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Politics

obama keystone xl pipeline

Pipeline stretch in Cushing, Oklahoma, left, and President Obama, right, who has threatened to veto the popular and approved Keystone XL pipeline.

The Republican-controlled Congress voted 270-152 to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, giving President Obama just 10 days to sign or veto the bill. The vote ends weeks of debate on a top priority for Congress after the Republicans took control last month.

The House voted 270-152 on Wednesday to send the bill to the president. While neither chamber currently has enough votes to overcome a veto, 29 Democrats joined Republicans to approve the bill in the House and a growing number of Senate Democrats are urging President Obama to sign the bill.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the President is “standing with a bunch of left-fringe extremists and anarchists.” And according to public polling on the project, he’s right.

A recent PPD Poll of 694 registered voters found 69 percent support the pipeline outright, up from 65 percent measured last year. However, 72 percent support its construction when respondents are told of the administration’s own findings.

Construction of the Keystone pipeline had been delayed indefinitely despite State Department reviews concluding the environmental impact of not building the pipeline would be worse than if the energy resources were transported via the pipeline.

First proposed in 2008, the Keystone XL pipeline would connect Canada’s tar sands to Gulf Coast refineries.

“This project has been awaiting approval for more than 2,300 days. The Nebraska Supreme Court struck down the challenge against it, 58% of Americans said they support it, and a bipartisan majority in both chambers of Congress approved it,” Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., said on the House floor on Wednesday.

The Republican-controlled Congress voted 270-152 to approve

Opinion

nbc-anchor-brian-williams

Jan. 10, 2010: Brian Williams from “NBC Nightly News” answers a question during the panel for NBC News at the NBC Universal sessions of the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo: Reuters)

Newsrooms are snake pits. I say this with great affection.

Newsrooms are tribal and competitive, fueling pettiness in the most honorable people. Editors cling to turfs like dictators policing their borders, and sometimes they mistake intimidation for management. As for reporters, they make their living asking questions and telling stories and too often turn their curiosity onto the private lives of their colleagues. Our profession breeds town gossips.

Still, there is no substitute for the combustible mix of wit, talent and impossible personalities thrown against daily deadlines. It’s arguably a sick thing, I concede, to yearn for big breaking news that makes a newsroom feel one spark away from an explosion. As with any memorable high, once you’re up there, it’s hard to climb down. We’re seldom gracious toward those who get to stay at the top.

It was inevitable that Brian Williams would become the punch line of so many bad jokes once his fellow journalists learned that he had lied about his experience covering the Iraq War in 2003.

Specifically, he claimed to be riding in a Chinook helicopter that took heavy fire. This was not true, and Williams’ weak attempt to explain it away as the fog of memory launched the mocking Twitter hashtag “BrianWilliamsMisremembers.” A number of news sites have covered this Twitter-fest. How heartening that so many of us still care about the truth.

Celebrity is so seductive and requires constant vigilance to avoid falling for the notion that the rules for everyone else no longer apply to you. Few of us journalists can lay claim to the fame that contributed to Williams’ undoing. We are an envious group. This does not bring out the best in us.

Of all that has been written about Williams, whom NBC News has now suspended without pay for six months, one of the more instructive observations has come from Poynter’s Al Tompkins, who instructs us to pay attention to the boldface words in the following paragraph:

“On March 26, 2003 … Tom Brokaw introduced Williams’ report on Dateline (by) saying, ‘Our colleague Brian Williams is back in Kuwait City tonight after a close call over the skies in Iraq. Brian tell us what you got yourself into.’ Williams reported, ‘In the end, Tom, it did give us a glimpse of the war as few have seen it. We asked the U.S. Army to take us on an air mission with them and they accepted.

We knew there was risk involved, we knew we would be flying over Iraq, we discussed it, we weren’t cavalier about it. We took off and that is right about when things started to happen.'”

“A story that might have been about soldiers risking their lives was, from the very beginning, focused on the newsman covering the soldiers,” Tompkins writes. Over the story’s ensuing five minutes and 26 seconds, Tompkins counted 19 more references to “we” and eight more to “us.”

Even before he altered the tale, Williams had carved out a starring role in someone else’s story.

Show of hands, fellow journalists: Who has done the same thing — if not in our reporting, then in recounting to friends and family? I don’t mean making stuff up. I’m just talking about shifting the account to first person, in which we are just that clever, that imperiled, that entertaining. I’m not even referring to solely us columnists, who are paid to be insufferable.

