Reaction to Bergdahl release mixed on online forum - USA TODAY

Joe Gould, Army Times 7:17 p.m. EDT May 31, 2014

This image made from video released Wednesday April 7, 2010 by the Taliban via the Site Intelligence Group shows U.S. soldier Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl.(Photo: AP)

186 CONNECT 1 LINKEDIN EMAILMORE

Though Americans may be celebrating the release Saturday of the only U.S. soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan by the Taliban, the reaction of the military community has been mixed at best.

Within an hour of the announcement that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl had been handed over to U.S. special forces by the Taliban, Army Times' Facebook page lit up with hundreds of comments reacting to the news.

Most centered on the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl's capture, which remain something of a mystery. There has been some speculation that he willingly walked away from his unit, raising the question of whether he could be charged with being absent without leave or desertion.

MORE: U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl freed in Afghanistan

MORE: What we know about detainees transferred to free Bergdahl

Many called Bergdahl a traitor or a deserter. Stephen Kirouac, calling Bergdahl a "dirtbag" and "sympathizer," was among many who seized on that speculation to criticize the rescued soldier.

"He is a dirtbag that now should spend the next 20yrs+ in Leavenworth ... his fellow soldiers were affected by his actions, he is a sympathizer and deserves to be tried for desertion," said Kirouac, whose Facebook profile identifies him as a company commander at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Many others said that no matter the circumstances, the military has a duty not to leave any of its members behind.

"My opinion, we never should leave our own (with) the enemy (and) if he needs to be punished, that should be left up to his former chain of command to ensure it happens!!!!" said Tom Robinson, whose Facebook profile identifies him as a veterans counselor for New York state.

Mark Delano was among those who expressed sympathy either for Bergdahl.

"This guy may have made a tremendously bad decision, but I'm willing to bet that what he's endured since then has been far worse than anything the US or military judicial system would have imposed," Delano said. "Have some heart."

Said Robin Leann Messer, a nurse in the Air Force Reserves: "I am AMAZED at the horrible comments I am seeing on here! I've met his family, and I can not imagine the feeling of just not knowing."

Others blasted the U.S. government over its release to Qatar of five Afghan detainees who had been held at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bergdahl.

"Since WHEN do we negotiate with terrorists!?!?" said Jeff Lambert, whose profile identifies him as a specialist in the Army National Guard.

186 CONNECT 1 LINKEDIN EMAILMORE

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1gRc6XJ

Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1rxb4ou

Read more

ANALYSIS-White House turns blind eye on Democrats who oppose climate rules - Reuters

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, June 1 Sun Jun 1, 2014 10:30am IST

• Link this


• Share this


• By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - Democrats in Republican-leaning states have a simple strategy for dealing with President Barack Obama's upcoming power plant restrictions before the mid-term elections: Fight them, with the White House's...


• Email


• Print

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - Democrats in Republican-leaning states have a simple strategy for dealing with President Barack Obama's upcoming power plant restrictions before the mid-term elections: Fight them, with the White House's blessing.

The new rules, popular with the Democratic Party's base, are one of Obama's highest domestic priorities for his second term.

But they are complicating the lives of Democrats in coal and oil-rich states such as West Virginia, Louisiana and Alaska, where candidates are piling on the president and the Environmental Protection Agency for proposing restrictions that could cost jobs locally.

With control of the U.S. Senate up for grabs in the November congressional elections, Democrats' hopes of maintaining their majority could rest on the very races where the new energy rules are deeply unpopular.

So, the White House is turning a blind eye to attacks from within the party, despite the importance of the regulations to Obama's agenda and post-presidential legacy.

"We understand that there are going to be Democrats in these states that oppose it and are perfectly prepared that that's going to happen," one White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We don't agree, but we don't have a problem with it."

Despite their casual acceptance of Democrats who criticize the climate rules, the administration was not willing to put off releasing the regulations, which are due out on Monday.

