Joining today's show are Phil Mattingly, Stephanie Gosk, Arthur Roderick, Steve Rattner, Katie Packer Gage, Rep. Elise Stefanik, Amy Holmes, Amb. Nicholas Burns, Richard Engel, Harold Ford Jr., Nancy Gibbs, John Kirby, Josh Tyrangiel, Abigail Disney, Gini Reticker, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Peter Kiernan...
Alotta News today. US orders more troops to Iraq, but no overhaul of strategy. President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of up to 450 more American troops to Iraq on Wednesday in an effort to reverse major battlefield losses to the Islamic State, an escalation but not a significant shift in the struggling U.S. strategy to defeat the extremist group.The U.S. forces will open a fifth training site in the country, this one dedicated specifically to helping the Iraqi Army integrate Sunni tribes into the fight, an element seen as a crucial to driving the Islamic State out of the Sunni-majority areas of western Iraq. The immediate objective is to win back the key city of Ramadi, which was seized by extremists last month. The U.S. is insistent that Americans will not have a combat role. But in the deployment of American forces and the equipping of Iraqi troops, the U.S. must make sure "that we can be nimble because clearly this is a very nimble enemy," Deputy National Security Adviser Benjamin Rhodes told reporters. The plan is not a change in the U.S. strategy, the administration says, but addresses a need to get Sunnis more involved in the fight. Some local citizens in Sunni-majority areas fear an invasion and reprisals from Iran-backed Shiite militia even more than domination by the Islamic State, underscoring a need for any military campaign there to be led by local fighters.
Alotta News today. US orders more troops to Iraq, but no overhaul of strategy. President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of up to 450 more American troops to Iraq on Wednesday in an effort to reverse major battlefield losses to the Islamic State, an escalation but not a significant shift in the struggling U.S. strategy to defeat the extremist group.The U.S. forces will open a fifth training site in the country, this one dedicated specifically to helping the Iraqi Army integrate Sunni tribes into the fight, an element seen as a crucial to driving the Islamic State out of the Sunni-majority areas of western Iraq. The immediate objective is to win back the key city of Ramadi, which was seized by extremists last month. The U.S. is insistent that Americans will not have a combat role. But in the deployment of American forces and the equipping of Iraqi troops, the U.S. must make sure "that we can be nimble because clearly this is a very nimble enemy," Deputy National Security Adviser Benjamin Rhodes told reporters. The plan is not a change in the U.S. strategy, the administration says, but addresses a need to get Sunnis more involved in the fight. Some local citizens in Sunni-majority areas fear an invasion and reprisals from Iran-backed Shiite militia even more than domination by the Islamic State, underscoring a need for any military campaign there to be led by local fighters.
But the Shiite-led Iraqi government's record in recruiting Sunni tribesman has been mixed at best, slowing efforts to regain Ramadi and Fallujah, a nearby city that Islamic State militants have held for more than a year. Iraqi leaders fear that Sunni fighters, once armed, could turn against the government, and they have deployed most U.S.-trained Iraqi troops in defensive formations around Baghdad, the capital. Obama this week lamented that the U.S. lacks a "complete strategy" for defeating the Islamic State, and officials pointed to a glaring lack of recruits among Sunnis. Wednesday's announcement of a new training site at al-Taqaddum, a desert air base that was a U.S. military hub during the 2003-2011 war, is designed to fix that. The additional troops will include advisers, trainers, logisticians and security personnel. But the changes don't go nearly far enough for critics of the administration's approach. They have pressed for military coordinators and advisers closer to the front lines to augment the U.S. airstrike campaign.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday that sending several hundred military advisers to Iraq "is a step in the right direction," but he criticized Obama for not having "an overarching strategy." Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was harsher in his assessment: "This is incremental-ism at its best or worst, depending on how you describe it." Wednesday's careful escalation illustrated Obama's reluctance to plunge the U.S. too deeply into the fighting and his opposition to reintroducing U.S. soldiers into a war he had vowed to bring to an end. Still, even some Democrats were concerned with the steps announced. Iraqi soldiers train with members of the U.S. Army 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, "Absent significant reform, we can help the Iraqi forces win battles, but they will not stay won," said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat. He took issue with Obama expanding the U.S. role in Iraq while the war still lacks congressional authorization, and he said it was up to Abadi's government to give Sunnis a greater voice in the running of their country. There now are nearly 3,100 U.S. troops in Iraq involved in training, advising, security and other support. In addition to bombing missions, the U.S. is conducting aerial reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions against Islamic State forces, while counting on Iraqi troops to do the fighting on the ground. Counterterrorism efforts in Syria, where the Islamic State has a greater foothold, are much less far along.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday that sending several hundred military advisers to Iraq "is a step in the right direction," but he criticized Obama for not having "an overarching strategy." Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, was harsher in his assessment: "This is incremental-ism at its best or worst, depending on how you describe it." Wednesday's careful escalation illustrated Obama's reluctance to plunge the U.S. too deeply into the fighting and his opposition to reintroducing U.S. soldiers into a war he had vowed to bring to an end. Still, even some Democrats were concerned with the steps announced. Iraqi soldiers train with members of the U.S. Army 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, "Absent significant reform, we can help the Iraqi forces win battles, but they will not stay won," said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat. He took issue with Obama expanding the U.S. role in Iraq while the war still lacks congressional authorization, and he said it was up to Abadi's government to give Sunnis a greater voice in the running of their country. There now are nearly 3,100 U.S. troops in Iraq involved in training, advising, security and other support. In addition to bombing missions, the U.S. is conducting aerial reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions against Islamic State forces, while counting on Iraqi troops to do the fighting on the ground. Counterterrorism efforts in Syria, where the Islamic State has a greater foothold, are much less far along.
