronicle.com, January 4, 2013.

"Adjunct Project," www.adjunct.chronicle.com 2013.

"Adjuncts at ACC face cut in hours School seeks to avoid paying health care for some faculty," Austin American Statesman, November 26, 2013.

"Adjunct professors in dire straits with low pay, lack of full-time jobs," www.aljazeera.com, October 15, 2013.

"Adjunct professors are the new working poor," www.cnn.com, September 25, 2013.

Half of America strips religion from Christmas

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times

Nine out of 10 Americans do Christmas and three-quarters believe in the biblical account of Jesus' birth — but only a little more than half actually regard the holiday primarily as a religious celebration.

More than one-third say it's more a cultural holiday, a new poll from Pew Research's Religion & Public Life Policy found.

The poll also found that generational differences in how Christmas is celebrated abound. Younger adults generally see the holiday through less religious lens than older Americans. And those under the age of 30 are far less likely to attend a religious service as part of the holiday celebration.

Still, tradition plays a major role in how Americans celebrate the holiday. Eighty-six percent of adults say they will celebrate with friends and families — and the same number say they'll trade gifts.
Ninety percent say that's how they celebrated in their growing up years.

But not so many are sending out Christmas cards or greetings — and that's a deviance from what was normal in past generations. Meanwhile, caroling is on the decline, too.

By the numbers: About 74 percent said they attended religious ceremonies during their growing up years to celebrate Christmas. Only 54 percent say they will do so now.

The survey was conducted Dec. 3-8 and included a representative sample of 2,001 adults.

Tea Party Embraces Racist, Anti-Immigrant Poster From Bioshock Infinite

By Nathaniel Downes

A Tea Party group’s use of a piece of zealous propaganda from the video game Bioshock Infinite could underscore the flawed dogma at the movement’s heart. – Mural of deity George Washington expelling ‘foreign hordes’ from Bioshock Infinite

The above picture graced the Facebook page of the National Liberty Foundation not too long ago, joining their rather anti-minority photo-stream. However, as noted, this is not some patriotic symbol of years past, or cherished words of wisdom. Instead, it is art from the video game Bioshock Infinite.

Its use by the Tea Party affiliated group was intended to be some kind of rallying point, but instead it revealed how accurate the depiction of the fusion of politics and religion within Bioshock Infinite truly is.

Bioshock, The Series Which Cast A Spotlight On The Darkest Corners Of Utopian Thought.

Bioshock Infinite was released to much fanfare in March of this year. With years of anticipation, this continuation of the hugely successful Bioshock series sold millions of copies since release, and is considered a huge success. The Bioshock series has been part of popular culture since the original title was released in 2007, with references to it found in popular culture.

Every Bioshock title has picked on a radical element of society, and cast a cold spotlight on to it. The original Bioshock was heralded for its dissection of Ayn Rand Objectivism with its depiction of the final and ultimate expression of Objectivism in the dystopia of Rapture.

Bioshock 2 turned this on its head, with a harsh critique of Altruism and Communism, and its expression of their own impossibility in the wreckage of Rapture. In both games, it was not the root philosophy at fault, but that both philosophies requiring a super-human level of perfection in order to work. Their systems fail not because of the philosophy, but because those who are to implement and manage the systems are flawed, imperfect humans.

Much as with the earlier titles, Bioshock Infinite picked a segment of society, in this case those who bring religious fervor to politics. Set in the flying city of Columbia, Bioshock Infinite deals with a society in which a fanatical religious cult controls all, with the base of their tenants being that the founding fathers are akin to saints or gods, and the Constitution is religious scripture. One could point out the similarity of this deification of the founding fathers, with the fusion of religion and politics, to the Tea Party and their absolute dogma that this nation is one for theocratic rule and not democratic.

And as with the earlier titles, while a theocratic state works in theory (who would not love a nation ruled by the love and kindness of Jesus or the peace and harmony of Buddhism?) they are being managed by people, and the human element always destroys the utopian society in which the player finds themselves.

In Bioshock Infinite, a radical religious group based on the idea that America was divinely created as if god itself reached down the drew the lines on the map, has seceeded from the Union. They view the founding fathers as gods or saints, and worship them. They call those who do not follow their narrow view of the nation as heretics, those who are beneath contempt. The ideals of democracy and freedom are perverted, replaced with blind loyalty and a slavery to their fanatical leader.

Sounds like the Tea Party to me.

The launch trailer for Bioshock Infinite.



Should the Tea Party reach their pinnacle and reach the utopian future they imagine, the results would be as tragic as the closed cities found within the Bioshock games. That the National Liberty Foundation took a prime piece of that failure and promoted it on their wall, complete with its stated desire to eliminate any non-Anglo-Saxon from the continent, speaks poorly of the group and their mission. The other photos on their site show an ignorance for democracy, and the United States form of government as found in the US Constitution.

Once they realized that they had used a piece of video game propaganda which was criticizing their movement, the page took it down. However, here is the evidence, preserved for us:


The Bioshock series is an excellent dissection of the insanity which grips the fanatics across this nation. For the National Liberty Foundation to confuse this dissection with reality is, at the least disturbing. Or, do they honestly believe in the divinity of the founding fathers, as the Latter Day Saints have proclaimed? Do they believe that the US Constitution a divine document, given by god?

