Veterans Are Not Applying for Discharge Status Upgrades, Pentagon Blamed

Very few veterans take advantage of a Pentagon policy designed to make it easier for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to upgrade their discharge status and become eligible to apply for veterans’ benefits, according to a Yale Law Clinic report.

At a news conference Monday, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., veterans, and Yale law students, blamed the Department of Defense for not adequately publicizing the policy to veterans with less than honorable discharges. Since new guidelines were announced last year, just 201 of tens of thousands of eligible veterans applied for a PTSD-related service upgrade, according to the report. Blumenthal called the statistic “a staggering, outrageous fact.”

“Veterans on the streets of New Haven or Connecticut or the rest of the country have no idea about this,” Blumenthal said. “It takes a vigorous and rigorous effort, which the DOD committed to and they have failed,” he added.

Sundiata Sidibe, a student in the law school’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic, called the number of applicants “miniscule.” In previous years, an average of 39 veterans applied annually for status upgrades in connection with PTSD, the report states.

Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had asked the Pentagon to give the committee a progress report by August 2015 on its efforts to inform veterans about the policy. A report was never submitted, he said. (Read more from “Veterans Are Not Applying for Discharge Status Upgrades, Pentagon Blamed” HERE)

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More Than a Decade Later, Missing Alabama Boy Found in Ohio

A child who was reported missing in Alabama 13 years ago has been found safe and unharmed in Cleveland, Ohio, authorities say.

Julian Hernandez was in the legal custody of his mother when he disappeared on August 28, 2002. He was 5 then.

It was suspected that his father, Bobby Hernandez, took him as part of a noncustodial parental abduction, according to the Vestavia Hills Police Department, just south of Birmingham . . .

The missing child they were able to locate and positively identify is now 18. Julian’s mother and family were notified of his recovery.

Bobby Hernandez was arrested Monday in the abduction. The court records from Cuyahoga County in Ohio did not specify exact charges against him. CNN reached out to attorney Ralph DeFranco’s office for further comment Wednesday night but did not immediately receive a response. (Read more from “More Than a Decade Later, Missing Alabama Boy Found in Ohio” HERE)

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Donald Trump Burns Obama’s Debate Critique; Meanwhile, All of Obama’s ‘Achievements’ Are Failing

Trump Shrugs off Obama’s Debate Critique: ‘He Can’t Handle the Country’

By Jeremy Diamond. Donald Trump dismissed Tuesday President Barack Obama’s mocking of the the GOP presidential candidates’ criticism of the CNBC moderators in the last debate.

Trump, whose campaign decided to continue dealing directly with the TV networks rather than forming a united front with other presidential campaigns, said he “doesn’t care too much” about the debate format, instead knocking Obama’s handling of the country.

“They’ve been hitting me one way or the other. I just want to have the debates. I like the debates. They can ask tough questions. … I just want to answer the questions and be done with it, frankly,” Trump said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Of Obama’s criticism, Trump added, “He can’t handle the country. He’s doing a terrible job running the country.”

Obama ripped into the GOP’s field of 2016 hopefuls on Monday night, noting that while they’ve knocked him for being “weak” on the international stage, “it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators.” (Read more from “Donald Trump Burns Obama’s Debate Critique: ‘He Can’t Handle the Country'” HERE)

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All of Obama’s ‘Achievements’ Are Failing

By Jennifer Rubin. President Obama’s biggest domestic “accomplishment,” Obamacare, and his biggest foreign policy objective, extracting the United States from the Middle East and redesigning our alliances (Iran in, Israel out), are now Exhibits A and B in the argument for jettisoning the Democrats from the White House. At the very least these issues, combined with a lackluster economy, suggest Hillary Clinton will have trouble running for a “third Obama term.”

On the Obamacare front, CBS News reports, “Sign-up season started Sunday for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, now in year 3. Premiums are going up an average of 7.5 percent, but they could be much higher depending on where you live.” It is not hard to see that if this keeps up we are headed for the infamous “death spiral,” as Sally Pipes, a health-care expert and critic of Obamacare explains . . .