In Syria, an American fighting with Kurdish forces against the Islamic State group was killed in battle, authorities said Wednesday. With no connection to the U.S. military, he was probably the first American to die fighting alongside the Kurds against the extremists. Keith Broomfield of Massachusetts died June 3 in a battle in a village near the border town of Kobani, said Nasser Haji, an official with a group of Kurdish fighters known as the YPG. Broomfield had joined the YPG on Feb. 24 under the nom de guerre Gelhat Raman, Haji said. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke confirmed Bloomfield's death.
The fight against the Islamic State group has attracted dozens of Westerners, including a number of Iraq war veterans who have made their way back to the Middle East to join Kurdish fighters, who have had the most success. As for the fresh U.S. military troops, Obama's decision amounts to an acknowledgment by the administration that it has not been swift enough to respond to Iraqi military limitations and Islamic State inroads. "We have seen shortfalls in elements of Iraqi capacity," Rhodes said. "I think the Iraqi government itself recognizes that. Part of the question that we're trying to answer here is how do we have a better ability to move quicker when we see those shortfalls."
Brett McGurk, the U.S. deputy special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the Islamic State, said al-Taqaddum's strategic location and the coordination of Iraqi units and tribal fighters will "greatly improve our ability to turn around airstrikes at a pretty fast clip." The mission there will be more about advising Iraqi forces on operations against the Islamic State militants in Anbar than about providing individual troop training, said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
The expanded effort also will include delivering U.S. equipment and arms directly to al-Taqaddum, under the authority of the government in Baghdad. Thus it will not represent a change in the U.S. policy of providing arms only through the central government, a source of frustration for some Sunni tribal leaders who say they've been kept away from the best equipment. Associated Press writers Robert Burns, Deb Riechmann and Nedra Pickler contributed to this article.
Ben White at POLITICO reported that Jeb Bush is on pace to raise $100 million. The former Florida governor is still blowing away his Republican rivals in the 2016 money race — at least for now.
The biggest guessing game in the presidential race these days is just how massive a war chest former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will announce on July 15, the first official deadline for candidates to disclose their financial position.
The answer: It will be massive and very likely over $100 million, though the exact figure remains unclear. And we probably won’t know even then precisely how much the Bush juggernaut actually has. That’s because Bush Inc. has at least four vehicles for campaign contributors: the Right to Rise super PAC, a hard-dollar campaign committee (which only recently started raising money), a leadership PAC and a nonprofit entity dedicated to funding policy formation. The eye-popper will be the super PAC, which has vacuumed up huge checks from Wall Street titans and other captains of industry over the past six months. The campaign at one point capped donations at $1 million because money was pouring in so fast from events with minimum price tags of $100,000 or often even more. A person with direct knowledge of the matter said the super PAC had raised around $87.3 million by earlier this spring. The pace slowed after an initial burst. But not enough to throw the Bush money machine off course. “I can’t imagine it won’t be over $100 million, probably from the super PAC alone,” this person said.
And even if the super PAC falls short, when coupled with the leadership PAC and the campaign account, Bush’s total should easily surpass the $100 million mark. There will be yet more money in the nonprofit entity, Right to Rise Policy Solutions, but a source familiar with the matter said it will not be a huge amount. The policy shop is not going to be used to fund television and other advertising, the biggest expense in any campaign — that will mainly be the province of Bush’s super PAC, based in Los Angeles and headed by veteran strategist Mike Murphy.
Bush spokesman Tim Miller declined to comment on what the campaign will announce next month. In the past, Bush campaign aides have denied that the campaign had set a $100 million fundraising goal, albeit for the first quarter of 2015, not the first six months. “The whispers in the air are not at all accurate,” Miller told POLITICO in March. “The PAC’s goals are far more modest.” Another adviser dismissed the $100 million by March 31 figure as a “total fantasy.” In other circumstances, whether the amount comes in over or under $100 million would not really matter. It will be a huge and probably record-breaking amount no matter what, and Bush is likely to have more than any other candidate in the GOP field, though others enjoy wealthy individual benefactors who could plow massive amounts into super PACs.
Nor has the Bush camp been above bragging about its money haul, despite its efforts to tamp down expectations.