Bioshock Infinite explored the dangers of such a utopic vision. It would do the National Liberty Foundation, and all Tea Party groups in fact, to learn from it.

Elizabeth Warren Proposes A New Bill Aimed At Eliminating Credit History As a Metric For Employment

By Chris Lazare

Photo by Tim Pierce

Many Americans are still afflicted by the damages created by the financial downturn in 2008.

Millions of Americans were put out of work, lost their savings, and had their homes foreclosed. One of the most prominent side effects stemming from the recession is a growth in poor credit ratings.

Americans are now trying to get back on their feet, however, being denied jobs because of poor credit ratings is all too common. Elizabeth Warren has just introduced a bill in the Senate which would bar prospective employers from checking and denying employment based on credit scores.

The Equal Employment For All Act would help millions of poor Americans who were disproportionately affected by the financial crisis. According to research, roughly 47 percent of employers check credit history in order to judge the competence and character of job applicants.

However, the credit rating of individuals doesn’t necessarily predict the potential productivity of their labor.

Let’s consider the logic used to deny Americans jobs based on their credit ratings.

A potential employer refuses to hire an individual because they have shown an inability to pay their credit card bills, healthcare bills or their mortgages. However, the credit report doesn’t explain why the individual wasn’t able to pay their bills. Perhaps, like many Americans, they are suffering from chronic unemployment since 2008. It is also possible his/her home was foreclosed on improperly, which can hurt credit reports by 250 points!

Now the individual is disqualified from employment because they didn’t have the means to pay their bills, presumably because they didn’t have a job in the first place. These metrics are unfair and unjust. Clearly, low wage workers and the middle class are disproportionately afflicted by such policies. Utilizing credit checks only exacerbates the issue of chronic joblessness.

After introducing the bill, Elizabeth Warren highlighted the unfairness of credit checks:

“A bad credit rating is far more often the result of unexpected medical costs, unemployment, economic downturns, or other bad breaks than it is a reflection on an individual’s character or abilities. Families have not fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis, and too many Americans are still searching for jobs. This is about basic fairness—let people compete on the merits, not on whether they already have enough money to pay all their bills.”

Using credit scores for hiring is already frowned upon.

More than 40 citizen advocate organizations support the bill. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington currently have laws, barring or limiting the use of credit checks for prospective employees. There isn’t a justifiable reason to place more barriers in front of individuals searching for a job.

Many Americans who possess poor credit ratings have them due to unforeseen circumstances. Although there hasn’t been any federal jobs bill passed in Washington, measures like the Equal Employment For All Act can help millions of Americans looking for work.

Bad budget deal for all those out of work

Paul Ryan’s budget deal heads to the House floor, while unemployment insurance remains missing from the negotiation. Ed Schultz and congressional panel discuss.

The Appalling Stance of Rand Paul

By CHARLES M. BLOW

I don’t put much past politicians. I stay prepared for the worst. But occasionally someone says something so insensitive that it catches me flat-footed.

Charles M. Blow 

Damon Winter/The New York Times

Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said Sunday on Fox News: “I do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they’re paid for. If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers.”

This statement strikes at the heart — were a heart to exist — of the divide between conservatives and liberals about whether the social safety net provides temporary help for those who hit hard times or functions as a kind of glue to keep them stuck there.

Whereas I am sure that some people will abuse any form of help, I’m by no means convinced that this is the exclusive domain of the poor and put-upon. Businesses and the wealthy regularly take advantage of subsidies and tax loopholes without blinking an eye. But somehow, when some poor people, or those who unexpectedly fall on hard times, take advantage of benefits for which they are eligible it’s an indictment of the morality and character of the poor as a whole.

The poor are easy to pick on. They are the great boogeymen and women, dragging us down, costing us money, gobbling up resources. That seems to be the conservative sentiment.

We have gone from a war on poverty in this country to a war on the poor, in which poor people are routinely demonized and scapegoated and attacked, and conservatives have led the charge.

They paint the poor as takers, work averse, in need of motivation and incentive.

Well, that is simply not my experience with poverty. I have been poor, and both my parents worked. I grew up among poor people, and almost all of them worked. The problem wasn’t lack of effort, but low pay. Folks simply couldn’t make enough to shake the specter of need.

In fact, the poor folks I knew growing up were some of the hardest working people I have ever known — rising before dawn to pack lunches and sip coffee, trying to get the mind right for a day of toil and sweat that breaks the body but not the spirit.

They were people who wanted what most folks want — to earn an honest wage for an honest day’s work; to live a happy, meaningful life that leaves a mark on the world when they are gone from it; to raise bright, healthy children who go further in life than they did; to be surrounded by family and friends and neighbors — a village — where people support and cared for one another.

That is why I have such a hard time with the conservative argument that helping those in need diminishes their desire to do for themselves, that it suckles them to passivity on a government teat. Hogwash.

To buy into this destructive lie about the character of the poor means you’ve either had no experience being poor, or have no capacity to empathize with their plight.

Being poor is a job unto itself. The daily juggle of supplying the most basic needs — food, shelter, medicine — and the stress of knowing that you are always just one twist of fate away from calamity.

James Baldwin put it best: “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”

Most people want to work. But sometimes, bad luck comes calling. Sometimes you have a job, but you lose it. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, a new one proves elusive.

