Saturday, April 5, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
LA Times Scandal Exposed. Reporter Fired, Errors Admitted.
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LA Times Scandal Exposed. Reporter Fired, Errors Admitted.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Breaking story on shots fired in DC #N3
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Breaking story on shots fired in DC #N3
Monday, February 17, 2014
The Free Syrian Army fired Gen. Idriss over battleground failings
The Free Syrian Army has sacked its military chief after the Western-backed rebels suffered battlefield setbacks, amid signs the warring parties are escalating the fighting that has already killed more than 140,000 people.
Activists warned Monday that regime troops are preparing a ground offensive against the town of Yabrud, the last rebel stronghold in the strategic Qalamoun region near Lebanon‘s border, after days of aerial bombardments.
On the diplomatic front, US Secretary of State John Kerry slammed Russia on Monday for “enabling” Syria‘s President Bashar al-Assad to stay in power, after Geneva peace talks broke off without result over the weekend.
Moscow quickly dismissed the allegation and launched its own broadside, accusing the US of failing to ensure a “truly representative opposition delegation” attended the talks.
More from GlobalPost: Kerry blames Assad government of stonewalling latest Syria peace talks
The sacking of rebel military commander Selim Idriss was announced Sunday by the FSA, which said he was being replaced by Brigadier General Abdelilah al-Bashir, an army deserter.
Colonel Qassem Saadeddine of the rebel coalition said the decision was taken due to “the paralysis within the military command these past months” and the need to “restructure.”
A source inside the Syrian opposition told AFP that Idriss — who was appointed to the role in December 2012 — had faced criticism for failings on the battlefield.
These included “errors and carelessness in combat” and “poor distribution of weapons” among the rebels on the ground, the source said.
The FSA has taken a beating on the battlefield in recent months not only by regime troops but also by Islamist fighters who have joined the battle to unseat Assad.
Considered the “moderate” rebel group, the FSA was once the country’s strongest armed opposition force but is now increasingly marginalized by Islamists, including Al Qaeda-linked groups.
Analysts said that with the failure of the latest round of peace talks, Syria’s regime and rebels are likely to ratchet up military pressure on the ground.
“I fear that the failure of the Geneva talks will lead to military escalation — it will probably get worse before it gets better,” said Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
“Both sides will try to show that they can change the balance on the ground in their favor, and that they aren’t forced to negotiate out of weakness.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported a surge of fighting Monday around Yabrud, which lies on a strategic highway linking Damascus and the central city of Homs.
The head of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP that the Syrian air force dropped explosive-packed barrels on the outskirts of Yabrud, and that fighting had erupted in the nearby rebel-held towns of Ras al-Maara and Al-Sahel.
Pro-regime newspaper Al-Watan reported that the troops were battling jihadists around Yabrud, including fighters from Al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/140217/the-free-syrian-army-fired-gen-idriss-battleground-fa
The Free Syrian Army fired Gen. Idriss over battleground failings
A Montana School Just Fired a Teacher for Getting Pregnant. That Actually Happens All the Time.
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A Montana School Just Fired a Teacher for Getting Pregnant. That Actually Happens All the Time.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Number of US army officers fired for misconduct tripled in 3 yrs – report
US armed forces misconduct has reached worrying proportions, with drug, alcohol and sexual abuses and expulsions on the rise, documents obtained by the AP reveal.
The past three years seem to have been the hardest on army officers, as they have seen a steep, three-fold increase in departures due to misconduct and internal crimes, according to the documents. A total of 119 Army officers were forced to leave due to misconduct in 2010, which closely matched the average since 2000, but the figure more than tripled in 2013 to 387. For enlisted soldiers, the number jumped from 5,600 in 2007 to upward of 11,000 in 2013.
This may be in part due to the army’s rapid expansion in the last decade, owing to a soaring demand for soldiers in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. This may have led to a relaxing of standards for the purpose of retaining soldiers in ranks that needed to stay filled.
Also, a possible reason is that long, repeated exposure to combat puts both an individual strain on the soldiers and their leaders, but also changes the ethics and style of how recruitment and behavioral oversight are conducted in periods of prolonged war.