In April, Bush told a gathering of donors in Miami that they had made history by raising more money than any previous Republican campaign in its first 100 days, though he did not disclose an exact figure at the time, let alone acknowledge a $100 million goal. But whether it’s over or under $100 million has taken on outsized importance because donors and Republican power brokers now expect it to crack that level and will be disappointed if it doesn’t. And Bush and his aides are looking to change the narrative of the campaign from one of staff shake-ups and sagging poll numbers back to one of overwhelming financial strength.
The money announcement is part of a one-two punch beginning this Monday with Bush’s formal campaign announcement, followed by a tour of the early primary and caucus states, as well as a hard-dollar fundraising push in which bundlers are being asked to round up $27,000 each in 15 days. On Wednesday, Bush told reporters traveling with him in Europe that it was still early and that recent reports of campaign turmoil and modest numbers in Iowa and elsewhere did not bother him. “It’s June for crying out loud, so we’ve got a long way to go,” Bush said. “I’m pretty confident that we’re in a good position, for sure, and I’m going to compete everywhere. If I’m a candidate, there’s no fifth-place kind of mentality.”
In the 2016 money race, at least, there’s little chance of that.
The answer: It will be massive and very likely over $100 million, though the exact figure remains unclear. And we probably won’t know even then precisely how much the Bush juggernaut actually has. That’s because Bush Inc. has at least four vehicles for campaign contributors: the Right to Rise super PAC, a hard-dollar campaign committee (which only recently started raising money), a leadership PAC and a nonprofit entity dedicated to funding policy formation. The eye-popper will be the super PAC, which has vacuumed up huge checks from Wall Street titans and other captains of industry over the past six months. The campaign at one point capped donations at $1 million because money was pouring in so fast from events with minimum price tags of $100,000 or often even more. A person with direct knowledge of the matter said the super PAC had raised around $87.3 million by earlier this spring. The pace slowed after an initial burst. But not enough to throw the Bush money machine off course. “I can’t imagine it won’t be over $100 million, probably from the super PAC alone,” this person said.
And even if the super PAC falls short, when coupled with the leadership PAC and the campaign account, Bush’s total should easily surpass the $100 million mark. There will be yet more money in the nonprofit entity, Right to Rise Policy Solutions, but a source familiar with the matter said it will not be a huge amount. The policy shop is not going to be used to fund television and other advertising, the biggest expense in any campaign — that will mainly be the province of Bush’s super PAC, based in Los Angeles and headed by veteran strategist Mike Murphy.
Bush spokesman Tim Miller declined to comment on what the campaign will announce next month. In the past, Bush campaign aides have denied that the campaign had set a $100 million fundraising goal, albeit for the first quarter of 2015, not the first six months. “The whispers in the air are not at all accurate,” Miller told POLITICO in March. “The PAC’s goals are far more modest.” Another adviser dismissed the $100 million by March 31 figure as a “total fantasy.” In other circumstances, whether the amount comes in over or under $100 million would not really matter. It will be a huge and probably record-breaking amount no matter what, and Bush is likely to have more than any other candidate in the GOP field, though others enjoy wealthy individual benefactors who could plow massive amounts into super PACs.
Nor has the Bush camp been above bragging about its money haul, despite its efforts to tamp down expectations.
In April, Bush told a gathering of donors in Miami that they had made history by raising more money than any previous Republican campaign in its first 100 days, though he did not disclose an exact figure at the time, let alone acknowledge a $100 million goal. But whether it’s over or under $100 million has taken on outsized importance because donors and Republican power brokers now expect it to crack that level and will be disappointed if it doesn’t. And Bush and his aides are looking to change the narrative of the campaign from one of staff shake-ups and sagging poll numbers back to one of overwhelming financial strength.
The money announcement is part of a one-two punch beginning this Monday with Bush’s formal campaign announcement, followed by a tour of the early primary and caucus states, as well as a hard-dollar fundraising push in which bundlers are being asked to round up $27,000 each in 15 days. On Wednesday, Bush told reporters traveling with him in Europe that it was still early and that recent reports of campaign turmoil and modest numbers in Iowa and elsewhere did not bother him. “It’s June for crying out loud, so we’ve got a long way to go,” Bush said. “I’m pretty confident that we’re in a good position, for sure, and I’m going to compete everywhere. If I’m a candidate, there’s no fifth-place kind of mentality.”
In the 2016 money race, at least, there’s little chance of that.
Police Investigating Leads in Search for Escaped New York Prison Inmates.
New York State Police closed a road east of Dannemora to investigate a lead in the search for two inmates who escaped from a maximum-security prison.
According to a police news release, a stretch of State Route 374 – nearly eight miles long – remains closed this morning, and residents can expect an increased police presence in the area. In addition, Saranac Central School District is closed today, with Superintendent of Schools Johnathan Parks telling ABC News he wanted to "get out law enforcement's way" as the search continues for David Sweat and Richard Matt.
Sweat and Matt were reported missing from Clinton Correctional Facility, located about 20 miles south of the Canadian border, on Saturday. The inmates may have considered Vermont as “a possible destination,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said at a Wednesday news conference. Corrections officers, other inmates and contract employees who worked at the prisons are among those being interviewed by investigators, and New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico confirmed that training supervisor Joyce Mitchell was among the interviewees.