And following the Great Recession, that is a particular problem. Maybe you are older and employers are less willing to take a chance. Maybe your industry is shrinking and becoming more efficient, getting by with fewer employees. Maybe the jobs you can find are farther from your house than you can travel and you can’t afford to move. The problems are plenty.

But what we shouldn’t do is to tell people who had jobs and lost them, people who want work and can’t find it, that to help them does them a “disservice.”

That is the height of arrogance and callousness. And it’s disrespectful.

YouTube suddenly begins flagging game-related videos

By Jeffrey Grubb

Something is going down on YouTube that is causing a headache for many of the channels that upload video game-related footage. The automated Content ID system that finds copyrighted material in the massive amounts of content uploaded to YouTube every day suddenly began flagging videos that feature games like Dead Space 3, Metro: Last Light, and more.

And this flagging could cost YouTubers potentially millions in lost ad revenue.

Total Biscuit

A content claim on Metro: Last Light from a company that does not own the rights to the game.

The odd thing is that YouTube Content ID is naming companies in these complaints that do not hold the copyrights to many of these games, as first reported by YouTube news site Tubefilter. For example, one uploader got a notice for publisher Deep Silver‘s Metro: Last Light (a horror-themed first-person shooter) from a company called 4GamerMovie, which is some kind of Japanese gaming website.

A representative for Deep Silver has since confirmed that the publisher fully permits YouTube creators to monetize videos featuring their games.

YouTubers: If you are experiencing flagging issues with @deepsilver please get in touch with us! RT me!
— Stephanie Schopp (@AgentTinsley) December 10, 2013

We’ve reached out to YouTube to ask why this is happening, and we’ll update this post with any new information.

YouTube’s Content ID rampage is affecting some of the largest creators on the site. Popular YouTube gameplay channel TheRadBrad, which has nearly 2 million subscribers, is getting hit hard.

“YouTube is crippling gaming channels with third-party claims,” TheRadBrad posted to Twitter.

“Every video I’ve uploaded since 2010 is slowly being taken away from me.”

The issue is that once a video is flagged in YouTube’s copyright system, the creator who uploaded it can no longer earn money from the ads that show before the content. For TheRadBrad, someone who does this for a living, that is devastating.

Well unfortunately this cripples my channel at the moment. I wish I could upload but it seems as if I won’t be able to until this is fixed.
— theRadBrad (@thaRadBrad) December 10, 2013

TheRadBrad, among others, are under the impression this is part of YouTube’s recent attempt to crack down on affiliates within multichannel networks (MCN). The way YouTube works is that if a video gets enough views, Google will begin sharing revenue with the creator if the content passes a check for copyrighted material. If a YouTube user joins an MCN, however, they can bypass that check and immediately begin earning from their videos.

Machinima is a popular and massive MCN that splits revenue with tons of creators. In January, however, YouTube plans to start randomly pre-screening affiliates’ uploads for copyrighted content.

It’s possible that this wave of Content ID conflicts is a part of that.

For now, people that create game-related content on YouTube are wondering if the site even wants them around. Gaming continues to make up a huge part of YouTube’s traffic. The site’s most-subscribed channel is the game-playing PewDiePie … who plays games while screaming. He has more than 17.6 million subscribers, which is 3 million more than the next closest individual channel, Smosh, which also runs a lot of gaming content.

Invisible Child - Girl in the Shadows: Dasani’s Homeless Life

By ANDREA ELLIOTT

As New York has been reborn, children like Dasani have been left behind.

Pat Robertson's Latest Jawdropper

Posted by: dave-dr-gonzo

Is it just us — or has Pat Robertson been on a roll lately? By roll, we mean he’s saying the sort of outrageous things one would expect from, say, Rush Limbaugh, Hunter Moore, or my senile 92-year-old Uncle Ernie. His latest jawdropper came in response to a woman who had been through two very bad marriages:

TV preacher Pat Robertson this week advised a woman that she wasn’t “marriage material” because her “character” made her choose abusive men.

On Thursday’s edition of The 700 Club, a woman asked Robertson if God would classify her as an adulteress and send her to Hell if she got married for a third time after her first two husbands were alcoholics or refused to work.

“You’ve got a serious problem,” Robertson told the woman. “And I don’t think marriage is for you. You have picked a selection of losers. There’s something in your character that draws you to these men who are indigent or abusive. You don’t need to get married again.”

The televangelist said that the woman was probably not going to go to Hell but she was “making your own hell here on Earth.”

There’s nothing like bringing hope and inspiring to a caller in emotional need, Pat! Feel the warmth in this clip, courtesy Crooks and Liars.

Right-wing author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza sets off Twitter storm with outrageously racist tweet

The man who brought the world "2016: Obama's America" tries and fails to be funny on Twitter
 
By Elias Isquith

Disgraced far-right polemicist and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza sparked an outcry on Twitter on Tuesday with a racist tweet comparing President Obama to Trayvon Martin. D’Souza eventually deleted the tweet, but here’s a screen grab via MSNBC’s Adam Serwer:

---

---

D’Souza, who was the president of the small evangelical school the King’s College until he was asked to resign after being caught engaging in an extramarital affair, is no stranger to controversy. His pseudo-documentary, “2016: Obama’s America,” while popular among right-wing audiences, nevertheless earned poor reviews and multiple charges of racism. The book on which the film was based, also by D’Souza, fared little better. It even garnered a negative review in the right-wing Weekly Standard.

