Navy: USS Abraham Lincoln Refueling Delayed, Will Hurt Carrier Readiness

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Photo Credit: USNIThe U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News.

Lincoln was scheduled to be moved to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipyard later this month to begin the 4-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the ship.

“This delay is due to uncertainty in the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill, both in the timing and funding level available for the first full year of the contract,” the message said.
“CVN-72 will remain at Norfolk Naval Base where the ships force personnel will continue to conduct routine maintenance until sufficient funding is received for the initial execution of the RCOH.”

Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee released a statement denouncing the need for decision.

Forbes called the delay, “another example of how these reckless and irresponsible defense cuts in Washington will have a long-term impact on the Navy’s ability to perform its missions. Not only will the Lincoln be delayed in returning to the Fleet, but this decision will also affect the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) defueling, the USS George Washington (CVN-73) RCOH, and future carrier readiness.”

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Guard Shoots Boy, 15, At FDA Office

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A security guard opened fire and wounded a 15-year-old boy at a FDA’s Food and Drug Administration regional facility in Bothell early Friday, according to police.

It was around 7 a.m. when two security officers approached a teen acting suspiciously in the building’s parking lot, said Shari Ireton with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

The teen ran away, but then came back a short time later and got into a car in the parking lot. As the security officers approached the car, the teen backed out and struck one of the security officers, who in turn fired at the car, Ireton said.

Bothell Police Sgt. Cedric Collins said earlier the teen crashed into another vehicle about a mile away on the Bothell-Everett Highway, but Ireton said officers found the teen at a home.

The teen had a gunshot wound to his foot and minor cuts to his face, Ireton said. He was taken to a a local hospital for treatment and was later released into police custody.

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Levin to Rove: ‘Bring It On, Doughboy. Bring On Your Little Whiteboard!’ (+audio)

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerThe back-and-forth verbal jabs between former Bush White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, his deputies at American Crossroads and some of the conservative movement’s so-called “critically important figures” took another intense turn on Mark Levin’s radio show on Thursday, with Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King entering the fray.

“[L]et me put something to you folks about Karl Rove — what a propagandist this man is,” Levin said at the end of his program. “He keeps bringing up Christine O’Donnell. Karl Rove has lost more races that he’s been involved in than Christine O’Donnell. She has lost one. Rove has lost scores. And as soon as she was nominated, he went on TV on the ‘Hannity’ show and started smearing her.”

“And he put out emails to all the pseudo-conservatives inside the beltway trashing her. He wanted her defeated,” Levin continued. “He wanted Mike Castle to win — Mike Castle, anti-conservative, pro-abortion, pro-big spending, on and on and on. He’s also up there with that stupid little third-grade whiteboard of his, with his fourth-grade writing style, talking about how they committed $30 million to tea party candidates. Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve had to fight through these primaries to get the tea party conservatives nominated. And then his group has put money into the race.”

Levin, the author of “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America,” urged American Crossroads’ donor to put their money elsewhere in the future if they are indeed interested in promoting conservative candidates.

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Fox News Poll: Voters Back Spending Cuts To Boost Economy By Huge Margins

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Photo Credit: J Pat CarterBy massive margins, voters say they would rather see the government cut spending than increase it as a way to boost the nation’s economy, according to a Fox News poll that showed, in hindsight, voters largely saying the 2009 stimulus did not work.

The poll showed that, by a 60-34 percent margin, voters say President Obama’s $800 billion strategy for pulling the American economy out of its one-and-a-half year long recession did not deliver on its promise. While more than half of Democrats said they thought the stimulus worked, 87 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of Independents said they thought it did not.

Opposition to another round of stimulus runs two-to-one, according to the poll. This could be because 73 percent of voters polled say cutting government spending would be more likely to help strengthen the nation’s economy — as opposed to just 15 percent who believe increasing spending would do the trick.

While Obama reportedly has said he doesn’t believe the government has a spending problem, the poll showed that out of 13 issues tested, more voters are “extremely” concerned about government spending than any other issue.

Even a majority of Democrats — 55 percent — agreed that cutting spending is the way to help the economy. Ninety-one percent of Republicans held that view.

