An Afghan official says that at least six people
have been killed in a Taliban attack near the Spanish embassy in the capital
city of Kabul. The Afghan security forces suppressed the suicide
attack on a guest house attached to the Spanish embassy, killing three Taliban
fighters after hours of intermittent gunfire and explosions that lasted into the
early hours of today.
Meanwhile, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says
"serious" reconciliation talks with pro-peace Taliban factions will begin very
soon, with the goal of reaching an agreement.
French President Francois Hollande will join the
Paris climate talks as delegates debate on what organizers hope is the final
draft of an agreement.
After almost two weeks of marathon negotiations,
the lines for food and coffee last night snaked through the temporary tent
city in Le Bourget, France, that has been the home to the global
climate talks.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan yesterday
test-fired a surface-to-surface ballistic missile, with a maximum range of 2,750
km, the military said.
The new United Nations envoy for Libya
has announced that the parties to the country's political dialogue process
have agreed to set Dec. 16 as the target date to sign the U.N.-facilitated
agreement on forming a national unity government, aiming to bring an end to the
crisis that has left nearly 2.4 million Libyans in desperate need of
humanitarian assistance.
Saudi women are heading to polling stations across
the kingdom today - both as voters and candidates for office - for the
first time in the nation's landmark election.
Turkey says it has decided to "reorganize" its
troops in a camp in northern Iraq after holding talks with officials in Baghdad
who strongly criticized Ankara for the deployment.
Islamic State militants have made more than $500
million trading oil with significant volumes sold to the government of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and some finding its way to Turkey, a senior U.S.
official says.
Syria's President al-Assad declared yesterday that
he would not negotiate with armed groups, appearing to scupper peace talks that
Russia and the United States hope to bring about next month.
President Assad has refuted information about a
second possible Russian military base in Syria, and said that President Putin
has not asked for anything in return for Russian military assistance in fighting
against Daesh; the comments came in an interview the Syrian leader granted the
Spanish news agency EFE.
And Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Russia
is now supporting a leading Western-backed opposition group in joint operations
with Syrian troops against Islamic State militants.
Only 500 show up for Clinton
rally
By Jim Corvey, News of the Force St.
Louis
A boisterous Hillary Clinton whipped
up a partisan crowd of some 500 supporters last night in St. Louis, Mo.,
her voice hoarse from the campaign but virtually yelling nonetheless through a
speech heavy on economic themes. "I am not running for my
husband’s third term, and I am not running for President Obama’s third
term - I’m running for my first term," Clinton said to thunderous applause.
But as large as that crown appears, only 500 is considered a very low turnout
for a major presidential candidate.
U.S. Air Force
Air Combat Command
(ACC) officials have announced the results of their study into the
remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) community in an attempt to normalize operations
and ensure long-term mission success.
Air Force leaders discussed the future
of professionalism in the total force and how to forge better airmen during a
summit on Dec. 2-3. Nearly 80 leaders from all major commands joined
stakeholders from Headquarters, Air Force, the Air University, the U.S. Air
Force Academy, and the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard to pool
resources and learn what the Profession of Arms Center of Excellence has to
offer.
The U.S. Air Force
has selected 176 enlisted airmen for promotion via the December enlisted
supplemental promotion process.
The Lackland Officers’ Spouses’ Club,
at Lackland AFB, Texas, recently elected Caesar Jordan Nafrada as the
club’s first male president. Nafrada initially joined as a way to repay a group
that helped him in the past. When he graduated from Kadena High School, in
Okinawa, 20 years ago, Nafrada received aid for college from the local
club.
Under VLPAD, opportunities to serve an
active duty tour for a period of three years and one day are being offered to
Air Force Reserve members.
A key advisor to the secretary of the
Air Force has committed to visiting the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station,
N.Y., and that could mean a major boost to the facility.
Test flights by fighter jets of the
180th Fighter Wing, of the Ohio Air National Guard are taking place in the skies
over Toledo. Those living in the Toledo and Sandusky County areas may see or
hear fighter jets near a Civil Air Patrol aircraft during the
exercise.
This week, the DOD announced that
both Texas Army and Air National Guards will each activate a new cyber
unit.
The 124th Fighter Wing, of there Idaho
Air National Guard, will dedicate and name each of its 21 fighter jets
assigned to Gowen Field to an Idaho community.
The 183d Fighter Wing, of the Illinois
Air National Guard in Springfield, has conducted joint training scenarios with
the U.S. Air Force.
Adult members of the Civil Air
Patrol's Indiana Wing recently attended a professional development weekend at
the Anderson Municipal Airport. Members from ten of the Indiana Wing's 29
subordinate squadrons were there for a Corporate Learning Course and a training
Leaders of Cadets course.
The U.S. Department of Homeland
Security has taken the lead in the search for two Afghan air force men who
went missing while training with the U.S. military at a Georgia air base.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of Homeland Security, is
the lead investigative agency looking for the two Afghan trainees.