Considering the source, then, D’Souza’s tweet is less than surprising. Still pretty terrible, though!

Elias Isquith is an assistant editor at Salon, focusing on politics. Follow him on Twitter at @eliasisquith, and email him at eisquith@salon.com.

Pizza Hut Employee: I Was Fired For Defending Thanksgiving

By Michael Hunt

With many stores staying open during Thanksgiving this year thereby forcing workers to miss out on spending the holiday with their families, one store manager decided to take a stand on behalf of his employees — and was promptly terminated.

Tony Rohr had held various position at the Pizza Hut in Elkhart, Indiana, since starting out as a cook there some ten years ago.

He was eventually promoted to general manager of the franchise, but his decision to refuse an order to open the store on Thanksgiving ultimately cost him the job.





"I said why can't we be the company that stands up and says we care about our employees and they can have the day off," he told local CBS affiliate WSBT.

According to Rohr, the store, owned by the franchise behemoth Franchise Management Investors US, has typically been closed on Thanksgiving to give employees time off to spend with loves ones.

When he was told to either open the store or sign a letter of resignation, Rohr opted for a third option: Sending his bosses a letter of protest.

"I am not quitting. I do not resign however I accept that the refusal to comply with this greedy, immoral request means the end of my tenure with this company," Rohr wrote in his letter. "I hope you realize that it's the people at the bottom of the totem pole that make your life possible."

WSBT says the franchisee's director of operations insists Rohr quit, but also acknowledged that the decision to keep doors open on Thanksgiving came from corporate in response to other companies doing the same.

Pizza Hut's corporate offices have so far remained mum on the matter, but its Facebook page has been inundated with angry posts from customers unhappy with Rohr's termination.

Dumbest Cops In America

MILVALE, Pa. — The conduct of the Millvale police is being questioned after a video surfaced of a cuffed man being TASERed at Allegheny County Jail.

Thomas J. Smith, 27, is seen in the video cuffed on the floor, and slamming his head against a wall before an unnamed officer uses a TASER to stop him.

Smith was arrested in September and charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, aggravated harassment and public intoxication.

Smith's family asked a lawyer, David Shrager, to speak on their behalf after seeing the video, claiming the suspect has mental health issues, and TASERing him was unnecessary.

"It's easy to armchair quarterback people, and I get that, and people have to make split second decisions, but in light of the entire part that I found; I did find it to be disturbing," said Shrager.

Workers Gain The Upper Hand Against Walmart

By Nathaniel Downes

Walmart is turning toxic. With workers on strike in 12 states and sharp scrutiny from the National Labor Board, their CEO stepped aside this morning. – Photo of striking Walmart workers from OUR Walmart.

This is a bad week for Walmart. Not only have workers in 28 stores spread across 12 states gone on strike, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has announced the result of its probe, which went against the Benton, AK-based retail giant.

So it was no surprise when the CEO, Mike Duke, stepped aside this morning, ahead of the shareholders meeting on Tuesday, and just before the holiday shopping season begins on “Black Friday.”

Workers Gain The Upper Hand Against Walmart.

The company is under heavy fire for the billions it receives in corporate welfare. On top of all the tax breaks, our government covers health care, food stamps, and more for Walmart’s underpaid workers.

This costs US taxpayers several billion per year, and the GOP keeps slashing those benefits, which in turn is putting the squeeze on Walmart workers. The company will need to pay more to prevent more turnover from angry workers.

Already, Walmart suffers from the failure of temporary workers to make up for the lack of full-time workers, a policy they began to avoid footing the bill for workers’ benefits. Walmart has even had to resort to running a food drive for its own workers.

Of bigger concern for the company are the findings by the NLRB. In the NLRB’s statement, they found that:

“During two national television news broadcasts and in statements to employees at Wal-Mart stores in California and Texas, Wal-Mart unlawfully threatened employees with reprisal if they engaged in strikes and protests on November 22, 2012.” It also ruled that “Wal-Mart stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington unlawfully threatened, disciplined and/or terminated employees for having engaged in legally protected strikes and protests.”

Fired Walmart Strikers May Get Their Jobs Back.

From La Mina Circle

After the NLRB decision, Walmart is facing the chance that it will have to rehire workers that they fired — and pay them back wages — for last year’s thwarted strike. On top of that, the Labor Board can force the company to inform workers of their rights to unionize, and the process by which they can bring unions into to the stores. This would be a bitter pill for a company that has fought against unions for decades.

Mike Duke’s departure may signal the closing of this dark chapter in Walmart history. Doubtful, but one can hope. 

Why Do CNN and HLN Keep Giving Airtime to George Zimmerman's White-Power Buddy?

By Mariah Blake

Since George Zimmerman was arrested earlier this week for allegedly threatening his girlfriend with a shotgun, many of his defenders have gone silent or turned tail. Speaking on Fox News after Zimmerman's Tuesday arraignment, Geraldo Rivera, a former Zimmerman booster, went so far as to call him "borderline psychotic."

But Zimmerman's neighbor and de facto spokesman, Frank Taaffe, has pressed ahead with the media crusade he began in the runup to Zimmerman's trial on charges of murdering unarmed teen Trayvon Martin. And despite revelations that Taaffe is a convicted criminal and unabashed racist who hosts a white-power podcast, cable news networks have continued giving him a platform.