"She befriended the inmates and she may have had some role in assisting them, but I'm not going to go into any further details," D'Amico said.
According to two sources briefed on the probe, Mitchell, who has not been charged, is cooperating with investigators. Authorities are investigating whether she played a role in the escapees getting the tools that they used to break out of prison, the sources said.
Cuomo said that "it's very possible" the escapees "had a several-hour head start on us" making the potential search area relatively widespread.
“I am confident we will find them. The only question is when,” he said.
Steve Rattner is talking about the dds for the GOP nomination - 2016 Presidential Election - Likelihood of Republican Nomination.
**Because the sum of the candidates listed here may be less than 100%, any remaining percentage can be considered the combined likelihood for all other potential candidates.
***PredictIt's price is the average of the bid and ask.
****Polling average is from Huffington Post's Pollster. This is NOT a probability, but the average percentage of support in the polls!
**Because the sum of the candidates listed here may be less than 100%, any remaining percentage can be considered the combined likelihood for all other potential candidates.
***PredictIt's price is the average of the bid and ask.
Body camera catches Albuquerque police officer saving baby's life. Body cam footage captures the moment that Officer Martin Smith the saves the life of a baby girl by performing CPR on her. A body camera caught an Albuquerque police officer saving a baby’s life. The Albuquerque Police Department released the video from 14 May, which shows Officer Martin Smith arriving on the scene, walking into the family’s home and immediately performing CPR on the 7-month-old girl. He gave her light breaths and rubbed her sternum in an attempt to revive her, police said.
The Marco Rubio story about the boat and his so called financial issues is / are such a non story. It is NOT the same thing as the Willard (Mitt Romney) car elevator. Not even close to it.
According to a police news release, a stretch of State Route 374 – nearly eight miles long – remains closed this morning, and residents can expect an increased police presence in the area. In addition, Saranac Central School District is closed today, with Superintendent of Schools Johnathan Parks telling ABC News he wanted to "get out law enforcement's way" as the search continues for David Sweat and Richard Matt.
Sweat and Matt were reported missing from Clinton Correctional Facility, located about 20 miles south of the Canadian border, on Saturday. The inmates may have considered Vermont as “a possible destination,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said at a Wednesday news conference. Corrections officers, other inmates and contract employees who worked at the prisons are among those being interviewed by investigators, and New York State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico confirmed that training supervisor Joyce Mitchell was among the interviewees.
"She befriended the inmates and she may have had some role in assisting them, but I'm not going to go into any further details," D'Amico said.
According to two sources briefed on the probe, Mitchell, who has not been charged, is cooperating with investigators. Authorities are investigating whether she played a role in the escapees getting the tools that they used to break out of prison, the sources said.
Cuomo said that "it's very possible" the escapees "had a several-hour head start on us" making the potential search area relatively widespread.
“I am confident we will find them. The only question is when,” he said.
Steve Rattner is talking about the dds for the GOP nomination - 2016 Presidential Election - Likelihood of Republican Nomination.
| Potential Candidate | PredictWise | Derived Betfair Price | Pollster Polling Percent | Derived PredictIt Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeb Bush | 30 % | 29.6 % | 10.9 % | 44.0 % |
| Marco Rubio | 22 % | 22.1 % | 13.2 % | 33.0 % |
| Scott Walker | 19 % | 19.3 % | 12.7 % | 32.5 % |
| Rand Paul | 10 % | 9.7 % | 9.0 % | 18.5 % |
| Mike Huckabee | 3 % | 2.7 % | 8.6 % | 13.0 % |
| Ted Cruz | 2 % | 2.4 % | 7.9 % | 13.0 % |
| Ben Carson | 2 % | 1.9 % | 9.1 % | N/A |
| Paul Ryan | 1 % | 0.5 % | 4.5 % | N/A |
| Chris Christie | 1 % | 1.3 % | 4.6 % | 11.5 % |
| Rob Portman | 1 % | 0.5 % | N/A | N/A |
| Bobby Jindal | 1 % | 0.5 % | 1.1 % | 9.5 % |
| Eric Cantor | 1 % | 0.5 % | N/A | N/A |
| Rick Santorum | 1 % | 0.7 % | 1.5 % | 10.0 % |
| Susana Martinez | 1 % | 0.6 % | N/A | N/A |
| Rick Perry | 1 % | 1.1 % | 2.5 % | 11.5 % |
| John Kasich | 1 % | N/A | 2.1 % | N/A |
| Condoleezza Rice | 0 % | 0.3 % | N/A | N/A |
| Jon Huntsman | 0 % | 0.4 % | N/A | N/A |
| Nikki Haley | 0 % | 0.2 % | N/A | N/A |
| Sarah Palin | 0 % | 0.3 % | N/A | 4.0 % |
| Michele Bachmann | 0 % | 0.3 % | N/A | N/A |
| John Thune | 0 % | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Brian Sandoval | 0 % | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Mike Pence | 0 % | N/A | 0.0 % | N/A |
| Newt Gingrich | 0 % | N/A | N/A | N/A |
*PredictWise's prediction for this event is equal to the average of the available prediction markets.
