Montel Williams epic outrage. Well worth watching:

The House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing last night began at 7:30pm and ended around 11:30pm.   The hearing was held to cover the information contained within the Interim Office of Inspector General’s Report.

Here’s a sense of how it started:

Having watched the entire hearing personally, and listened to the insufferable responses from: Dr. Thomas Lynch, M.D., Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Clinical Operations, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Ms. Joan Mooney, Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and Mr. Michael Huff, Congressional Relations Officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, I can tell you the committee has every reasonable right to express frustration. (more…)

OIG Interim Report: Review of VHA’s Patient Wait Times, Scheduling Practices, and Alleged Patient Deaths at the Phoenix Health Care System  (read summary)

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The U.S. Military and Australian Search Authority in charge of looking for missing Malaysian Airline MH-370 have now admitted what independent researchers announced a few weeks ago.   They have no idea where to look, and admit the initial ping signals were mistakenly interpreted.  The search is suspended.

VIA CNN – The four acoustic pings at the center of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 for the past seven weeks are no longer believed to have come from the plane’s black boxes, a U.S. Navy official told CNN.

The acknowledgment came Wednesday as searchers wrapped up the first phase of their effort, having scanned 329 square miles of southern Indian Ocean floor without finding any wreckage from the Boeing 777-200. (more…)

(Via WFB)  CNN’s international correspondent Jim Clancy called the West Point response to President Obama’s meandering foreign policy address “pretty icy” Wednesday.

Clancy said it was “not really a great speech to give at the U.S. Military Academy,” and the address has drawn bipartisan criticism.

“It was a philosophical speech,” he said. “It was not a Commander-in-Chief speaking to his troops. And you heard the reception. I mean, it was pretty icy.” (link)

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Sometimes you only need to read one paragraph to know how quickly the blood pressure cuff will explode off your arm if you continue:

“The bottom line is that 10,000 troops is not enough to deny al Qaeda sanctuary in Afghanistan,” one U.S. intelligence officer told The Daily Beast. “As a result, they will come back. We have decided as a political leadership that we can live with this.”  

You can continue reading HERE.

I cannot.

Um,… how bout’ NO !

We’ve already seen the inability of this administration to identify ideology of “rebels” when they armed al-Qaeda in Libya.   We’ve already seen the inability of this administration to identify the U.S. best interests when they supported the “Muslim Brotherhood” in Egypt.

Now the same group of R2P groupies want to use U.S. Military personnel to train Syrian’s?

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is close to authorizing a mission led by the U.S. military to train moderate Syrian rebels to fight the regime of Bashar al-Assad and al Qaeda-linked groups, a move that would expand Washington’s role in the conflict, U.S. officials said.

A new military training program, if implemented, would supplement a small train-and-equip program led by the Central Intelligence Agency which Mr. Obama authorized a year ago.

U.S. officials said the new military program would represent a significant expansion of Washington’s public efforts. U.S. officials don’t discuss the CIA’s limited training program because it is covert. (more…)

….which begs the obvious question:  Then why the heck would you go on TV and tell the kidnappers you know where they are ?

(Via Fox News) Nigeria’s defense chief is claiming that the country’s military has located nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists but cannot go in with force to free them.

Air Marshal Alex Badeh told demonstrators supporting the country’s much criticized military on Monday that Nigerian troops can save the girls, according to The Associated Press. But he added, “we can’t go and kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back.” (more…)

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A nation spends Memorial Day weekend remembering its military’s fallen.  Luke Porter devotes most of his life to that mission.  It’s his job.

He also makes sure others pay proper respect.

Spc. Brett Hyde, Tomb Sentinel, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), inspects a soldier’s rifle at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, May 21, 2014. Hyde served at the Tomb for the past 34 months.

When he walks across the plaza of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, his uniform crisp and immaculate, creases like razors, all eyes turn to him.

Tourists lounge and gab — until the State College native delivers the standard address for the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please,” he intones. “I am Sgt. Porter, of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, United States Army Guard of Honor, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

“The ceremony that you are about to witness is the changing of the guard. In keeping with the dignity of the ceremony it is requested that everyone remain silent and standing. Thank you.”

It always works. (more…)