Most recently, Taaffe appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight and argued that Zimmerman was suffering from post-traumatic stress. Morgan asked Taaffe what Zimmerman—who faces charges of aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic violence battery, and criminal mischief—was doing in a house full of guns. "Boys will have their toys," Taaffe replied. He also called Zimmerman's girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, and his ex-wife, Shellie (who has alleged that Zimmerman threatened her and her father with a gun, too) "opportunistic."

Earlier this week, Taaffe appeared on HLN's Nancy Grace and Dr. Drew On Call. "George is being oppressed by the press," he told an incredulous Grace, who asked: "So according to you, what is it? A conspiracy between the...the ATF officer, the girlfriend in 2006, the wife in September 2013, and me, I guess?"

"No," Taaffe said. "He's allying himself with these women that he shouldn't be with."

Here is the Nancy Grace segment:

Here's a segment from Dr. Drew On Call:

In media interviews during Zimmerman's trial, Taaffe made similar personal attacks on Martin and posted virulently racist comments on Twitter—one read "the only time a black life is validated is when a white person kills them."

Taaffe himself has been arrested (though never convicted) repeatedly on stalking and domestic violence charges, and he served nine months in jail for trespassing in his ex-wife's home. But there was no mention of his criminal record on CNN or HLN, both of which have given him ample airtime in the past. As Mother Jones reported in August:

CNN and its sister network, HLN, have repeatedly invited Taaffe to weigh in on legal and technical aspects of the Zimmerman case, from the implications of witness testimony to the meaning of forensic evidence….When Valerie Rao, Jacksonville, Florida's chief medical examiner, testified during the trial that Zimmerman's injuries were minor enough to be treated with Band-Aids—an assertion that cast doubt on Zimmerman's claims that Martin had bashed his head repeatedly on the sidewalk—Taaffe appeared on the Nancy Grace show and argued that Rao was wrong.

When Taaffe made these appearances, some still made the case that Zimmerman was a community-minded neighborhood watch volunteer who perceived Martin as a genuine threat. But this version of events seems far less plausible in light of his recent actions. And giving Taaffe a platform to bash Zimmerman's alleged victims is that much less defensible.

Bashir: Palin, ‘a world class idiot’

Martin Bashir gives Sarah Palin – who compared financial debt to slavery – a remedial course on the physical scars and humiliation of slavery.

Turkey Basics: Safe Thawing

By the U.S. Department of Agriculture

“The Big Thaw”

Turkeys must be kept at a safe temperature during “the big thaw.” While frozen, a turkey is safe indefinitely. However, as soon as it begins to thaw, any bacteria that may have been present before freezing can begin to grow again.

A package of frozen meat or poultry left thawing on the counter more than 2 hours is not at a safe temperature. Even though the center of the package may still be frozen, the outer layer of the food is in the “Danger Zone” between 40 and 140 °F — at a temperature where food-borne bacteria multiply rapidly.

There are three safe ways to thaw food: in the refrigerator, in cold water, and in the microwave oven.

Safe Methods for Thawing

Immediately after grocery store checkout, take the frozen turkey home and store it in the freezer.
Frozen turkeys should not be left on the back porch, in the car trunk, in the basement, or any place else where temperatures cannot be constantly monitored.

Refrigerator Thawing

When thawing a turkey in the refrigerator:
Plan ahead: allow approximately 24 hours for each 4 to 5 pounds in a refrigerator set at 40 °F or below.
Place the turkey in a container to prevent the juices from dripping on other foods.

Refrigerator Thawing Times (Whole Turkey)
4 to 12 pounds — 1 to 3 days
12 to 16 pounds — 3 to 4 days
16 to 20 pounds — 4 to 5 days
20 to 24 pounds —5 to 6 days

A thawed turkey can remain in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 days before cooking. Foods thawed in the refrigerator can be refrozen without cooking but there may be some loss of quality.

Cold Water Thawing

Allow about 30 minutes per pound.
First be sure the turkey is in a leak-proof plastic bag to prevent cross-contamination and to prevent the turkey from absorbing water, resulting in a watery product.
Submerge the wrapped turkey in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes until the turkey is thawed. Cook the turkey immediately after it is thawed.

Cold Water Thawing Times

4 to 12 pounds — 2 to 6 hours
12 to 16 pounds — 6 to 8 hours
16 to 20 pounds — 8 to 10 hours
20 to 24 pounds — 10 to 12 hours
A turkey thawed by the cold water method should be cooked immediately. After cooking, meat from the turkey can be refrozen.

Microwave Thawing

Follow the microwave oven manufacturer’s instruction when defrosting a turkey. Plan to cook it immediately after thawing because some areas of the food may become warm and begin to cook during microwaving. Holding partially cooked food is not recommended because any bacteria present wouldn’t have been destroyed.

A turkey thawed in the microwave must be cooked immediately.

Psychic Sylvia Browne Dead

World famous psychic Sylvia Browne -- who appeared on all sorts of TV shows including "Montel" "Larry King Live" and "Unsolved Mysteries" -- has passed away .. TMZ has learned.

Browne specialized in psychic detective work, and attempted to help on several missing person cases ... with varying results. 

Browne's son, Chris, tells TMZ ... Sylvia passed away this morning in San Jose, surrounded by family and friends.  She was 77.

Browne most recently took heat after famously announcing that Amanda Berry had died after she went missing in 2003 ... because, as we all know now, she wasn't dead.  Sylvia chalked up the misinformation as a simple mistake.