**Because the sum of the candidates listed here may be less than 100%, any remaining percentage can be considered the combined likelihood for all other potential candidates.
***PredictIt's price is the average of the bid and ask.
****Polling average is from Huffington Post's Pollster. This is NOT a probability, but the average percentage of support in the polls!
LAST UPDATED: 06-11-2015 6:21AM
2016 Presidential Election - Next President:| Potential Candidate | PredictWise | Betfair | PredictIt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillary Clinton | 46 % | 46.3 % | 56.5 % |
| Jeb Bush | 18 % | 17.7 % | 29.5 % |
| Marco Rubio | 10 % | 10.1 % | 22.0 % |
| Scott Walker | 7 % | 7.3 % | 14.5 % |
| Rand Paul | 5 % | 5.1 % | 12.5 % |
| Elizabeth Warren | 4 % | 3.8 % | 6.5 % |
| Martin OMalley | 3 % | 2.5 % | 6.0 % |
| Joe Biden | 2 % | 1.8 % | 7.0 % |
| Chris Christie | 1 % | 0.6 % | 6.5 % |
| Michael Bloomberg | 1 % | 0.7 % | 5.0 % |
| Al Gore | 1 % | 0.6 % | N/A |
| Rick Perry | 1 % | 0.7 % | N/A |
| Ben Carson | 1 % | 1.0 % | N/A |
| Ted Cruz | 1 % | 0.6 % | 9.0 % |
| Mitt Romney | 1 % | 0.6 % | 2.5 % |
| Paul Ryan | 0 % | 0.2 % | N/A |
| Rob Portman | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
| Andrew Cuomo | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
| Condoleezza Rice | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
| Susana Martinez | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
| Rahm Emanuel | 0 % | 0.2 % | N/A |
| Bobby Jindal | 0 % | 0.2 % | N/A |
| Bob McDonnell | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
| Deval Patrick | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
| Jon Huntsman | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
| Sarah Palin | 0 % | 0.3 % | 3.0 % |
| Cory Booker | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
| Joe Manchin | 0 % | 0.1 % | N/A |
*PredictWise's prediction for this event is equal to the average of the available prediction markets.
**Because the sum of the candidates listed here may be less than 100%, any remaining percentage can be considered the combined likelihood for all other potential candidates.
***PredictIt's price is the average of the bid and ask.
LAST UPDATED: 06-11-2015 4:59AM
2016 President - Winner (Party)
| Party | PredictWise | Derived Betfair Price | Betfair Back | Betfair Lay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | 59 % | $ 0.585 | 1.67 | 1.75 |
| Republican | 42 % | $ 0.415 | 2.38 | 2.44 |
LAST UPDATED: 06-11-2015 4:20AM
Body camera catches Albuquerque police officer saving baby's life. Body cam footage captures the moment that Officer Martin Smith the saves the life of a baby girl by performing CPR on her. A body camera caught an Albuquerque police officer saving a baby’s life. The Albuquerque Police Department released the video from 14 May, which shows Officer Martin Smith arriving on the scene, walking into the family’s home and immediately performing CPR on the 7-month-old girl. He gave her light breaths and rubbed her sternum in an attempt to revive her, police said.
When the officer arrived the baby was having trouble breathing (YouTube / Albuquerque Police Dept)
Within moments, you hear Smith say that the girl is starting to breathe. You can see her arms and legs moving, and Smith speaks to the girl, keeping her awake as they wait for paramedics to arrive.
The officer also holds the child while he keeps the family calm. Smith walks out to meet paramedics at the end of the video, who then take the child to the ambulance so she can be taken to the hospital.
Police said the child is “doing great.”
Bill Clinton defends family foundation's overseas work.
The charities have raised nearly $2 billion, much of it from large corporations. Reports have said donors to the foundation sought State Department approval for business ventures, and also augmented the Clintons' income by paying large speaking fees. During the interview, Clinton said that he would stop doing paid speeches if his wife is elected president. “Once you get to be president, then you’re just making the daily story,” he said, though he said he would keep giving speeches on issues that interest him.
As for whether he would continue his work with the foundation, he said he would leave that decision to Hillary. “She’ll have to decide what is my highest and best use,” he said. “We’ll have to talk about it.” He said his daughter, Chelsea, and the foundation’s newly appointed director, Donna Shalala, will continue to steer the organization even if he detaches himself from its operations.
“My foundation will be just fine, but I plan to stay at it as long as I can to make sure we are in the best possible shape,” he said, saying that’s why he has been pushing to raise an endowment for it. Clinton defended one grant in particular, a $500,000 donation from the government of Algeria for earthquake relief in Haiti. Algeria had been trying to establish a closer relationship with the U.S. The foundation has acknowledged that it should have first gotten approval from the State Department before making the donation.
“We put out the word that if anybody wanted to send me money for Haiti I would forward it on quickly to where it would do the most good,” he said, saying he considered the contribution “like a pass-through.”
“There are very few countries in the world that I wouldn’t accept money from for Haiti,” he added. “They weren’t giving it to me; they were giving it to the U.N. global coordinator.”