And strategists inside and outside the White House were preparing to fight hard against the onslaught of criticism from industry, Republicans, and even fellow Democrats.

"I can understand how they are positioning themselves in their races. I still think that you end up on the wrong side of history," said Chris Lehane, a strategist for billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, referring to defecting Democrats.

But like White House officials, Steyer, who is spending millions of dollars to advance candidates who support green causes, will not attack those Democrats who oppose the new rules.

"We're certainly not going to be helpful to them and their campaigns, but we're also not going to target them," Lehane said.

SALES PITCH AND FRUSTRATION

The EPA rules will establish mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, which are among the biggest culprits in producing climate warming emissions.

To fight attacks against them, White House officials have viewed ads that are critical of the moves and are trying to shore up support in Congress to thwart Republicans who have pledged to do what they can to rein in the EPA.

A sales pitch is also in the works.

In a high-profile foreign policy speech on Wednesday, Obama made a point of referencing the fight against global warming, delighting Europeans ahead of the G7 summit next week in Brussels, where Obama will tout the new U.S. rules, according to White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

At home, the White House is selling them by emphasizing the health benefits of cleaning carbon out of the atmosphere.

Obama, who will not be present when EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy unveils the regulations on Monday, visited children suffering from asthma at a medical center on Friday and taped his weekly radio address - on climate change - while there.

That new public push follows a long campaign by the White House and the EPA to win public and state backing for the controversial proposals.

None of that is helpful to Democrats such as Natalie Tennant, the West Virginia secretary of state and U.S. Senate hopeful, who is campaigning as a "pro-coal" candidate. She said McCarthy had turned down requests to visit her state as part of an outreach tour.

"She goes and touts a listening tour and doesn't come to West Virginia, doesn't come to the place and see the people who are impacted," Tennant said in an interview.

An EPA spokeswoman said McCarthy had met with leaders from the state despite not having traveled there.

That is not enough for Tennant, who, like embattled incumbent Senators Mary Landrieu in Louisiana and Mark Begich in Alaska, is actively distancing herself from Obama.

"I am not afraid to stand up to anyone. I'll stand up to the president," she said.

But Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, who is running against Tennant to replace retiring long-time Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller, argues that the best way to block the EPA rules is to help Republicans gain control of the Senate.

"Miners are losing their jobs, families are struggling to make ends meet and there is no relief in sight from the heavy hand of Obama's EPA," Capito said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Caren Bohan and Gunna Dickson)

• Link this


• Share this


• Digg this


• Email


• Print


• Reprints

Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1m2FzKB

Read more

Seven Aboard NJ-Bound Plane Die in Mass. Crash - NBCNews.com

All seven people aboard a private plane that crashed in a Massachusetts air field and erupted into a fireball have been killed, authorities said early Sunday.

"There were no survivors," said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Hanscom Field in Bedford, where the Gulfstream IV crashed as it was leaving about 9:40 p.m. for Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people on board and their loved ones," Brelis said before a news conference announcing the deaths.

The names of the victims were not immediately released. And authorities did not say what they think caused the crash.

They said the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate and determine what happened.

Nearby residents recounted seeing a fireball and feeling the blast of the explosion shake their homes.

Jeff Patterson told The Boston Globe he saw a fireball about 60 feet in the air and suspected the worst for those aboard the plane.

"I heard a big boom, and I thought at the time that someone was trying to break into my house because it shook it," said Patterson's son, 14-year-old Jared Patterson. "I thought someone was like banging on the door trying to get in."

The air field, which serves the public, was closed after the crash.

Brelis said responders were still on the scene early Sunday morning. Hanscom Field is about 20 miles northwest of Boston, and acts as a corporate reliever for Boston Logan International Airport.

- The Associated Press

First published May 31 2014, 8:48 PM

Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1rxb47U

Read more

Reaction to Bergdahl release mixed on online forum - USA TODAY

Joe Gould, Army Times 7:17 p.m. EDT May 31, 2014

This image made from video released Wednesday April 7, 2010 by the Taliban via the Site Intelligence Group shows U.S. soldier Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl.(Photo: AP)

146 CONNECT LINKEDIN EMAILMORE

Though Americans may be celebrating the release Saturday of the only U.S. soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan by the Taliban, the reaction of the military community has been mixed at best.

