AFP: Taliban leader Mullah Omar says prisoner swap which freed U.S. soldier Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was a "big victory"

— Sky News Breaking (@SkyNewsBreak) June 1, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Republican lawmakers on Saturday accused President Barack Obama of breaking the law by approving the release of five Afghan detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for a U.S. soldier believed held by Islamist insurgents for five years.

The White House agreed that actions were taken in spite of legal requirements and cited “unique and exigent circumstances” as justification.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, of Hailey, Idaho, was handed over to U.S. special operations forces by the Taliban. In return, five Afghans who were held at a U.S. detention facility in Cuba were released to the custody of the government of Qatar, which served as a go-between in negotiations for the trade. (more…)

(Via The Daily Caller) This may come as a shocker to some, but scientists are not always right — especially when under intense public pressure for answers.

Researchers with the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) recently admitted to experienced zoologist and polar bear specialist Susan Crockford that the estimate given for the total number of polar bars in the Arctic was “simply a qualified guess given to satisfy public demand.”

Crockford has been critical of official polar bear population estimates because they fail to include five large subpopulations of polar bears. Due to the uncertainty of the populations in these areas, PBSG did not include them in their official estimate — but the polar bear group did include other subpopulation estimates. (more…)

Lt. Christopher Barella, who is a white male, successfully  sued the village of Freeport in Long Island, NY for racial discrimination after he was denied the opportunity to even interview for the position of Chief of Police.  Barella was awarded $1.35 million overall, which includes $200,000 in punitive damages.  The village of Freeport will also have to pay his legal fees and all court costs related to the proceeding.

According to documents filed in Barella’s claim, the village under mayor Andrew Hardwick’s leadership chose Miguel Bermudez, an officer of hispanic origin, who had fewer academic qualifications and scored lower on the application test for Chief, on the basis of race only.  The jury agreed.

(more…)

WASHINGTON — Eric Shinseki resigned as secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department Friday after meeting face-to-face with President Obama about mounting evidence of widespread misconduct and mismanagement at the agency’s vast network of medical facilities.

In a statement Friday morning after the meeting, Mr. Obama said that Mr. Shinseki had offered his resignation from the post he has held since the beginning of the president’s administration. “With regret, I accepted,” Mr. Obama said.

(more…)

Another Prog vanity project swirls down the drain …. glug, glug, glug …..

According to the NY Post, NPR has cancelled its racial issues  show “Tell Me More” due to lack of interest and any real audience or meaningful corporate sponsorship. (!)

The show, which ran on the taxpayer subsidized radio network for seven years (As an aside, can you think of any other event that happened, oh, about seven years ago, coincidentally timed to the launch of a radio show based on lecturing/hectoring white people about “race” that may have had some influence over an organization that depends upon generous federal government financial support for survival? Remember to write your answer in the form of a question!)

“Tell Me More”,  produced at the NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C.  was a production of NPR News in association with the African American Public Radio Consortium, representing 20 independent public radio stations that serve predominantly black communities.  (more…)

Street thugs or US government operatives.  It’s getting harder to tell the difference.

Now, apparently, the Intelligence Committee spills the beans in the Congressional Record that there really is no difference in their operating procedures or outlook.

Random, indiscriminate killing of unverified targets now A-OK.  Street thugs spraying random shots in a drive-by, or the US government killing random civilians in an untargeted unverified drone strike.  Same-same!  Doesn’t that make ya feel all squishy-yummy inside?

(more…)

Then again….  The White House has odd definitions of transparency.  They’ll tell the world when they meet with the CIA Station Chief of Afghanistan but won’t mention the unscheduled meetings with Hillary.

PEOPLE's @sswestfall chats w/@HillaryClinton before her @WhiteHouse lunch. Hope she wasn't late for @barackobama! pic.twitter.com/6MAVgsXXzO

— People (@people) May 29, 2014

“The White House confirmed that Hillary Clinton had lunch with President Obama today after People magazine tweeted about the meeting – a tweet that has since been deleted.

“The President enjoyed an informal, private lunch with Secretary Clinton at the White House this afternoon,” a White House official said on background in a response to an inquiry from your pooler.  Your pooler also lodged a complaint about the lack of transparency on the meeting with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

The lunch was not on the president’s public schedule.” (link)

While the national media continue to re-run the various nuance stories stemming from shooter Eliot Rogers (shot 3 people, and stabbed 3 others, killing 6 in California), there have been three other mass shootings the same weekend without so much as a snippet of attention on CNN or other National Media.

•  The First non-reported shootings were in Myrtle Beach where 10 people where shot, and 3 killed, during memorial day “Bike Week“.  (link)

•  The Second silent shooting was in Tampa/Clearwater Florida where a crowd of 15 people at a hotel came under fire from another gunman, again on Memorial day this time four people where shot. Luckily no-one was killed.  (link)

•  The Third unmentionable was in New Orleans, Louisiana, where a group of 150 people were gathered to celebrate a graduation. A solo gunman opened fire on the crowd killing one and wounding seven others.  (link)

Why did you hear about the California shooting but not hear about the other mass shootings ?    You decide.

(more…)

According to a whistle-blowing Op Ed piece published in the Wall Street Journal, doctors and residents in the VA system were prevented from providing care to patients if their actions were deemed to be “making federal workers look bad” :

…”Scott Barbour, an orthopedic surgeon and a friend, trained at the Miami VA hospital. In an attempt to get more patients onto the operating-room schedule, he enlisted fellow residents to clean the operating rooms between cases and transport patients from their rooms into the surgical suites….

Instead of offering praise for their industriousness, the Chief of Surgery reprimanded the doctors and put a stop to their actions. From his perspective, they were not solving a problem but were making federal workers look bad and creating more work for others, like nurses, who had to take care of more post-op patients.”

Imagine that!  Nurses having to take care of more post-op patients!  You’d think they were working in a hospital or something…. It’s not like they can adjust their census to account for that, or anything. /s/.  But, wait, there’s more ……

(more…)