Asked whether he would do anything differently, Clinton said couldn't name anything. “What I tried to do there for a while, there had been a lot of money we didn’t take, things we didn’t do, one or two places we didn’t go into because we have a strict no-corruption policy in our operations.”
He said the attacks on the foundation “are a tribute to my wife” and her strength as a presidential contender.
“In the end, I think, the foundation will stand or fall on the work it does,” he said.
If his wife wins the presidency, Clinton said, he would defer to her on accepting his advice.
“If one thing she knows more than anyone on Earth, it’s on what subjects I should be listened to, and what subjects I shouldn’t,” he said “She’s been stuck with it for 40 years.”
I like what he (Bill Clinton) said yesterday about if you hide your money in the Cayman Islands or if you use tax shelters after receiving monies, that is fine but when you give money to the Clinton Foundation for them to help people, that is an issue. However, the argument with that is when people like Jeffrey Sachs say that the Clinton Foundation set back the relief efforts in countries like Haiti.
McKinney police officer apologizes, blames emotional stress for aggression at pool party.
Cpl. Eric Casebolt was captured on video Friday evening wrestling a teenage girl to the ground and pointing his gun at two other teens while answering a disturbance call at an unruly party at a neighborhood pool in suburban Dallas.
“He never intended to mistreat anyone,” his attorney, Jane Bishkin, said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. “He apologizes to all who were offended.”
Bishkin said Casebolt had worked one suicide and one attempted suicide in the hour prior to being dispatched to the pool party that reportedly involved teens fighting.
“The nature of these two suicide calls took an emotional toll on Eric Casebolt,” Bishkin said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.
Cellphone video of Casebolt responding to the pool incident was published Saturday and immediately went viral. By Sunday, Casebolt, a 10-year veteran, was suspended and put under investigation. On the video, teens are seen scrambling as police arrive on the scene in the upper-middle-class neighborhood.
Casebolt, who resigned Tuesday, did not attend the news conference.
Daniel Malenfant, president of the McKinney Fraternal Order of Police, said Casebolt has been receiving daily telephone and email death threats.
“He's worried for his family,” Bishkin said. “He's worried that he may be followed.”
On the video, Casebolt, who is white, curses at mainly black youths and shouts for them to sit on the ground. As an argument with a bikini-clad girl escalates, the officer can be heard yelling, “On your face,” as he pushes the girl to the ground. When two teenage boys rush up to where Casebolt has the girl pinned to the ground, the officer draws his gun and briefly chases them.
“He was only reacting to the situation and the challenges that it presented,” Bishkin said.
Casebolt, the city’s patrolman of the year in 2008, was reluctant to even go to the pool disturbance, but “felt it was his duty to respond” once the call escalated to reports of violence.
“He believed that those who fled were possible suspects,” Bishkin said. “He was not targeting minorities. In fact, he also detained a white female.”
But in hindsight, Bishkin said, Casebolt acknowledges that he let his emotions get the better of him.
Bishkin said Casebolt was working the evening shift and started work at 6 p.m., about 1 hour and 15 minutes before officers were called to the Craig Ranch subdivision neighborhood pool.iew gallery.
“Eric assisted them in securing the scene, photographing the body and collecting statements,” said Bishkin, noting that the deceased was black.
“Eric also spent a considerable amount of time consoling the man’s grieving widow.”
On his next call, Bishkin said Casebolt helped successfully talk a suicidal teenage girl down from her parents’ roof.
“Eric’s compassion during these two incidents are a testament to his character,” Bishkin said. “While police work is often dangerous, it is fraught with emotions and family tragedy.”
Asked by a reporter if any other officers had been on the suicide calls and at the pool melee like Casebolt, Bishkin declined to answer.
“Because there's still an active investigation by the McKinney Police Department, we think it's inappropriate to comment as much as we'd like to,” she said.
Social media has been a hot spot of debate regarding the case, with a number of people saying Casebolt’s resignation isn’t enough.
City of McKinney spokeswoman Anna Clark said late Wednesday that the case remains under investigation.
“We won’t have details on charges until it’s complete,” Clark wrote in an email to Yahoo News. “We are investigating all allegations of criminal activity involving this incident.”
Bishkin said Casebolt has received little information about the investigation.
“It is his hope that by his resignation the community may start to heal,” Bishkin said. Jason Sickles is a reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles).