Within an hour of the announcement that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl had been handed over to U.S. special forces by the Taliban, Army Times' Facebook page lit up with hundreds of comments reacting to the news.

Most centered on the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl's capture, which remain something of a mystery. There has been some speculation that he willingly walked away from his unit, raising the question of whether he could be charged with being absent without leave or desertion.

MORE: U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl freed in Afghanistan

MORE: What we know about detainees transferred to free Bergdahl

Many called Bergdahl a traitor or a deserter. Stephen Kirouac, calling Bergdahl a "dirtbag" and "sympathizer," was among many who seized on that speculation to criticize the rescued soldier.

"He is a dirtbag that now should spend the next 20yrs+ in Leavenworth ... his fellow soldiers were affected by his actions, he is a sympathizer and deserves to be tried for desertion," said Kirouac, whose Facebook profile identifies him as a company commander at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Many others said that no matter the circumstances, the military has a duty not to leave any of its members behind.

"My opinion, we never should leave our own (with) the enemy (and) if he needs to be punished, that should be left up to his former chain of command to ensure it happens!!!!" said Tom Robinson, whose Facebook profile identifies him as a veterans counselor for New York state.

Mark Delano was among those who expressed sympathy either for Bergdahl.

"This guy may have made a tremendously bad decision, but I'm willing to bet that what he's endured since then has been far worse than anything the US or military judicial system would have imposed," Delano said. "Have some heart."

Said Robin Leann Messer, a nurse in the Air Force Reserves: "I am AMAZED at the horrible comments I am seeing on here! I've met his family, and I can not imagine the feeling of just not knowing."

Others blasted the U.S. government over its release to Qatar of five Afghan detainees who had been held at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Bergdahl.

"Since WHEN do we negotiate with terrorists!?!?" said Jeff Lambert, whose profile identifies him as a specialist in the Army National Guard.

146 CONNECT LINKEDIN EMAILMORE

Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1gRc6XJ

Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1ogk0Jd

Read more

Six missing climbers on Washington's Mount Rainier presumed dead - New York Daily News

Elaine Thompson/AP The six climbers were reported missing to Mountain Rainier park rangers on Saturday after they never returned from their trip to the summit.

Six Mount Rainier climbers are presumed dead after helicopters detected pings from emergency beacons buried in the snow and a debris field that may indicate an avalanche.

Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patricia Wold told KOMO-TV on Saturday there’s no way the group could have survived.

The Seattle Times reported rescuers found tents, clothing and debris strewn over hundreds of feet on the mountain’s sheer north side. The newspaper also said searches were suspended.

Park Ranger Fawn Bauer said the six were at 12,800 feet on the 14,410-foot peak at last contact Wednesday.

Searchers reportedly picked up the pings at 9,000 feet. The missing group includes four clients of Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International and two guides.

Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1ogjXNC

Read more

Cruz wins straw poll of group that once was wild about Perry - Dallas Morning News

NEW ORLEANS — In an audition of their nascent presidential themes, the two titans of Texas politics performed as top acts of the Republican Leadership Conference on Saturday.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Rick Perry played to 1,500 conservative activists, blasting Washington and laying out their scripts of how to change it.

But on this platform, the younger Cruz upstaged the political veteran, winning the conference’s presidential straw poll and radiating the excitement and promise that Perry had ignited three years before.

“I believe in my heart that Ted Cruz is a Ronald Reagan reincarnation that we need to right the course of the nation,” said attendee George Peterson.

The dual performances before the GOP activists come at a time when Cruz has risen as a hero of movement conservatives and Perry has succeeded in repairing some of the damage done by his humiliating performance in the last presidential contest.