If the domestic scene looks less than attractive for Democrats, the foreign policy front is abysmal. The president’s latest, cynical move to send just 50 Special Operations forces to Syria — but not into combat! — encapsulates the absence of a coherent strategy that will leave the region bloodier, less stable and more violent than when Obama took office.

His latest move on Syria has unsurprisingly been poorly received. Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute writes:

The situation is now beyond dire and all anyone can do is offer first steps that might start to drive it in a more positive direction. But any such steps must begin from the understanding of what this conflict is really about and who must actually resolve it: the Sunni Arabs and the non-Assad Alawite community. Those are the groups that will have to decide to put down their weapons and work out a mutually-acceptable deal. Defeating ISIS will still be hard in that context, but at least it might be both feasible and meaningful.

(Read more from “All of Obama’s ‘Achievements’ Are Failing” HERE)

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COVER-UP: ‘Gay’ Rape in Military Is Completely Underreported by Pentagon

Far more military men are being raped by other men and experience other sexual traumas than is reported by the Pentagon because of the stigma attached to such assaults, says a new study released Tuesday by the American Psychological Association.

“Rates of military sexual trauma among men who served in the military may be as much as 15 times higher than has been previously reported, largely because of barriers associated with stigma, beliefs in myths about male rape, and feelings of helplessness,” the APA said in releasing findings published in its periodical Psychological Services.

Comparing the new study’s numbers and the Pentagon’s survey results produced some shocking statistics.

The Rand Corp., which conducted the most recent Pentagon sexual assault survey in 2014, found that about 12,000 men reported being assaulted. Sexual assault in the military is defined as unwanted sexual contact, including rape and other assaults or the attempt to commit those acts.

Extrapolating the study’s estimates of up to 15 times greater than the Pentagon’s count, it would mean that as many as 180,000 men are assaulted in one year and, of those, 57,750 are “penetrative” attacks. (Read more from “‘Gay’ Rape in Military Is Completely Underreported by Pentagon” HERE)

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Conservatives Post Huge Election Victories in Ohio, Texas

Ohio Voters Reject Legal Pot

By WLWT. Ohio voters rejected a first-of-its-kind proposal Tuesday that would have legalized both medical and recreational marijuana, following an expensive campaign, a legal fight over its ballot wording and an investigation into the proposal’s petition signatures . . .

The measure known as Issue 3 on Tuesday’s ballot would have allowed adults 21 and older to use, purchase or grow certain amounts of marijuana and made cannabis available for medical uses in the same vote, a unique approach nationally . . .

Issue 2 targeted the system of 10 marijuana-growing sites that would have been created by the pot legalization question known as Issue 3 on the ballot. Issue 3 was defeated, avoiding a court challenge as to which issue would have trumped the other.

A few precincts in southwest Ohio’s Hamilton County reported problems getting voters their ballots because of poll workers’ unfamiliarity with a new electronic check-in system being used for the first time.

The marijuana legalization campaign, ResponsibleOhio, sought the extension, citing those problems. (Read more from “Ohio Voters Reject Legal Pot” HERE)

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Houston Equal Rights Ordinance Fails by Wide Margin

By Katherine Driessen. Houston’s controversial equal rights ordinance failed by a wide margin Tuesday, with voters opting to repeal the law that offered broad non-discrimination protections, according to incomplete and unofficial returns.

The hotly contested election has spurred national attention, drawing comment from the White House and the state’s top officials. Largely conservative opponents of the law allege that it would allow men dressed as women, including sexual predators, to enter women’s restrooms. Supporters of the law, including Mayor Annise Parker, argue that it extends an important local recourse for a range of protected classes to respond to discrimination.

