What’s interesting in the news today?
1. You say veered left. I say returned to his comfort zone.
From TheHill “President Obama has taken significant steps to the left since his party’s devastating losses in the midterm elections.
In a surprise, he announced a major deal on climate change with China during a trip to Beijing Tuesday. That followed another unanticipated move — a Monday statement pressuring the Federal Communications Commission to adopt new net neutrality rules for the Internet.
The moves are helping to rally a dispirited Democratic base while re-establishing Obama’s political leadership after he was sidelined during the midterms.”
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2. The Army continues to purge middle management.
From TheNYTimes “For all the insecurities of war, Capt. Elder Saintjuste always figured the one thing he could count on from the Army was job security.
A Haitian immigrant who enlisted as a teenager, he deployed three times to Iraq, missing so many birthdays and Christmases that he sometimes felt he barely knew his four children. He hid symptoms of post-traumatic stress so he could stay in the Army, because he loved his job and believed that after 20 years he could retire with a captain’s pension.
Then this summer, on the day Captain Saintjuste reached his 20 years, the Army told him that as part of the postwar downsizing of the force he would have to retire. And adding insult to injury, he would have to retire as a sergeant, earning $1,200 less per month, because he had not been a captain long enough to receive a captain’s pension.”
“The cuts have largely come through attrition and reductions in recruiting, and have, so far, mostly affected low-ranking enlisted soldiers who have served only a few years. But this summer, the cuts fell on officers as well, 1,188 captains and 550 majors, many who were clearly intending on making a career of the military. More are expected to lose their jobs next year.
And for reasons the Army has not explained, the largest group of officers being pushed out — nearly one in five — began as enlisted soldiers.”
They’re also the ones who make the best officers in my opinion. They seem to connect with their troops in a way that officers never in the enlisted ranks don’t, at least in my experiences.
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3. I hope he’s successful. But given the PC stupidity running wild in the military now, you never know.
From TheWashingtonTimes “The Army is moving to discharge a decorated combat pilot who intervened to stop two lesbian officers from showing what he considered inappropriate affection on the dance floor during a full-dress formal ball at Fort Drum, New York, in 2012.
Lt. Col. Christopher Downey, who was once assigned to the White House and completed tours in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, ended up being convicted administratively of assaulting a soldier trying to videotape the kissing and grabbing. Col. Downey’s attorney, Richard Thompson, says his client merely pushed down the camera to prevent photos and video that could end up on social media. Mr. Thompson said Col. Downey’s commanding officer also convicted him of violating the directive that ended the ban on gays openly serving in the military.
Col. Downey won early battle with the Army last year. A special three-officer “show cause” board reviewed the punishment and unanimously ruled that the evidence showed he did not violate Army rules.
“The allegation of conduct unbecoming an officer … is not supported by the preponderance of the evidence,” the board wrote. “The findings do not warrant separation.””
“Yet Col. Downey still faces separation by an Army forced-retirement board that began meeting this week.”
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4. Huh. Yet the President keeps insisting illegals are not eligible for ObamaCare. 🙄 Yet another lie.
From TheWashingtonExaminer “Immigrants and their U.S.-born children make up more than 40 percent of new Medicaid recipients at a cost of $4.6 billion, according to an analysis of government data.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a low-immigration advocacy group, released a report early Thursday that found both legal and illegal immigrants and their minor children made up 42 percent of Medicaid growth from 2011 to last year.
Part of the increased enrollment came as a result of the new healthcare law’s expansion of Medicaid to impoverished and low-income adults.”
““The high rate and significant growth in Medicaid associated with immigrants is mainly the result of a legal immigration system that admits large numbers of immigrants with relatively low-levels of education, many of whom end up poor and uninsured,” the report says. “This fact, coupled with the extensive supports we provide to low-income residents, unavoidably creates very significant costs for taxpayers.””
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5. Wow. Abuse your power for personal gain much Governor? 🙄
From HotAir “Lame duck season is often seen as a boring, slow time for punditry, but there are lots of fun stories which crop up if you know where to look. For one thing, this is the season when Governors frequently take on the prickly problem of whether or not to issue rafts of pardons and sentence commutations before they head out the door. One of the first such stories to emerge comes out of Arkansas, where Governor Mike Beebe is packing his bags, being term limited out of office. But before he goes, he may have one special gift… for his own son.
Outgoing Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday he plans to pardon his son’s felony marijuana conviction, arguing he deserves the same second chance as hundreds of other nonviolent offenders.
Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said the two-term Democratic governor would pardon Kyle Beebe, 34, who was convicted in 2003 of felony marijuana possession with intent to deliver. DeCample said the governor planned to formally announce his intent to pardon his son in early December.
Bebee doesn’t look like he has any (realistic) national aspirations at this point, so he probably doesn’t have to worry too much about this. Further, this is one of those non-violent pot related crimes which are under scrutiny at a national level. (Though to be fair, this was an intent to deal bust, not just some kid with a couple of joints in his glove box.)”
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Wandering Views 
Thank you, AJ, for condensing the best of the worst for your blog. Sometimes the news gets to be more than I can take in without getting sick. You let me in on it in manageable doses and your appropriate comments are like getting it with a spoonful of sugar. 🙂
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#2: The NY Times article omitted a critical piece of information. Isn’t it true that every soldier who accepts a commission after 12 years of service knows that it is a crap shoot as to whether he will be retained after 20 years of service? He also knows that if he is separated, he will retire as his U. S. Army Reserve enlisted rank because he has not completed eight years of commissioned service. CPT Saintjuste did not receive a good roll of the dice.
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I did not know that, Tychicus. I was surprised he would go from Captain to Sergeant . . .
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Michelle: I didn’t know that either. I knew a guy in the Air Force in 1952 who had been an officer during WW II. He had been a fighter pilot. Well, the AF had more pilots than it needed and they made him a sergeant and an airplane mechanic.
He always had a bad attitude. Not easy to get along with. I don’t know that was the reason, but I suspect so.
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