Similarly, the protracted period of conflict could have led to a greater number of soldiers with psychological problems being allowed to stay, because commanders didn’t have the time or the luxury of being more selective about who to keep and who to dismiss.
At the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions, the Army was inflated to a record 570,000, more than any other military service.
Speaking to the AP, one of the Army’s top officials, General Ray Odierno, had a slightly expanded take on the issue, believing that soldiers’ commitment and competence may also have forced commanders to overlook certain disciplinary or psychological issues in the military.
General Ray Odierno, commanding general of the Multinational Force Iraq (Reuters / Saad Shalash)
Odierno doesn’t believe that “a lack of character was tolerated in [the war] theater, but the fact of the last 10 or 12 years of repeated deployments, of the high op-tempo — we might have lost focus on this issue.”
Gambling, drinking and sexual misconduct form part of a series of high-profile scandals that have plagued the US military, leading to scathing reviews and changes in personnel regulations. One army general was demoted for lavish spending, while another had to face charges of sexual misconduct, with multiple gambling and drinking violations pinned on a number of others.
The US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey, said: “It is not the war that has caused this, it is the pace, and our failure to understand that at that pace, we were neglecting the tools that manage us as a profession over time.”
General Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Reuters / Joshua Roberts)
The string of offenses also extends to some truly massive cases along the lines of Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters, while some posed for pictures with their body parts. Cases like these lead Odierno to the conclusion that more attention needs to be paid to the problem, and that there is a move in the positive direction. “We are not tolerant at all of those showing a lack of character… We have to refocus ourselves so we get to where we think is the right place.”
Regarding the Navy, in the period 2004-13, one third of all misconduct cases had to do with drugs and alcohol, of which 1,400 each year were classified as “serious offences,” often involving civil or criminal trials.
American commanders believe the problem cannot be traced back to any one particular issue and are working out ways to identify all issues that lead to intense misconduct by their military.
As Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said during a recent briefing: “I don’t think there is one simple answer to the issue of ethics, values, a lapse in some of those areas… Was it a constant focus of 12 years on two long land wars, taking our emphasis off some of these other areas? I don’t know.”
Following these thoughts, Hagel announced a plan to appoint a special officer that would deal with identifying the root causes of what is happening.
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (Reuters / Yuri Gripas)
Speaking about how the problem extends not only to junior officers, but also to senior leaders, Odierno said that a lot of them do not realize that power is another factor – a corrupting one. “Some don’t realize it’s happening to them,” he said of its effects on character.
As part of the effort to address the problem, senior officers are facing evaluation by their juniors at the behest of the military and its new policies.
http://rt.com/usa/army-misconduct-soldiers-rise-280/
Number of US army officers fired for misconduct tripled in 3 yrs – report
Saturday, February 1, 2014
BREAKING: Sources Confirm 9 U.S. Military Commanders Fired by Barack Hussein Obama
Why has he not been arrested yet ? It’s quite obvious what he is doing and look who is sitting at his right side. I can just imagine how much can be laid at her doorstep. I can’t even say much now. This is very upsetting and his drive to destroy our Country cannot be allowed to continue. Congress better forget about what Party they’re with and start being Americans for once. They can stop him if only they would put our Nation first.
BREAKING: Sources Confirm 9 U.S. Military Commanders Fired by Barack Hussein Obama
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
10 Stupid Reasons To Get Fired
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10 Stupid Reasons To Get Fired
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Fired Sen. Alexander Aide Allegedly Had Hundreds Of Child Porn Videos
The former top aide to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) who was arrested Wednesday had hundreds of videos depicting child pornography on a hard drive, according to new court documents.
In a criminal complaint filed on Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C., a U.S. Postal Inspector described how authorities investigating a website that offered DVDs featuring nude young boys identified Ryan Loskarn, Alexander’s former chief of staff, as a customer back in 2010. In October of this year, the document states, investigators identified Loskarn’s residential IP address on the Gnutella peer-to-peer file-sharing network offering files for download with names that suggested child pornography.