And the Civil Air Patrol squadron in
Torrington, Conn., recently celebrated the achievements of its cadet
members.
News from the U.S. Marshals
Service
Combined efforts of the U.S. Marshals
Service, Lane County Parole & Probation, the Eugene Police Department, and
the Springfield Police Department led to the arrest of Edward
Collicott on Thursday afternoon in Springfield, Oregon. Collicott was
wanted on a violation of parole/absconder warrant.
Tre Anthony Jones has
been arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Violent
Offenders Task Force, in Houston, Texas. An arrest warrant was issued pursuant
to an investigation by the San Antonio Police Department, where it is alleged
that Jones committed murder.
The U.S. Marshals and the state of
Kansas are seeking the public’s help in locating Bryan Levi Bridges, one of
Kansas’ most wanted fugitives. Bridges is wanted for first degree murder,
aggravated burglary, and conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery during a home
invasion where a victim was killed.
In Pennsylvania, U.S. Marshal Martin
Pane has announced the arrest of Dashawn McLendon and Ibn McClain, who were
wanted for aggravated assault with a firearm, as well as other related
offenses.
And the United States Marshals
Service's Joint Fugitive Task Force, with the assistance of the Winston-Salem
(N.C.) Police Department's SWAT Team, and its gang and K-9 units,
have arrested a North Carolina fugitive, Elliot David Coleman, II. He's a
post-release violator now facing multiple drug charges.
U.S. Army
The Kentucky Army National Guard has
fallen short of money in its tuition assistance program. The news will affect 68
students at The University of Louisville who are members of the Kentucky
Army National Guard.
Army Maj. Gen. Robert E. Livingston,
Jr., the adjutant general for South Carolina, has attended the National Guard's
379th birthday ceremony.
The chief of the National Guard Bureau
(NGB), Army Gen. Frank Grass, has announced that the National Guard will
activate 13 additional cyber units across the country.
University of Arkansas-Fort Smith
student Travis Williams, of Fort Smith, has been commissioned as an officer
into the Arkansas Army National Guard.
Army Staff Sgt. Jenna Watkins, a
member of the South Dakota Army National Guard, is representing the North Pole
by playing Santa Claus at The Hope Center in Rapid City.
Pennsylvania Army National Guard Sgt.
1st Class Jeff Kwiecien, a flight medic with nearly 20 years of service, is
deploying to Southwest Asia soon - it will be his fifth overseas
deployment.
And Major Gen. Stephen Hogan, who
served more than 30 years in the Kentucky Army National Guard and the
active duty Army, has been selected by Kentucky's governor as the commonwealth's
next adjutant general.
One dead and one seriously wounded in St. Louis
attack
Mourners who gathered in St. Louis,
Mo., after a funeral yesterday became witnesses to violence when dozens of
gunshots interrupted their afternoon meal.
One man died and another was in
critical condition after the shooting in the parking lot of the New Northside
Conference Center, on Goodfellow Blvd., near West Florissant Avenue. One victim
was shot in the chest and the other in the head, police said.
Rev. Rodrick Burton, of New Northside
Missionary Baptist Church, said he was angered by the shooting outside a
building that also houses a day-care center. "A family
should be able to mourn a loved one," Burton said. "The amount of bullets flying
at a family life center is mind-numbing, especially this time of year when we're
supposed to be talking about peace.”
About 100 people were attending the
post-funeral gathering called a repast, Burton said. An unknown number of
children were attending the day-care center at the same time.
The gunshots were heard at about 2:30
p.m. Bystanders were seen crying and screaming outside the center. Many of the
families, including children, stayed in the building until 5 p.m., when police
cleared the parking lot.
The funeral service was for Sherrod
Lamar White, 27, who died on Nov. 30, said his aunt, Elizabeth McPherson. She
said his cause of death has not been determined. Another of
her nephews was one of the victims in yesterday’s shooting, she said.
She said she now lives in Dallas, Texas, but lived in St.
Louis until she was 10. "This city is out of control," she said. "I’m glad I
left."
Rodney Edwards, 54, said he was
driving near the scene when he heard between 20 and 25 shots and saw people
running and screaming. Edwards, who said he is an emergency
dispatcher for the city and has medical experience, said he saw two people who
had been shot, one near the front door of the center and another man who was
near a truck on the parking lot. Edwards tended to one of the men, who had been
shot in his face, throat, sternum and leg. "Duty calls even
when you're not at work," Edwards told a reporter, the victim’s blood still on
his jeans and shirt. I’m just glad I keep up on my skills, because I needed it
today." He said the man he helped still had a pulse when an
ambulance took him from the scene, but he was not sure whether he would
survive.
(Blythe Bernhard, of the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch, contributed to this report.)
NOAA news
The head of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Kathryn Sullivan, is refusing to turn over
internal e-mails sought be the U.S. Congress.
And scientists at NOAA have predicted
a warmer, dryer winter and generally lower water levels in the Great Lakes
this year.