Writer Anne Lamott, in partial defense of Williams, shared on Facebook how an oft-quoted observation by someone else became attributed to her.
The quotation: “You can tell you’ve created God in your own image when He hates the same people you do.”

The original author: Tom Weston, her “wild Jesuit friend,” in a lecture delivered 23 years ago.

Lamott explains: “The first few times I quoted it — probably at Salon, and possibly in Bird by Bird — I attributed it to him. Then the next few times, I didn’t. I just shoe-horned it into conversation, as if I’d just thought of it that minute; brilliant daring me.

“And not exactly ‘conversation.’ More like, ‘While being interviewed.’

“Then, it got picked up, and it was everywhere, and I started trying to correct the lie — at a big public level. …

“The line is frequently quoted, as mine. It’s a great line; it says it all. But I’m sick of cringing and saying I borrowed it. Okay — stole it. Fine.”

Leave it to Lamott to remind us just how reliably human we are.

I won’t defend Brian Williams’ efforts to aggrandize his experience covering a war he wasn’t fighting. Still, I can’t deny the heaviness in my heart. I find no joy in Williams’ crisis of credibility. If scrutiny of his career reveals further missteps, our profession takes a body blow.

I’m pulling for Williams. Selfishly so.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and an essayist for Parade magazine. She is the author of two books, including “…and His Lovely Wife,” which chronicled the successful race of her husband, Sherrod Brown, for the U.S. Senate.

Connie Schultz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and

Economy

cisco

Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) reported a 7 percent rise in quarterly revenue, topping estimates of 51 cents per share, on revenue of $11.8 billion. Shares traded up 0.5 percent in extended trade.

“Our Q2 results reflect continued progress as we transform Cisco to become the #1 IT company,”Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers said in a statement. “We delivered this strong performance despite a volatile economic environment.”

In the quarter Cisco saw the best balance of growth across all our geographies, products, and segments.

“Our strong momentum is the direct result of how well we have managed our company transformation over the last three plus years and our leadership position in the key technology transitions of cloud, mobility, big data, security, collaboration, and the Internet of Everything,” Chambers added. “Every nation, every company, everything is becoming digitized and the network is at the center of this transformation.”

The company’s net profit rose to $2.4 billion, or 46 cents per share, in the second quarter ended Jan. 24, from $1.43 billion, or 27 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose to $11.94 billion from $11.16 billion.

GAAP Results
Q2 2015 Q2 2014 Vs. Q2 2014
Revenue $ 11.9 billion $ 11.2 billion 7.0 %
Net Income $ 2.4 billion $ 1.4 billion 67.7 %
Earnings per Share $ 0.46 $ 0.27 70.4 %
Non-GAAP Results
Q2 2015 Q2 2014 Vs. Q2 2014
Net Income $ 2.7 billion $ 2.5 billion 8.9 %
Earnings per Share $ 0.53 $ 0.47 12.8 %

Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Politics

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, challenged reporters Wednesday to ask the Senate Democrats when they’re going to “get off their ass” and pass a bill to fund the Homeland Security Department and restrict President Barack Obama’s executive moves on immigration.

“The House has done its job, why don’t you go ask the Senate Democrats when they’re going to get off their ass and do something other than to vote no?” Boehner said. “The issue here is not Senate Republicans. The issue here is Senate Democrats.”

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson responded to Boehner’s entertaining comments during the press conference by saying, “cursing is not going to resolve the squabbling among Republicans that led to this impasse.”

“Democrats have been clear from day one about the way out of this mess: take up the clean Homeland Security funding bill which Republicans signed off on in December — and which is ready to come to the Senate floor — pass it, and move on,” said Jentleson.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, challenged reporters

US

MRC President Brent Bozell, along with over 60 distinguished military leaders, including 22 retired admirals and generals, are demanding an apology from NBC News. In a February 10 open letter to the Comcast Board of Directors, the group expressed their outrage over NBC News correspondent Ayman Moyheldin calling Chris Kyle, the real “American Sniper” a “racist” who went on “killing sprees” during his tours in Iraq.

“We are deeply concerned by NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin’s suggestions on the Thursday, January 29 airing of Morning Joe that Chris Kyle, the real ‘American Sniper,’ was a ‘racist’ whose military missions were ‘killing sprees,’” the letter stated. “Mohyeldin’s remarks reveal him to be callous and ignorant.”