Agents downloaded identical videos from the Gnutella network, and found one that depicted a man performing sexual acts with a prepubescent girl.
On Wednesday, law enforcement agents descended on Loskarn’s Washington, D.C. residence and executed a search warrant. They retrieved a portable hard drive — which they believe Loskarn had placed on a snowy ledge outside one of the home’s windows when they arrived. On the hard drive, authorities found “hundreds of videos depicting underage boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” among other videos containing child pornography.
Loskarn was expected to appear in court Thursday to face charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. Alexander announced on Wednesday that he had fired Loskarn, and replaced him with a new chief of staff.
Read the complaint (warning: the document contains explicit descriptions of child pornography):
Fired Sen. Alexander Aide Allegedly Had Hundreds Of Child Porn Videos
Monday, December 2, 2013
Gibbs: ‘Inexplicable’ If Someone Involved in Creation of Obamacare Website Isn’t Fired
freebeacon.com
November 2, 2013
Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday on Now With Alex Wagner it would be “inexplicable” if somebody or a whole team of people were not fired for their role in the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare website.
Now an MSNBC contributor, Gibbs said if such action wasn’t taken by the spring, he would be surprised:
ALEX WAGNER: Robert, I think the big picture question here is does the White House learn anything or do anything tangible in response? Ron Fournier calling in his own way the sensational title of his piece is, ‘Fire Your Team, Mr. President.’ Or I think it was, President Obama needs to fires himself. Not literally, of course, but practically he needs to shake up his team. You have said that you think once these problems have been fixed that there will be some staffing changes. Do you still think that’s true and do you think it needs to be as dramatic as what Ron Fournier suggests?
This article was posted: Monday, December 2, 2013 at 11:57 am
Tags: domestic news, healthcare
Gibbs: ‘Inexplicable’ If Someone Involved in Creation of Obamacare Website Isn’t Fired
Friday, November 29, 2013
2 devices fired near US base in Japan
2 devices fired near US base in Japan
http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif
Two “improvised launch devices” were fired near a US military base in Japan late on Thursday, US and Japanese officials said.
“There were no injuries and thus far we have found no damage or impact points here on base,” a US military spokesman in Japan said in a statement on Friday.
“The incident occurred at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday. Flying objects were launched near the US military’s Yokota airbase,” a spokesman for Tokyo Metropolitan Police said.
Residents near the base in western Tokyo called police last night to report hearing explosions, national broadcaster NHK said, adding that police found several metal pipes pointing at the base in a field some 300 meters away.
Japan is host to almost 50,000 US service personnel and their families. The two countries have a mutual defense agreement that, in practice, means Tokyo is given shelter under Washington’s significant security umbrella.
But many people in Okinawa, where the bulk of US troops are based, resent their presence and an increasingly vocal campaign wants them to leave.
The United States and Japan are currently taking part in a huge naval exercise involving dozens of warships, submarines and aircraft off the island of Okinawa, amid heightened tensions with China.
The AnnualEx 2013 war games, which kicked off on November 25, are designed to increase the defensive readiness and interoperability of US naval forces and their Japanese counterparts, according to the US Navy.
Thursday’s incident also comes as tensions run high in the region between China and Japan with the focus on a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea.
AHT/ARA
Read more about 2 devices fired near US base in Japan and other interesting subjects concerning U.S. News Report at TheDailyNewsReport.com
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Angry Guy Fired Cannon at Neighbors: Cops
Angry Guy Fired Cannon at Neighbors: Cops
http://img1-cdn.newser.com/getimage.aspx?mediaid=957686&width=45&height=45&crop=Y&updateddate=20131116110119
Well, here’s one way to handle a disagreement with your neighbors: Fire up your trusty Civil War replica cannon and bombard them with blasts of noise. That’s what police in New York state are accusing Brian J. Malta of doing, the Buffalo News reports. The 52-year-old, apparently upset with one…
Crime & Courts from Newser
Read more about Angry Guy Fired Cannon at Neighbors: Cops and other interesting subjects concerning Crime and Justice at TheDailyNewsReport.com
Friday, November 8, 2013
Circle K Clerk Fired for Using Gun to Thwart Robbery
On the morning of November 2nd, Circle K clerk and acting manager Johnny Jarriel Jr. used a concealed carry handgun to defend customers and thwart a robbery at his store. Immediately afterward he was fired for “possession/use of a weapon on company property.”