When you hear that about the cop, it makes you feel bad for him and honestly, it just goes t show how we only hear about the bad issues when it comes to the police forces. We did not hear about how he talked some kid down from killing himself hours before that unfortunate issue (let alone how he consoled the woman who had tro deal with a suicide of their family.). That is the other thing that (Mike) Barnicle brings up, why was not not time in between incidents? It would seem that anyone that talks whomever from killing themselves or someone that picks up pieces from a suicide should be given a few hours off work.Are Workplace Personality Tests Fair? Growing Use of Tests Sparks Scrutiny Amid Questions of Effectiveness and Workplace Discrimination. Workers who apply online at RadioShack Corp. must say if they agree with the statement: "Over the course of the day, I can experience many mood changes." Lowe's Cos. asks job seekers if they "believe that others have good intentions." A test at McDonald's Corp. said: "If something very bad happens, it takes some time before I feel happy again." The use of online personality tests by employers has surged in the past decade as they try to streamline the hiring process, especially for customer-service jobs. Such tests are used to assess the personality, skills, cognitive abilities and other traits of 60% to 70% of prospective workers in the U.S., up from 30% to 40% about five years ago, estimates Josh Bersin, principal of consulting firm Bersin by Deloitte, a unit of auditor Deloitte LLP. Workplace personality testing has become a $500 million-a-year business and is growing by 10% to 15% a year, estimates Hogan Assessment Systems Inc., a Tulsa, Okla., testing company. Xerox Corp. says tests have reduced attrition in high-turnover customer-service jobs by 20 or more days in some cases. Dialog Direct, of Highland Park, Mich., says the testing software allows the call-center operator and manager to predict with 80% accuracy which employees will get the highest performance scores.
But the rise of personality tests has sparked growing scrutiny of their effectiveness and fairness. Some companies have scaled back, changed or eliminated their use of such tests. Civil-rights groups long focused on overt forms of workplace discrimination claim that data-driven algorithms powering the tests could make jobs harder to get for people who don't conform to rigid formulas. Job applicants at McDonald's must say which statement out of a pair they agree with more. An example:
I sometimes get confused by my own thoughts and feelings.
I do not really like when I have to do something I have not done before. RadioShack asks potential employees if they strongly disagree, disagree, feel neutral about, agree or strongly agree with specific statements, such as:
Over the course of the day, I can experience many mood changes.
I am always happy.
Sometimes there is so much stress I wonder how I am going to make it through the day.
Julie Brill, a Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission who has examined companies' use of data, says algorithms designed to reduce bias "ironically could have the effect of creating a new kind of discrimination." The FTC doesn't have the power to regulate workplace issues.
Whole Foods Market Inc. stopped using the tests in 2007 after managers noticed that workers who cleared the personality-screening process sometimes lacked basic food-preparation skills. "For us, it just wasn't a good fit," says company spokesman Michael Silverman.
Xerox quit looking at data about job applicants' commuting time even though data showed that customer-service employees who got to work faster were likely to keep their jobs at Xerox longer. Xerox managers decided the information could put applicants from minority neighborhoods at a disadvantage in the hiring process. "There's some knowledge that you gain that you should stay away from when making a hiring decision," says Teri Morse, Xerox's vice president of recruitment. Overall, though, the company is "shocked all the time" by the accuracy of tests it began using in 2012, she says.
Xerox has begun probing for compassion in pre-employment tests, since applicants who score high for empathy tend to excel in customer service, according to the company. The tests are provided by Evolv Inc., a closely held San Francisco firm that calls itself the "recognized leader in big data workforce optimization."
Evolv's chief executive, Max Simkoff, says personality-related criteria are a small part of its overall test, which also examines a job seeker's motivation, creativity and technical aptitude.
The Equal Employment Opportunity commission is investigating whether personality tests discriminate against people with disabilities. As part of the investigation, officials are trying to determine if the tests shut out people suffering from mental illnesses such as depression or bipolar disorder, even if they have the right skills for the job, according to EEOC documents.
EEOC officials won't comment on the investigation. In general, though, "if a person's results are affected by the fact that they have an impairment and the results are used to exclude the person from a job, the employer needs to defend their use of the test even if the test was lawful and administered correctly," says Christopher Kuczynski, EEOC acting associate legal counsel.
Employers are watching the investigation closely. A ruling against personality tests would "set a tremendous precedent," forcing companies and test makers to prove their tests aren't discriminatory, says Marc Bendick, an economist and consultant who studies workforce diversity issues.
Test sellers have said their own studies show personality tests don't have an adverse impact on applicants based on race or gender. However, little work has been done on disabilities.
In 2011, Rhode Island regulators said there was "probable cause" to conclude that drugstore chain CVS Health Corp. might have violated a state law barring employers from eliciting information about the mental health or physical disabilities of job applicants.
The Woonsocket, R.I., company's personality test asked potential employees to say whether they agreed or disagreed with statements like "People do a lot of things that make you angry," "There's no use having close friends; they always let you down," "Many people cannot be trusted," and "You are unsure of what to say when you meet someone."
CVS removed the questions in 2011 and settled a civil "charge of discrimination" filed by the Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed the test "could have the effect of discriminating against applicants with certain mental impairments or disorders."
CVS neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. The company confirmed the settlement but declined further comment on the Rhode Island case. The retailer still uses personality tests in hiring but has changed suppliers.
Job-screening personality tests are largely based on a psychological model developed in the 1930s. Until recently, job candidates often took the tests well into the hiring process, and the results were considered along with interviews and past experience.
As the hiring process gets more automated and employers begin incorporating more data into hiring, the tests are used more often and earlier in the process to winnow applicants for specific jobs.