Both Texans burnished their strengths before bedrock conservatives, stopping in Louisiana as part of their increasingly national tours.

Perry was fresh from Iowa, the third trip this year to the state with the first presidential contest. In the past three weeks, Perry has been to Florida, New York and Pennsylvania, and last week he met in Austin with a contingent of 13 conservative leaders from New Hampshire.

Cruz was just back from tours of Israel, Poland and Ukraine, where he met foreign leaders and dove into national security issues. Soon after his speech, and before Perry spoke, Cruz jetted to New York to appear as a guest Sunday on This Week on ABC.

In other ways, the two men arrived at the conference from different places.

At the 2011 conference, two months before he announced his campaign for president, Perry gave a fiery speech that was interrupted by chants of “Run, Rick, run.”

Saturday, Perry found himself in a pack of presidential also-rans: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum. And his speech, instead of trumpeting the righteousness of fiscal and social conservativism, was more about solving the nation’s problems with big ideas.

“Americans are looking for the type of leadership that transcends bipartisanship,” Perry said.

He credited states with engineering answers to health care, jobs and the environment.

“They are sick and tired of the same old Washington food fights that we see too often. That people are scoring political points and they think that’s more important than policy solutions,” Perry said.

In his speech, Cruz placed himself as a happy bull in Washington’s china shop, upsetting the status quo and working to represent tea party conservatism.

“There’s a tradition in the Senate that freshmen should be seen and not heard. I haven’t entirely managed to comply with that,” he joked, referencing a filibuster and his attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act through a government shutdown.

He said he would continue such efforts, drawing his power not from the Senate but from movement conservatives.

Cruz told the crowd that the Reagan revolution “didn’t come from Washington. Washington despised Ronald Reagan. If you have a candidate that Washington adores, run and hide.”

Regardless of their national ambitions, Cruz dismissed talk of any intrastate rivalry between the two.

“I am a big fan of Governor Perry’s,” he said.

“I understand it’s more interesting to write stories about battles between people than common ground. But Rick Perry and I agree on a good many things,” he said.

Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak said Cruz and Perry probably don’t see each other as their main rivals to the presidency.

“They’re both delicately throwing brush-back pitches,” Mackowiak said, but they’re also appealing to different constituents.

Perry is running as a long-time executive who has managed a state with the best economy in the nation. Cruz is firing up the grass roots and leading a conservative movement, Mackowiak said.

The conference is a good testing ground, he said.

“You rarely see these opportunities where presidential candidates compete head-to-head, see what messages they’re testing,” Mackowiak said.

Cruz will still need to show voters he’s ready, with limited experience, to be president, and Perry will need to convince supporters that he won’t falter at important times, he said.

For GOP activists, they have both made headway.

“I really would like to see him run again,” attendee Cheryl Blanke said of Perry after the governor posed in a picture with her.

In the least, she said, “I see him in a cabinet position.”

But the candidate to watch, she said, is Cruz.

“Ted Cruz has that something you can’t teach,” she said. “He just resonates.”

Follow Christy Hoppe on Twitter at @christyhoppe.

Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1wLfrMM

Read more

Six missing climbers on Washington's Mount Rainier presumed dead - New York Daily News

Elaine Thompson/AP The six climbers were reported missing to Mountain Rainier park rangers on Saturday after they never returned from their trip to the summit.

Six Mount Rainier climbers are presumed dead after helicopters detected pings from emergency beacons buried in the snow and a debris field that may indicate an avalanche.

Mount Rainier National Park spokeswoman Patricia Wold told KOMO-TV on Saturday there’s no way the group could have survived.

The Seattle Times reported rescuers found tents, clothing and debris strewn over hundreds of feet on the mountain’s sheer north side. The newspaper also said searches were suspended.

Park Ranger Fawn Bauer said the six were at 12,800 feet on the 14,410-foot peak at last contact Wednesday.

Searchers reportedly picked up the pings at 9,000 feet. The missing group includes four clients of Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International and two guides.

Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1nS96ex

Read more