This Circle K is located in Douglasville, Georgia. Having worked as a clerk for three years, Jarriel decided to carry his gun for protection after an increase in area robberies.
According to Jarriel as reported in the Douglas County Sentinel, it was 9:05 a.m. when “a glassy-eyed man talking crazy” entered the store. Emptying a can of pepper spray in Jarriel’s eyes, the robber threatened to kill him and everyone in the store. He then put a silver automatic weapon against Jarriel’s head while making demands for money.
Jarriel told the robber they needed to walk to the front of the store to get the money. When the robber turned to walk toward the cash register, Jarriel pulled his own gun and fired at the robber. “Everything was blurry because I still had pepper spray in my eyes,” said Jarriel. “That’s when he panicked and ran out of the store.”
Jarriel was uncompromising in defending his choice. “All I did was try to save my life and the lives of the three other people in the store,” he said. According to him, he did all he could do in that situation, and even if it meant losing his job, he would do it the same way again.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.
Circle K Clerk Fired for Using Gun to Thwart Robbery
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
VIDEO: Nnamdi Asomugha Cut From 49ers
Description: Once considered a future football Hall of Famer, Kerry Washington’s hubby, Nnamdi Asomugha, has been nixed by the San Francisco 49ers. Two years ago, Nnamdi was the most coveted cornerback in the National Football League. He signed a five year, sixty million dollar deal with the Eagles, but was sacked after a dismal debut in Philly. San Francisco hoped he’d turn it around, offering him a single season contract, and after only eight weeks, he’s unemployed. Kerry and Nnamdi are expecting their first child in the spring, so it looks like next season could be spent playing Mr. Mom for Nnamdi!
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VIDEO: Nnamdi Asomugha Cut From 49ers
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
White House staffer fired for notorious anti-administration Twitter account
rt.com
October 23, 2013
A senior US National Security Council staffer has been fired for using an anonymous Twitter account to send hundreds of messages criticizing the Obama administration from inside the White House.
Jofi Joseph, a director in the nuclear non-proliferation team inside the NSC, was let go a week ago after administration officials spent months investigating who was tweeting from @natsecwonk. The account opened in February 2011 and lasted until last week, sending thousands of tweets critical of Obama’s policies, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and various high level officials in the interim.
Two sources in the administration confirmed to The Daily Beast that Joseph, 40, was behind the account. The staffer was a member of the NSC team that sat across the negotiating table from Iran in Istanbul earlier this year.
This article was posted: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 9:55 am
Tags: domestic news, technology
White House staffer fired for notorious anti-administration Twitter account
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
APNewsBreak: Gen in charge of ICBMs to be fired
WASHINGTON (AP) â” The Air Force is firing the two-star general in charge of all of its nuclear missiles in response to an investigation into alleged personal misbehavior, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
Maj. Gen. Michael Carey is being removed from command of the 20th Air Force, which is responsible for three wings of intercontinental ballistic missiles â” a total of 450 missiles at three bases across the country, the officials said.
The officials disclosed the matter to the AP on condition of anonymity because it had not been publicly announced.
The decision was made by Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. Kowalski is in charge of all Air Force nuclear weapons, including bombers.
An internal email obtained by the AP on Friday said the allegations against Carey stem from an inspector general probe of his behavior while on an unspecified “temporary duty assignment.” The email said the allegations are not related to the operational readiness of the ICBM force or recent failed inspections of ICBM units.
Kowalski has selected the vice commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, to temporarily replace Carey as head of 20th Air Force.