Ayman Mohyeldin, an Egyptian journalist formerly employed at Al Jazeera, made remarks during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, which were even met with shock by the host and one other guest.

“A lot of his stories when he was back home in Texas, a lot of his own personal opinions about what he was doing in Iraq, how he viewed Iraqis. Some of what people have described as his racist tendencies towards Iraqis and Muslims when he was going on some of these, you know, killing sprees in Iraq on assignment. So I think there are issues…,” Ayman Mohyeldin said before host Joe Scarborough interjected.

“Wait, wait. Killing sprees?” Scarborough asked in shock. “Chris Kyle was going on killing sprees?”

Mohyeldin responded with a comment equally insulting to those who sent the letter and, no doubt, millions of other Americans.

“When he was involved in his — on assignments in terms of what he was doing. A lot of the description that has come out from his book and some of the terminology that he has used, people have described as racist,” Mohyeldin added.

Letter Transcript

Mr. Brian L. Roberts, Chairman
Mr. Michael J. Angelakis, Vice Chairman
Comcast Corporation
One Comcast Center
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2838

Dear Messrs. Roberts and Angelakis:

We are deeply concerned by NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin’s suggestions on the Thursday, January 29 airing of Morning Joe that Chris Kyle, the real “American Sniper,” was a “racist” whose military missions were “killing sprees.” Mohyeldin’s remarks reveal him to be callous and ignorant.

The full transcript of these bigoted comments is attached.

Mohyeldin’s statements were an inexcusable slap in the face to the widow of Chris Kyle and to all those in the armed forces who continue to serve our country in harm’s way. Such rants do not add anything to a thoughtful discussion of public policy regarding Iraq.

As a Navy SEAL who tirelessly protected his comrades and killed terrorists, Chris Kyle undoubtedly saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives, both military and civilian.

He is a hero, not a talking point for a smug journalist.

It has been more than a week since Mohyeldin uttered his hateful, thoughtless smears on air. Despite a massive outcry from the public, NBC News has neither apologized nor taken responsibility for these comments.

We understand that as members of the board of Comcast, the parent company of NBC, you may not be privy to how NBC News responds to such situations. However, your stockholders, advertisers, NBC News viewers, and the public have a right to know: Is it the policy of NBC News to allow its own reporters to make inaccurate and insulting editorial comments on its airwaves, aimed at our soldiers who gave their lives for their country? Is it the policy of NBC News to ignore the scandal and hope it goes away?

NBC News’ continued refusal to acknowledge and apologize for Mohyeldin’s malicious remarks about Chris Kyle is as disappointing as it is shocking. Chris Kyle’s family, veterans everywhere, and the public at large deserve from NBC News a strong, unequivocal public statement condemning Mohyeldin’s vile hate speech.

We request NBC News issue a sincere, on-air apology through Mohyeldin. Until then, viewers and the veterans that NBC News has offended will continue to demand that the network show at least a basic amount of civility to slain veterans and their priceless sacrifices for American freedom.

We ask that you, as members of the board of directors of Comcast Corporation, demand this be done.

We eagerly await your response.

Sincerely,

L. Brent Bozell III, President, Media Research Center

Lt Gen William G. “Jerry” Boykin, US Army (Ret)

MG Paul E. Vallely, US Army (Ret)

Lt Gen Thomas G. McInerney, USAF (Ret)

MG Gary L Harrell, US Army (Ret)

Adm James A. Lyons, Jr., USN (Ret)

Lt Gen Leroy J. Manor, USAF (Ret)

Lt Gen Bruce L. Fister, USAF (Ret)

MG Sid Shachnow, USA (Ret)

Maj Gen James L. Hobson Jr., USAF (Ret)

MG Richard Scholtes, USA (Ret)

Maj Gen Robert B. Patterson, USAF (Ret)

Maj Gen Jeff Cliver, USAF (Ret)

Maj Gen Richard V. Secord, USAF, Ret)

RADM Jim Carey, USN (Ret)

RADM Hugh D. Wisely, USN (Ret)

RADM George Worthington, USN (Ret)

RADM Pierce J. Johnson, USN (Ret)

BG Joseph S. Stringham, USA (Ret)

Brig Gen Rudolf F. Perskens, USAF (Ret)

BG Gary M. Jones, USA (Ret)