The following message was just posted on Sylvia's Facebook page, "Sylvia graduated today. She was surrounded by family and friends. What a legacy. She shared so much. We will carry on her knowledge with hypnosis and Journey of the Soul and her many books. What a great party they must be having on the Other Side. Bless everyone."

Papantonio: Lazy Media Attacks Obama

Media outlets have been comparing the roll out of the Affordable Care Act to the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina.

Mike Papantonio appears on The Ed Show on MSNBC to explain why the lazy media can’t understand the difference between a website problem and an incompetent Bush presidency.

Mistakes Were Made - By Tom Tomorrow

Republican Alternatives - By Tom Tomorrow

Bernie Sanders For President? It May Happen

Bernie Sanders has now stated that if no true progressive candidate emerges in 2016, he will run for the office of President of the United States.

Senator Bernie Sanders has long been the progressive voice out of his home state of Vermont. There is one thing, however, which he has never spoken of, a desire to be President of the United States. As he has put it may times in the past, “There are people in this world who, ever since they were 12 years of age, they decided they wanted to be president of the United States.” But, with the lack of true progressive candidates emerging for 2016, he made a startling revelation to the Burlington Free Press late Friday.

Bernie Sanders For President, 2016.

Do you hear that? That sound of panic from the right-wing? The crescendo of noise which fills their ranks? It is the sound of panic. They thought they had to deal with the conservative wing of the Democratic Party, led by Hillary Clinton, and in a fight between center-right and far-right, the right-wing still wins in the end.

Now, they are facing a candidate who won in 2012 without running a single attack ad, in fact did not use television advertisement at all. He carried the state with 71% of the votes, despite not having any party affiliation. A true independent, he turned down offers from both the Democratic Party and Vermont Progressive party to run as their candidate. His nationwide popularity remains high, with him being the third most popular Senator in the United States.

Socialism is alive in America, and winning.

And, him entering the race comes after a wave of progressive, and dare I say it, socialist victories in elections already in the United States. Seattle, Washington, the 15th largest metropolitan area within the United States, just elected Kshama Sawant, a Socialist, as their new city councilwoman. This victory prompted a wave of panic among the right-wing media sphere, even prompting Forbes Magazine to declare its absolute confusion over a socialist economist and politician.
Understand, this is not the right-wing taking some politician with a D next to their name and proclaiming they are a socialist. This is an actual Socialist, proud of that label, who ran under the label of Socialist Alternative and won.

Bernie Sanders just reshaped the election landscape in 2016, running Or not.

Senator Sanders is putting his money where his mouth is. He knows the continuing swing to the right will only destroy the United States. For years, no viable progressive candidate has stepped forward in the run for President. The Democratic Party has regularly run center-right candidates such as Hillary Clinton or centrist moderate candidates such as Barack Obama. For this country to correct the damage done by decades of right-wing destruction of our nation, he knows we need a true left-wing candidate, a progressive, even a socialist. And if none step forward, and force the debate sharply to the left, he will step up and do it himself. And with his popularity above all anticipated candidates from both parties, this puts all who would put their hats into the ring on alert.

Socialism is on the march in America. Either the major parties have to embrace it, or witness as they are trampled by it. After all, calling President Obama socialist looks incredibly silly with real Socialists and Progressives now entering the race.

Ultimately, that is what Bernie Sanders is doing. Even if he never runs, he is forcing the debate to the left. He recognizes that the debate in this country has for too long been dominated by the right-wing. Our nation is greatest when it embraces its liberal nature. By putting his name out there in this manner, he is forcing the rhetoric to the people, to the middle class. After the victory of the liberal Democrat, Bill de Blasio in New York City, and Socialist Kshama Sawant in Seattle, the time is right to push back against the Conservatives attempting to destroy this country.

As for the Vermont senator, we only have one thing to say.

Give em hell, Bernie!

Need for healthcare hits close to home

Ed Schultz shares his wife’s very personal experience with ovarian cancer & the need for all Americans to have high-end health insurance. Rep. Schakowsky joins.

Clear Channel's Premiere Axes Randi Rhodes

By Brad Friedman

Well, whaddaya know?

Clear Channel, the largest radio station owner in America, a company owned by Mitt Romney's Bain Capital LLC, and the parent company of the largest syndication company in the U.S., Premier Networks, has now cleared our public airwaves of pretty much every single non-Rightwing voice.

Cleansing complete, according to Politico. And, happily for all corporate interests, just in time for the 2014 elections!...

 

Premiere Networks on Wednesday announced it is dropping liberal talker Randi Rhodes' radio show at the end of the year, the syndicator confirmed to POLITICO.

Rhodes, whose nationally syndicated show airs Monday through Friday from 3-6 p.m., had suggested to her listeners since October that her days on radio were "totally numbered." Premiere said today it will no longer carry her show after the year ends.

"Premiere Networks will no longer produce and distribute The Randi Rhodes Show after Tuesday, December 31, 2013," Premiere's public relations director Rachel Nelson told POLITICO in an email.

While Wednesday's confirmation from Premiere is the first official news about the end of Rhodes' contract, the liberal talker had alluded to listeners in October that "my ability to talk to you is going away."

"The only way you'll be able to find me in a little while is if you have my personal phone number," she said on her Oct. 18 show.