APNewsBreak: Gen in charge of ICBMs to be fired
Israeli commandos fired from air in 2010 Gaza flotilla raid – former US Marine
Israeli forces approach one of six ships bound for Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea (Reuters / Uriel Sinai / Pool)
A former US Marine-turned activist told a Turkish court on Thursday that Israeli commandos had opened fire from a helicopter on a Gaza-bound aid ship three years ago. The claim contradicts Israeli’s claim that the soldiers had acted in self-defense.
On May 31, 2010, Israeli naval commandos using speedboats and helicopters boarded the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara, part of the ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla’ that was attempting to break the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian relief.
In the ensuing melee, eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish American were killed, and many were wounded. Ten Israeli commandos were also wounded, one of them seriously.
The incident sparked a deep diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey – the former a committed ally of the United States, the latter a full-fledged NATO member waiting for membership in the European Union. Today, relations between the two remain tense.
Now, a trial being held in absentia in Istanbul against Israel’s former Chief-of-Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and three other senior commanders may aggravate bilateral relations even more between the two former allies.
Kenneth O’Keefe, an Irish-Palestinian and former US marine who was aboard the humanitarian vessel during the conflict, told the Turkish hearing, which convened in June of last year, that Israeli soldiers had started shooting from the helicopter while it was still in the air.
“Within five to 10 minutes after the Israeli helicopter approached the ship, I ran into Cevdet Kiliclar’s dead body on the deck, before any Israeli commando had boarded the vessel,” O’Keefe said, referring to one of the Turkish activists.
“He must have been shot from the air. After seeing Kiliclar’s dead body, I went upstairs to the top of the deck and saw several people lying on the ground, wounded or dead.”
Israel has dismissed the Turkish proceedings as a political “show trial” of four former IDF commanders.
The 144-page indictment lists “inciting murder through cruelty or torture” and “inciting injury with firearms” among the charges against the now-retired Israeli officers and seeks life sentences for the commandos.
O’Keefe’s testimony supports Turkey’s official findings of the incident, described in a September 2011 UN report, which said Israeli commandos had fired upon the activists before boarding the ship.
“IDF personnel began firing on the Mavi Marmara from both the speedboats and helicopters before boarding had commenced….Two passengers were killed by shots from the helicopters before the first soldiers had boarded the vessel,” the Turkish Commission report said.
Turkey’s version of events, however, clashes with that of Israel’s version, also summarized in the UN report.
“Three ‘flash bang’ stun grenades were thrown from the helicopter before and during the descent, but no shots were fired. The soldiers from the first helicopter were met with an extreme level of violence from a group of passengers on the vessel,” according to the Israeli position.
Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador after the 2011 UN report, which concluded, seemingly in favor of the Israeli position, that while Israel had used “unreasonable force” during its raid on the Turkish ship in international waters, its blockade on Gaza was legal.
Ankara announced its demands for normalizing bilateral relations with its neighbor – an apology, compensation and Israel ending its embargo on Gaza.
In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and apologized for the deaths of the nine activists, pledging to reach an agreement on compensation for their families.
The hearing has been adjourned until March 27, 2014.
Israeli commandos fired from air in 2010 Gaza flotilla raid – former US Marine
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Fla. teacher fired after she put out a fire in the school
(ANGEL CLARK) Michelle Hammack, a teacher from Arlington, Fla., was fired last week because she left her classroom to put out an oven fire. The teacher smelled smoke at the Little Temples Childcare School during her student’s naptime. Hammack left her class when she smelled something burning. “I just leaned over and peeked around and there was a fire in the oven,” Hammack said. “I ran in there and opened it to try to put it out, and the fire alarm started going off.” She told CBS Jackonville, “When I got to the third classroom by the kitchen, I could see that it was just a contained fire in the oven.” Hammack returned to her class and evacuated her children a safe distance away from the school. After her children were accounted for she ran back into the building, located a fire extinguisher and headed back to the oven fire. She extinguished and contained the fire before the fire department arrived. The owner, Olga Rozhaov, fired Hammack for leaving her children unattended while she went to track down the smoke. “I fired her only because she left her room,” said Rozhaov.
Fla. teacher fired after she put out a fire in the school