BG Ronald S. Mangum, USA (Ret)

Col Michael Haas, USAF (Ret)

CAPT Larry W. Bailey, USN (Ret)

Col Wayne V. Morris, USMC (Ret)

Col Forrest M. Kimsey, USAF (Ret)

Col Lance E. Booth, USA (Ret)

CAPT Norman H. Olson, USN (Ret)

Col Richard F. Brauer Jr, USAF (Ret)

Col David W. Blizzard, USMC (Ret)

Col Ronald L. Jones, USAF (Ret)

Col Stanley E. Shaneyfelt, USA (Ret)

CAPT Walter K. Steiner, USN (Ret)

Col John E. Arnold, USAF (Ret)

Col Darrell W. Katz, USA (Ret)

CAPT David L. Woods, USNR (Ret)

Col Francis X Ryan, USMCR (Ret)

Col John A. Gallagher, USAF (Ret)

CAPT Daniel I Puzon, USN (Ret)

Col Daniel W. Jacobowitz, USAF (Ret)

Col Abraham L. German, USA (Ret)

CAPT Ronald E. Yeaw, USN (Ret)

Col Robert L. Brenci, USAF (Ret)

CAPT Dean R. Larson, USN (Ret)

CAPT William H. Fleming III, USNR (Ret)

Col Mark D. Boyatt, USA (Ret)

CAPT Larry Pearson, USN (Ret)

Col Craig L. Carlson, USA (Ret)

CAPT Robert C. Beavins, USN (Ret)

CAPT Robert Bernardon (Ret)

Col Christopher A. Roosa, USMCR (Ret)

CAPT Joseph R. John, USN (Ret)

Col James C. Harding, USAF (Ret)

CAPT Michael P. Smith, USN (Ret)

CAPT Theodore T. Mason, USN (Ret)

Col Robert J. Bateman, NYARNG (Ret)

CAPT Kent S. Webber, USN (Ret)

CAPT, MC, George J. Hill, USNR (Ret)

CAPT Howard J. Sartori, USN (Ret)

Additional signers:

CAPT Robert Carey, USN (Ret)

Rear Admiral James J. Carey, USN (Ret)

Col George C. Ferkes, USAF (Ret)

Noel Koch, Director, Special Planning, Department of Defense, 1981-1986

CC: Mr. Kenneth J. Bacon, Mr. Sheldon M. Bonovitz, Mr. Edward D. Breen, Mr. Joseph J. Collins, Mr. J. Michael Cook, Mr. Gerald L. Hassell, Mr. Jeffrey A. Honickman, Mr. Eduardo G. Mestre, Mr. Ralph J. Roberts, Mr. Jonathan A. Rodgers, Dr. Judith Rodin

MRC President Brent Bozell, along with over

World

obama-modi-press-conference

President Obama tries to explain during a press conference with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just how Yemen, the nation cited as the Obama doctrine’s model for fighting terrorism, collapsed.

The State Department announced late Tuesday that the U.S. Embassy in Yemen was closed and evacuated after the country was taken over by Shiite rebels last month. The U.S. embassy had already been operating with severely reduced staff for several weeks.

Only hours later, the United Kingdom followed suit and France took the same steps toward the same end. In a statement on its website, the French Embassy said it would close as of Friday. Further, both ordered their citizens to leave Yemen as soon as possible.

“The security situation in Yemen has continued to deteriorate over recent days,” U.K. Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood said in a statement. “Regrettably we now judge that our embassy staff and premises are at increased risk.” Ellwood also urged all British citizens still in Yemen to “leave immediately.”

Earlier Tuesday, U.S. officials said the embassy closure would not affect ongoing operations against the terror group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group’s leader, Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi claimed, claimed responsibility for the Paris attack on Charlie Hebdo last month. In a video released shortly after, he said the organization chose the target, financed and planned the operation.

State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said remaining diplomatic personnel had been relocated “due to the ongoing political instability and the uncertain security situation.”

“The United States remains firmly committed to supporting all Yemenis who continue to work toward a peaceful, prosperous and unified Yemen,” Psaki said. “We will explore options for a return to Sanaa when the situation on the ground improves.”

Iran-backed, Shiite Houthi rebels, whose official slogan is “Death to Israel. Death to America,” seized control of the capital and forced the resignation of U.S. and Saudi-backed former President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and members of his government. Parliament was dismantled shortly after.