U.S. Coast Guard
The Coast Guard says it has
rescued and flown a man to a hospital in the U.S. after he was attacked by
a shark in the waters southwest of the Bahamas' Andros Island.
U.S. Coast Guard personnel are
overseeing the response to a 65-foot vessel leaking diesel after it sank at
Makah Marina, in Neah Bay Wash.
The U.S. Coast Guard
has published a final rule increasing limits of liability for vessels,
deepwater ports, and onshore facilities under OPA 90's liability
limits.
The United States Coast Guard has
closed all maritime entrances in the Pacific Northwest due to severe sea
conditions and large amounts of flood debris in the water.
U.S. Coast Guard pilots have made a
safe but emergency landing in California after the landing gear on their HC-144
aircraft failed.
Although the temperatures are much
warmer than average this December, the Coast Guard wants to warn swimmers and
boaters in the Cleveland, Ohio, area about cold water temperatures and the
possibilities of hypothermia.
And a provision included in the
U.S. Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2015 will keep the air station in
Newport, Oregon, open for at least two more years.
Welcome to
'Ferghanistan'
After the police shooting of Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Mo., viewers of cable television news got familiar with
Jeff Roorda - a former Missouri legislator, a former cop in Arnold, a
former police chief of Kimmswick and a current business manager of the St. Louis
Police Officers Association.
The cable networks pressed Roorda for
the police side of the story behind the death of Brown, killed by Ferguson
Police Officer Darren Wilson. In Ferghanistan: The War on Police,
Roorda expands on his take on the
case - "The Blue View," as it were. About that title:
Early in his book, Roorda writes that the violence that followed Brown’s death
“was most certainly a war. That’s why cops on the ground dubbed it
‘Ferghanistan.’” About Roorda’s take on the case: He calls
his book "a cop’s-eye view of things, and I do not purport it to be
counterbalanced by, or fairly representative of other viewpoints."
In other words, the book is a 209-page
editorial, although one written with more linguistic gusto (if a touch less
copy-editing precision) than most editorial pages display.
Among his many observations and
conclusions is a warning about what has come to be called “the Ferguson Effect.”
As Roorda puts it, “Cops under the constant siege of violent assaults against
them, along with the threat of criminal prosecution or civil litigation,
suddenly become reluctant to do their jobs.” As a result, he
adds, crime jumps up as more people conclude that they have little to lose when
police are passive. (This theory has been contradicted by many, including
President Barack Obama.)
Roorda heaps blame on the likes of St.
Louis Aldermen Antonio French and Terry Kennedy and the Rev. Al Sharpton -
in the author’s eyes, the real bad guys. Other targets are Gov. Jay Nixon, U.S.
Sen. Claire McCaskill and Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, sent in to
control the police operation against violent protesters. Coming under more of
Roorda’s fire are much of the media, including Mika Brzezinski, her MSNBC
network and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Still, Roorda has praise for others in the media who interviewed him,
including Don Lemon, Michael Smerconish and Jake Tapper of CNN, and Joe
Scarborough of MSNBC. CNN’s Anderson Cooper gets both a pat on the head and a
boot in the butt.
Roorda has salutes for St. Louis
County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch for his handling of the grand jury that declined
to indict Officer Wilson - "Bob was in a no-win situation, but he handled
it like a champ" - and for St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson and
then-Ferguson Chief Tom Jackson.
Despite his praise for those wearing
badges, Roorda has some suggestions for police departments facing the threat of
similar fracases. He says that "One of the big post-Ferguson lessons for police
is to tell the press what you know, when you know it."
Despite Roorda’s hard-nosed tone, he
writes an emotional account of getting to know and cherish an elderly black
woman in Kimmswick. He makes a strong case that stronger schools in black
neighborhoods are the crucial first step in washing away the poverty that he
says inflicts a sense of hopelessness on young black men.
At the book’s end, he has advice for
both sides in the debate: "If you want to do something to
diminish the use of deadly force by cops, do something about poverty. If you
want to do something about police officer safety, do something about poverty."
And if you want to be better informed about the
debate - no matter which side you're on - read this book.
President Obama's weekly
address
In this week's address, the President
praised our country’s resilience in the face of terrorism, and discussed how we
will keep America safe.
Our military has been stepping up its
campaign to destroy ISIL, and our airstrikes are hitting ISIL harder than ever
before. The President emphasized that we will continue to move forward on all
fronts, which is why this week he will go to the Pentagon to review our military
campaign, and to the National Counterterrorism Center to review our efforts to
prevent attacks. And he reminded us that we all have a part to play in the fight
against terrorism – potential terrorist attacks have been prevented over the
years because someone saw something and said something.
Americans should not turn against one
another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam,
which is what ISIL wants and only serves to undermine our national
security.
The President praised Americans across
the country who have come together to reaffirm our core values and stand up,
forcefully, for freedom of religion.
The audio of the address and video of
the address is available online at www.whitehouse.gov .