Supporters released a written statement Tuesday night: “We are disappointed with today’s outcome, but our work to secure nondiscrimination protections for all hard-working Houstonians will continue. No one should have to live with the specter of discrimination hanging over them. Everyone should have the freedom to work hard, earn a decent living and provide for themselves and their families.”

The ordinance bans discrimination based not just on gender identity and sexual orientation, but also 13 classes already protected under federal law: sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and genetic information, as well as family, marital or military status. (Read more from “Houston Equal Rights Ordinance Fails by Wide Margin” HERE)

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GOP Reportedly Asks IRS to Audit Clinton Charity’s Finances

The Republican National Committee reportedly has asked the IRS to audit the finances of one of the Clinton family’s charities following its refusal to re-file tax forms even after acknowledging errors in reporting donations from foreign governments.

Reuters reported the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) said this week that it had decided against re-filing so-called Form 990s because the errors “had no impact” on the total amount of income it reported to the IRS. The charity claimed that the total amount of income was correct, but the breakdown of government and private funding was not. As a result, CHAI spokeswoman Maura Daley said the organization “does not believe a re-filing is necessary.”

In April, Reuters reported that the CHAI had failed to note grants from foreign governments separately from total revenue on its Form 990s in 2012 and 2013. At the time, the organization said it would re-file the documents for both years. It had previously re-filed returns from 2010 and 2011 for over-reporting the amount received in government grants by over $100 million.

The Clinton Foundation also said it would re-file its Form 990s after wrongly reporting that it had received no money from foreign governments on its tax returns for 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Reuters reported, citing tax experts, that it was unusual for a charity to make such large mistakes several years in a row. An IRS spokesman told the news agency that charities should re-file a Form 990 if it becomes aware of an error. (Read more from “GOP Reportedly Asks IRS to Audit Clinton Charity’s Finances” HERE)

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Republican Bevin Wins Kentucky Governor Race

Republican Matt Bevin, a businessman and Tea Party favorite, beat Democrat Jack Conway on Tuesday to win the race for Kentucky governor — becoming only the second GOP governor in the state in four decades.

The off-year election, one of many state and local contests held Tuesday across the country, was seen by some as a test for outsider candidates at a time when several such candidates are seeking the GOP presidential nomination. Bevin, who has run as an outsider ever since he unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Mitch McConnell last year, was declared the winner over state Attorney General Conway in the gubernatorial race shortly after polls closed Tuesday evening . . .

The office is currently held by a Democrat. Bevin’s election gives Republicans control of the state’s executive branch along with a commanding majority in the state Senate. Democrats still have an eight-seat majority in the state House of Representatives.

Throughout his campaign, Bevin cast himself as an outsider, in both government and politics. The 48-year-old investment manager has never held public office and was shunned by the state’s Republican political establishment when he challenged McConnell in the 2014 Senate primary. He never took any meaningful steps to repair those relationships after the race, often deflecting assistance from party officials and likely affecting his fundraising ability.

He relied more on the details of his personal story — his Christian faith and his four adopted children from Ethiopia — than his political policies. (Read more from “Republican Bevin Wins Kentucky Governor Race” HERE)

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Poll: Clinton Ties Carson in 2016 Matchup, but Tops Other GOP Candidates

One year out before the 2016 general election, Hillary Clinton and Ben Carson are tied in a hypothetical matchup, but Clinton leads three other major Republican candidates, according to brand-new numbers from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Clinton is ahead of Republican Donald Trump by eight points among registered voters, 50 percent to 42 percent.

She leads former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by four points, 47 percent to 43 percent.

And Clinton holds a three-point advantage over Sen. Marco Rubio, 47 percent to 44 percent, though that’s well within the poll’s margin of error of plus-minus 3.4 percentage points.

But against Ben Carson, who is now leading the GOP horserace in the NBC/WSJ poll, Clinton finds herself in a tied contest, 47 percent to 47 percent. (Read more from “Poll: Clinton Ties Carson in 2016 Matchup, but Tops Other GOP Candidates” HERE)

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Zip It: GOP Students ‘Intimidated’ on Campus, Say Views Less Tolerated

The rise of the Tea Party and a rowdy 2016 Republican presidential primary has done little to boost conservative speech on the nation’s college campuses where right-leaning students say they feel intimidated and their views sneered at.