Rhodes' regular guest host Nicole Sandler will fill in for Rhodes from Dec. 16-31, Sandler told POLITICO, making Rhodes' likely last day on air this year Dec. 13.

Clear Channel owns some 850 AM and FM stations across the country. They are allowed to operate them via virtually free public licenses to broadcast over our public airwaves, as granted to them by the FCC in exchange, largely, for little more than their agreement to "operate in the public interest".

You're welcome.

They also control what will be played over those stations via their syndication arm Premiere, in what appears to me at least, as I have argued over the years, to be a violation of United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., the 1948 Supreme Court antitrust ruling that ended monopolies by movie studios which controlled both theater ownership and the products which were displayed in them.

Though they are axing the Randi Rhodes program, I suspect they will continue syndicating and broadcasting their other shows across the nation's public airwaves in 2014, as hosted in the public's interest by folks like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.

Tens of millions will continue to listen to each of them --- for free, over our public airwaves --- on their way to and from work each day.

Finding non-Rightwing voices, for free, over our public airwaves will become even more difficult than it already is and completely impossible for the vast majority of Americans.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have guest-hosted The Randi Rhodes show in the past, and have been a frequent guest over the years, with both her and her regular guest-host, my friend Nicole Sandler.

Democratic Candidate Takes Lead in Razor-Thin VA Attorney General Tally

GOP-requested review of several precincts in Richmond City gives Mark Herring (D) edge over Mark Obenshain (R)...

 

By Brad Friedman on 11/11/2013, 1:18 P.M. PT 

For the first time since the bulk of votes were tallied in Virginia on Election Night last Tuesday, the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, state Sen. Mark Herring appears to now have taken the lead over Republican state Sen. Mark Obenshain in the razor-thin results of more than 2.2 million votes cast.

Herring just barely leap-frogged Obenshain's totals on Monday afternoon after tallies from a voting machine in the city of Richmond --- the results of which had been previously missing from official tallies since Election Night --- were added to the running totals. The addition of 190 votes from electronic voting machine #3791, plus a few other votes from seven other precincts re-reviewed by Richmond City's Electoral Board on Monday, resulted in what now appears to be a 115 vote lead for Herring over Obenshain.

While the results posted by State Board of Elections (SBE) do not yet reflect that change in the state tally (showing, instead, a 17 vote lead by Obenshain), a number of election experts following and closely documenting the post-election canvassing and correction of vote tallies from across the state have confirmed Herring's new lead. Those experts have been consistently and accurately ahead of the SBE in reporting results in many cases over the past week.

Ironically, the review of the poll tapes printed out by the tabulation computers from eight different precincts in very-heavily Democratic-leaning Richmond City today, came at the request of the Republican Party...

Fairfax provisionals still to come...

"Richmond City's GOP-requested recanvass of 8 precincts could not have gone much worse for Obenshain (R)," tweeted Dave Wasserman of the non-partisan Cook Political Report, just after poll tapes from each of the questioned precincts had been publicly reviewed by the Board.

Wasserman is one of those "election geeks" who have been following results in the VA AG contest closely. He was among the first to notice that some 3,000 absentee ballots from Democratic-leaning Fairfax County had also not been included in the official totals reported to the state following last Tuesday's election.

After a re-tally of those overlooked Fairfax ballots (said to have been due, in part, to a faulty Diebold optical-scanner on Election Night), Herring would have taken a slim lead over Obenshain, but for another (still-unexplained) computer tally error discovered in heavily-Republican Bedford County on the same day last Friday. The addition of another 500 or so votes for Obenshain there allowed him to maintain a very slim lead until today.

It should be noted that while Richmond City, which adjusted its totals today, leans heavily Democratic, two out of three of the Richmond City Electoral Board members are Republican.

The apparent razor-thin lead for Herring over Obenshain comes even before the rest of the provisional ballots in heavily Democratic-leaning Fairfax County are added to the total. Those ballots have been the subject of some controversy since Saturday, when a memo from the Republican-led SBE, regarding whether or not attorneys may argue on behalf of including a provisional ballot in the county totals without the voter present, led to the Fairfax County Electoral Board (also majority Republican) extending the time for voters to come to election headquarters to argue in favor of counting their provisional ballots.

Fairfax will now not conclude its adjudication of some 500 provisionals until Tuesday, when the addition of those ballots is likely (though not conclusively known) to result in yet another net pickup for the Democratic candidate.

Barring any other surprises --- and there have been many over the past week --- Herring will likely head into the certification period with the lead over Obenshain.

Virginia's version of a 'recount'...

The certification deadline for all of the state's 133 voting jurisdictions is midnight on Tuesday, November 12. Official certification by the State Board of Elections takes place thereafter, and a "recount" request by whoever is trailing at that time is almost certain to be filed. A "recount" would take place in December.

Unfortunately, a "recount" in Virginia is much less than it might appear. Most of the state's votes are cast on 100% unverifiable Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems, on which it is impossible after an election to know if any vote cast on them actually reflects the intent of any voter. Those votes will not be able to be "recounted" at all. Rather, according to § 24.2-802 (D) of the Code of Virginia [PDF], a "recount" of DRE votes consists of little more than checking the results tapes printed out by the machines at the end of Election Night once again...

 

For direct recording electronic machines (DREs), the recount officials shall open the envelopes with the printouts and read the results from the printouts. If the printout is not clear, or on the request of the court, the recount officials shall rerun the print out from the machine or examine the counters as appropriate.