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Report: White House Set To Cut Nuclear Arsenal By One-Third

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Photo Credit: Glyn Lowe PhotoworksPresident Obama is poised to sign off on a new internal review of U.S. nuclear weapons strategy that would reduce the arsenal by one-third, resulting in billions in savings to the Pentagon and Energy Department.

The recommended reductions were included in a draft version of a classified decision directive compiled by top defense and national security officials inside the White House, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity issued Friday.

While the president has yet to officially approve the directive, including the recommended one-third cut to the nuclear arsenal, sources tell CPI Obama has voiced no objection to the directive’s findings.

Representatives from State Department, Strategic Command, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the office of Vice President Biden also played a part in drafting the directive.

White House officials had pushed to get the new directive finalized late last year, according to the CPI report. However, the administration pushed back against that plan.

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Grenade Attack At U.S. Consulate In Mexico

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Photo Credit: diarioimagen.net Three grenades exploded Thursday evening in Nuevo Laredo, just feet from the U.S. Consulate office, sources in the Mexican border city said.

No injuries were reported, but the explosions rattled the neighborhood, as locals scurried for cover amid a firefight between what’s believed to be members of the Zetas criminal group and their former allies, the Gulf cartel, which is making a push to reclaim the territory.

The two groups appear to be battling, leaving a trail of killings and burned houses. In recent days, sources said, seven people have been killed — three of them Americans — and five homes torched.

The U.S. Consulate issued an alert, and Mexican soldiers were deployed to guard the building.

This is the second time in three years, an explosion has rocked the U.S. facility.

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Massachusetts Governor Declares State Of Emergency, Institutes Travel Ban (+video)

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Photo Credit: Paul and Linda MorrisGov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts Friday afternoon for the blizzard that could bring up to 3 feet of snow.

He also announced he has signed an executive order to ban all travel on all roads in the state starting at 4 p.m. Friday.

There are some exceptions to the ban, including emergency workers, those who work in hospitals and media, and others required to be at their jobs.

The governor said rapid snowfall of 2-3 inches per hour will make for, “extremely dangerous conditions,” and will “make safe travel nearly impossible.”

This is the first time that a Massachusetts governor has issued an executive order like this since the Blizzard of 1978.

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Video: Joe Biden Caught on Camera Admitting Gun Control Will Not Stop Mass Shootings

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After pontificating about the government’s ‘moral obligation’ to push for more gun control, the Vice President has now been caught on camera saying that the new measures being pushed by the White House won’t diminish the possibility of more mass shootings.

Wow – a stunning reversal. It makes one wonder whether this was even a good faith effort on the part of the Administration in the first place.

Never mind the fact that the Democrats rolled out their pre-packaged bills as soon as they had a pretext. This latest gaffe by Joe Biden is rather morally problematic, if I may follow the Vice President’s lead in the invocation of categorical imperatives.

See video:

Panetta: Sequestration Would Make U.S. ‘Second-Rate Power’

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Photo Credit: U.S. Army AfricaSecretary of Defense Leon Panetta used a hearing on the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on Benghazi to plead with Congress for a budget agreement that would prevent sequestration cuts to the Department of Defense.

During his testimony before the Senate Armed Forces Committee on Thursday, Panetta said his greatest concern as defense secretary is the fiscal uncertainty hanging over Washington.

“I cannot imagine that people would stand by and deliberately hurt this country, in terms of our national defense, by letting this happen,” he said.

Ultimately, sequestration cuts would erode the military’s capabilities and threaten its world standing, Panetta asserted.

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Oregon Man Claims IRS Agent Coerced Sex By Threatening Tax Penalty (+video)

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Photo Credit: KVALEUGENE, Ore. — A Fall Creek resident filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Government and an IRS agent that he alledges pressured him into sex by threatening a tax penalty.

The law firm representing Vincent Burroughs filed the suit with the U.S. District Court in Eugene on Jan. 25 “as a result to coersive conduct by Defendant (Dora) Abrahamson,” an Internal Revenue Service agent from Cottage Grove.

Burroughs claims that in August of 2011 Abrahamson called him and said he would be audited by the IRS. He claims that at the time he didn’t know her.

Burroughs says that he had not met Abrahamson before those calls, nor had he heard that he was being audited by the IRS.

“She was sending me texts that she wanted to come out, give me massages because she needed to help me relax,” Burroughs said in a phone interview with KVAL News.

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