In a poll sponsored by Yale University’s William F. Buckley Jr. program, 800 national undergrads said that by a nearly two-to-one margin, colleges were more tolerant to liberals. Pollster Jim McLaughlin of McLaughlin & Associates, found that 37 percent felt school more tolerant of liberals views, just 20 percent of conservatives, and 36 percent equally tolerant.

And while students believed their schools do a good job to bolster intellectual diversity, half, or 49 percent, said they have “often felt intimidated to share beliefs other than their professors.” And 50 percent felt intimidated to share their thoughts with students whose views differ.

And just in case there is any question that the liberal view is important and dominant on campus, consider this other poll result from McLaughlin’s survey: 30 percent of liberal students believe the First Amendment is “outdated.” Only 10 percent of conservative kids think that.

He said in an interview that some students are protesting with their feet, transferring to schools where they do feel free to express their views. (Read more from “Zip It: GOP Students ‘Intimidated’ on Campus, Say Views Less Tolerated” HERE)

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EXPOSED: There’s a Big Cover-Up With Obama’s Pet Project He Won’t Want You to See

By Kevin Whitson. When it comes to Olympic medals, the winners are clearly the ones wearing gold medals. Runners-up wear silver, and third place finishers don the bronze medal. When it comes to Obamacare, it seems that everyone is a loser. The Daily Caller News Foundation, in their investigative reporting of the costs of the Affordable Care Act, have concluded that the costs are much higher than the government claims.

The government claims that the cost for healthcare insurance will only rise by 7.5 percent. However, the Daily Caller News Foundation dug a little deeper into those claims and has concluded that the costs are much higher. The government’s claim, that the costs have only risen by 7.5 percent, is based on an averaging of the cost increases of the healthcare exchanges from 37 participating states and only looked at their Silver level plan. Depending on where one lives, the increases can be higher than 45 percent. Also, the 7.5 percent increase reported by the government does not take into consideration increases in all available plans, only the Silver-level plans. The Daily Caller News Foundation claims that if one averages all the increases from all available plans, then the cost increases to 20.3 percent. In other words, the government only reported on the cost increases of one plan, apparently in an effort to portray the ACA as a success. The losers, in the case of the ACA and healthcare coverage premiums, are the consumers who will be forced to pay much higher premiums and co-pays in the government run healthcare insurance exchanges.

The reason why the increases are happening is because the insurance companies are losing money. Only 36 percent of the insurers made money through the ACA exchanges. The other 64 percent of the insurers lost money, and 28 percent of those insurers reported losses of over 10 million dollars each. (Read more from “EXPOSED: There’s a Big Cover-Up With Obama’s Pet Project He Won’t Want You to See” HERE)

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Obamacare’s ‘Cheap’ Plans Just Got Even More Expensive

By Dan Mangan. “Cheap” could cost you more for Obamacare next year.

People who buy the cheapest health plans on the biggest Obamacare exchange without getting financial assistance are facing the largest increases for premiums and out-of-pocket costs in 2016, new analyses show.

Average prices of the so-called bronze plans on the HealthCare.gov marketplace are rising 11 percent for nonsubsidized customers over 2015 prices. Average deductibles for individuals are increasing by the same percentage, to $5,731, according to a study by HealthPocket.com, an insurance comparison site.

Average premiums for the most popular types of plans, known as “silver plans,” are going up nearly as much — 10 percent — for HealthCare.gov customers who are unsubsidized, HealthPocket found.

Silver plan deductibles, however, are rising more modestly next year, by 6 percent for an individual, to $3,117. (Read more from “Obamacare’s ‘Cheap’ Plans Just Got Even More Expensive” HERE)

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