So there is no way to know if any of the DRE votes, the majority of those cast, are actually accurate, as per any voter.

There are, however, many paper ballots cast across the state --- both absentee and provisional ballots, as well as normal paper ballots cast in jurisdictions like Fairfax County, the single largest voting jurisdiction in the state. In a race this close, a mis-tally of some of those ballots alone could flip the final results of the election in any direction.

Unfortunately, the state's statutory scheme for "recounting" those paper ballots is not much better than it is for the 100% unverifiable DRE votes. According to the state election code, a "recount" of those ballots will consist of little more, in most cases, than simply running them through the very same oft-inaccurate, easily-gamed optical scan computers that tallied them in the first place...

 

For optical scan tabulators, the recount officials rerun all the ballots through a tabulator programmed to count only the votes for the office or issue in question in the recount and to set aside all ballots containing write-in votes, overvotes, and undervotes. The ballots that are set aside and any ballots not accepted by the tabulator shall be hand counted...The result calculated for ballots accepted by the tabulator during the recount shall be considered the correct determination for those ballots unless the court finds sufficient cause to rule otherwise.

Short of a court order to hand-count the paper ballots cast in Virginia --- what one would normally think of as a "recount" --- the bulk of the paper ballots will simply be re-scanned instead. Whatever the optical-scan tabulators report in that "recount" will be the final, official numbers for the election...unless the "recount" is subsequently contested after completion in a court of law.

So, yes, this could take a while...

Health Care Reform Talk With Doctor Hand

By Tom Tomorrow on November 6, 2013 - 1:12 PM ET

Rand Paul does some heavy lifting for a speech

By Dana Milbank, Published: November 8

Speech(1) by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky accepting the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, as prepared for delivery:

(1) Source: Wikipedia

My fellow Americans,

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States, in the name of all those who do the work, pay the taxes, raise the kids and play by the rules, in the name of the hardworking Americans who make up our forgotten middle class.

Tonight, to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans, I ask for your support. I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.

But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people. This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. The new frontier of which I speak is spread like stars, like a thousand points of light. A society with the motto “every man a king.” Every man a king, so there would be no such thing as a man or woman who did not have the necessities of life, who would not be dependent upon the whims and caprices and ipsi dixit of the financial barons for a living. What do we propose by this society?

Read my lips: A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage; tear down this wall; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold; give me liberty or give me death.

Tonight is a particular honor for me because — let’s face it — my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats. I still believe in a place called Hope. I am paying for this microphone. I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Ich bin ein Berliner. I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country. I am not a crook. I am not a potted plant. Four score and seven years ago — a day which will live in infamy — I did not have sexual relations with that woman.

I have a dream! It was a little cocker spaniel dog in a crate that he’d sent all the way from Texas, black and white, spotted. And our little girl Tricia, the 6-year-old, named it “Checkers.”

We hold these truths to be self-evident: Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; a city set on a hill cannot be hidden; a house divided against itself cannot stand; an iron curtain has descended across the Continent; it takes a village; Atlas shrugged; if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.

This is the war to end war. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender. The world must be made safe for democracy. We must be the great arsenal of democracy. We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. In war there is no substitute for victory. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask:

Have you no sense of decency, sir?

Where’s the beef?

Can we all get along?

For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.

Keep hope alive! I have not yet begun to fight. Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. Our long national nightmare is over. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Let’s roll.
 
Twitter: @Milbank
 
Read more from Dana Milbank’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

The McLaughlin Group 11/08/13

Feds subject drug suspect to vaginal/anal probe, X-ray, CT Scan, without a warrant - find nothing

Created: 11/07/2013 10:29 PM
By: Chris Ramirez, KOB Eyewitness News 4

It may be hard to believe that this could happen to yet another New Mexican. KOB's 4 On Your Side team found a woman who claims she was violated by federal agents and doctors.

Laura Schaur Ives, Legal Director for the New Mexico Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, is representing the woman.

Schaur Ives said the woman doesn't wish to be identified because she considers herself to be a victim of sexual assault. Schaur Ives said the woman crossed the border at a Port of Entry from Juarez, Mexico into El Paso.

A dog alerted to the woman, and Schaur Ives said federal agents stripped searched her at the facility, asked her to undress, to spread her genitalia and to cough. Female agents also allegedly pressed their fingers into her vagina looking for drugs.

The woman claims they didn't discover anything during the on-site strip search, so they took her to University Medical Center of El Paso.

"First, medical staff observed her making a bowl movement and no drugs were found at that point," Schaur Ives said. "They then took an X-ray, but it did not reveal any contraband. They then did a cavity search and they probed her vagina and her anus, they described in the medical records as bi-manual--two handed. Finally, they did a cat scan. Again, they found nothing."

The ACLU claims the federal agents never secured a search warrant before probing or touching the woman.

"And her medical records indicate that she refused consent," Shaur Ives said.

Doug Mosier, spokesman for Customs and Border Patrol, issued the following statement:

"CBP cannot verify information relative to these ACLU allegations since we have not seen a copy of the report, nor have we been provided necessary details in order to investigate. CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe. We do not tolerate corruption or abuse within our ranks, and we fully cooperate with any criminal or administrative investigations of alleged misconduct by any of our personnel, on or off-duty."

Your Weekly Address