90 Miles From Tyranny

Friday, April 24, 2015

Empowerment Series: Women With Weapons #55

(CNSNews.com) - A Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted to confirm an attorney general today who says that illegal aliens have a right to work in the United States but that partially born babies do not have a right to life.

The Senate took two votes on the nomination of Loretta Lynch: first, a "cloture" vote to end debate and allow a final vote on confirmation, and, then, the final vote itself.

Neither of these votes would have taken place had not Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brought her nomination to the floor for...

On Thursday, President Barack Obama appeared in the White House press room to reveal that a US strike in January on an Al Qaeda compound had killed two hostages held by the terrorist group, Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian, and Warren Weinstein, an American. He offered his condolences to their families for the mistake that led to their deaths.

It's remarkable that Obama spoke of this at all. The US targeted killing program is shrouded in secrecy, and the president had never before issued a statement like this about people accidentally killed by US drone strikes. (He did not use the word "drone.") One such death that stands out is that of Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a 16-year-old American citizen who was killed in a US drone strike.

Abdulrahman was the son of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical cleric turned Al Qaeda propagandist. The father was killed in a drone strike that targeted him in Yemen in September 2011. The son was killed weeks later in a separate strike in Yemen. According to his family, the attack was on a restaurant. Attorney General Eric Holder later said that this strike did not "specifically" target the young man.

The US government has never said that Abdulrahman was involved in terrorist activities. In 2012, I asked Obama during a Reddit AMA what he thought about the teen's death, and...

Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas, says it is “outrageous” that so few people have been held accountable at the Department of Veterans Affairs after the Obama administration promised action would be taken against those found responsible for manipulating wait times at VA hospitals.

Internal documents obtained by the New York Times show that despite claims by the department that at least 14 people had been fired, only three actually have lost their jobs.

“It is outrageous that the Obama administration has not held people accountable for manipulating wait times in VA hospitals after promising to take action against those implicated in the scandal,” said Perry.

The documents reveal that the department punished only eight of the 280,000 employees. According to the Times, “one was fired, one retired in lieu of termination, one’s termination is pending, and five were reprimanded or suspended for up to two months.”

This falls far short of claims by VA officials.

Secretary Robert A. McDonald, who was appointed in the wake of the scandal, asserted...