The responses to an online personality test are fed into an algorithm that scores each applicant, sometimes on a scale of red, yellow and green. Scoring systems vary by testing provider, and the companies can customize their methods to fit an employer's demands. Red applicants—and sometimes yellow ones—rarely get the chance to interview for a job.
Automated personality tests can "screen out the 30% of applicants who are least qualified" before an employer even looks at a résumé, according to Ken Lahti, vice president of product development and innovation at CEB, an Arlington, Va., company that provides pre-employment tests.
Deniz Ones, an industrial and organizational psychologist at the University of Minnesota, says the tests have some predictive value. For example, a worker's ranking on measurements of conscientiousness can tell bosses about work ethic, she says.
RadioShack uses behavioral questions as just one tool to assess job candidates, says a person close to the company. Lowe's says its personality tests help the home-improvement retailer "in developing a workforce that will provide the best shopping experience for customers." McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa McComb says personality questions are used to elicit "accurate and candid responses," not to assess a job candidate's qualifications.
Academic studies have concluded that individual personality traits have at most a small connection with performance. "It's intuitively appealing to managers that personality matters," says Fred Morgeson, a management professor and organizational psychologist at Michigan State University, but the link is "much lower than the field has led us to believe."
Personality-testing firms and companies that hire them disclose little information about the tests, saying their formulas are proprietary. For example, Kronos Inc. has opposed the EEOC's efforts in a civil lawsuit to force the test provider to hand over internal validity studies and other documents related to its assessments.
Since 2007, the EEOC has been investigating allegations by a West Virginia woman that supermarket chain Kroger Co.'s personality test discriminated against people with disabilities.
The Cincinnati company declined to comment, but applicants for hourly positions at Kroger stores must complete an extensive online application that includes a personality test.
As part of about 80 personality-related questions in a 2012 version of the Kroger test, job candidates were asked to "strongly disagree," "disagree," "agree" or "strongly agree" with statements like "You are always cheerful" and "You have no big worries."
In 2012 and 2013, Kroger and six other companies were accused by retired Nokia Corp. lawyer Roland Behm of discrimination against the mentally ill through their use of personality tests. Mr. Behm filed complaints with the EEOC on behalf of his son, Kyle.
Kyle Behm says he applied online in 2012 for hourly jobs at Finish Line Inc., Home Depot Inc., Kroger, Lowe's, PetSmart Inc., Walgreen Co. and Yum Brands Inc. He held similar positions in the past and had a personal connection at his local Kroger store. But he says he was turned down everywhere.
The engineering student at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about 18 months before the job rejections. He says a Kroger employee told him he scored "red" on the test, which indicated he might ignore customers if he felt upset or angry. He didn't tell Kroger about his diagnosis and wasn't required to under the law.
Mr. Behm's father says he contacted all seven companies about his concerns. Most denied culpability but suggested they could find a suitable job for Kyle if he agreed not to pursue legal action. The father and son decided to file discrimination charges with the EEOC instead, hoping to force changes to the companies' hiring processes.
The complaints against Kroger and PetSmart were folded into the EEOC's continuing investigation of personality tests, according to letters sent to Mr. Behm by the EEOC. The agency is reviewing Mr. Behm's complaints against the five other companies.
The tests used by Kroger and PetSmart were created by assessment vendor Unicru Inc. and administered by Kronos. Kronos bought Unicru in 2006. Kronos Vice President Charles DeWitt wouldn't comment on the Behm case but says testing is "only a small part of our business."
A PetSmart spokesperson says the Phoenix company is "committed to fair recruitment and employment practices," declining to comment on Mr. Behm. Finish Line says the athletic-gear retailer is aware of challenges to pre-employment assessments but is "confident" and stands by "Finish Line's employment policies and practices."
Jim Pemberton, Walgreen's chief diversity officer, wouldn't comment on Mr. Behm's accusations but says the Deerfield, Ill., drugstore chain has special recruitment programs for people with disabilities.
"In our experience, we feel we can expect people with disabilities to perform the same job at the same level, with the same pay and the same standards of excellence as people without them," Mr. Pemberton says. "We have no intention to dismiss a population that we're trying to attract."
Home Depot declined to comment. A Lowe's spokeswoman says it is "inappropriate for us to comment about Mr. Behm's claims," adding that the company's "hiring assessment complies" with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Yum couldn't be reached for comment.
Kroger has dropped from its hiring test many of the questions Mr. Behm and his father found most troubling. A recent version posted online, also administered by Kronos, was 11 pages long, down from 17 pages in 2012, and includes just 12 personality-related statements. Instead, much of the recent test asks applicants to respond to hypothetical work scenarios and choose one of two endings to 19 statements that begin "When at work I…"
For example, "…Am liked by nearly everyone" or "…Believe there are some people that don't like me." Kroger declined to comment on the changes or the EEOC investigation.
Mr. Behm, who is 24 years old and is in his senior year at Mercer, says he could have lied on tests to give answers that might have seemed more agreeable. "I didn't think it was necessary, and I didn't think it was really ethical," he says.
His disorder was never an issue in his previous jobs, he says. "They would've known that if they contacted any of my references."
Regardless of it all this week so far, Please Stay In Touch!