Now, the rebels patrol the main streets of Sanaa, the capital, with Kalashnikov rifles dressed in police uniforms. Some rebels are dressed in civilian clothes patrolling in pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, anticipating U.S. drone strikes.

According to Long War Journal, there were 23 U.S. drone strikes reported in Yemen last year, 26 in 2013 and 41 in 2012. Still, Yemeni military officials said Tuesday the Houthis, with the help of troops allied with Hadi’s predecessor, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, took full control of the key central province of Bayda province.

Their advance has seen popular opposition in the form of demonstrations in the streets. But, according to witnesses, Houthis attacked one demonstration, stabbing and beating protesters trying to reach the local United Nations office. They also arrested a number of demonstrators, taking them to undisclosed locations.

President Obama and administration officials have tried to explain how Yemen, the nation cited as the Obama doctrine’s model for fighting terrorism, collapsed. The answers have not satisfied critics, national security experts or even members of the intelligence community.

“Yemen has never been a perfect democracy or an island of stability,” President Obama said late last month during the fall of the capital of Sanaa. “What I’ve said is, is that our efforts to go after terrorist networks inside of Yemen without an occupying U.S. army, but rather by partnering and intelligence-sharing with that local government, is the approach that we’re going to need to take.”

While Marines providing the security at the embassy are also leaving, the administration contends American forces conducting counterterrorism missions against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula will not be affected. But U.S. intelligence officials admit the developments have made conditions extremely difficult for them to continue anti-terror operations. An official speaking on the condition of anonymity cited Syria as an example of the U.S. losing intelligence as a result of losing their diplomatic foothold following the 2012 evacuation.

The U.S. Embassy in Yemen is the third lost in an Arab nation since President Obama has been in office. The U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria was closed in Feb 2012, while the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya was closed in July 2014.

The State Department announced late Tuesday that

Economy

spontaneous-order-stossel.jpg

“No Plan, No Problem! Spontaneous Order” airs tonight at 10PM on Fox News. (Photo: John Stossel/Facebook)

Most of life happens without a central planner. Yet people think we need one.

Suppose you’d never seen a skating rink, and I told you that I want to lay down some ice and charge people money to strap sharp blades on their feet. They will zip around on the ice — young and old, skilled and unskilled. My only rule: Go counter-clockwise.

Hillary Clinton would say the rink needs regulation. She calls herself “a government junkie.” Government junkies like government plans. Hillary’d probably demand that my rink have an official who tells skaters when to zoom left or right, when to slow down.

I actually tried that while doing a TV special on “Spontaneous Order.” I brought a megaphone to a skating rink and bossed people around. Some skaters fell. No one thought I’d made skating safer or better.

That’s because no “planner” knows the wishes and skills of individual skaters better than skaters themselves.

Most decision making works much the same way: Leave people free to make their own choices, and a spontaneous order arises — buyers and sellers adjust to changing prices; inventors invent; families raise kids; musicians create jazz.

Yet control freaks have criticized such spontaneity for at least 2400 years. Plato warned that music should be simple so that it does not stir up passion. In the 1920s, Ladies Home Journal complained that jazz would lead “to a breaking away from all rules.” We’re lucky America didn’t have a U.S. Dept. of Music at the time.

On my TV show, one government-lover said decisions must be made “by technocrats … who have this expertise.”

But no central planner has enough expertise to direct the skaters on the ice. (I tried an expert, too. I got an Olympic skater to direct people. She was no better.)

Central planning creates the kind of inefficiency that brought down the Soviet Union. While Americans shopped in malls full of goods, Russians waited in long lines.

Today in the U.S., innovation tends to occur in the freest sectors of the economy, while sectors most closely affiliated with government stagnate. Because LASIK eye surgery is largely funded by customers, it’s improving by leaps and bounds. Government-subsidized hospitals, by contrast, can barely share equipment without running into a thicket of regulations controlling collaboration.

Eighty years ago, it took workers only 15 months to build the Empire State Building. But this century, using vastly superior construction equipment, building the new World Trade Center took 10 times as long. Eighty years ago, some trains ran faster than 100 miles per hour, but now even the “high-speed” Acela train averages only 90 miles per hour because government safety rules demand that American trains be heavier.

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel says the current state of regulation should frighten us: “You would not be able to get a polio vaccine … approved today.” He’s right. The first batch of Salk vaccine gave polio to 40,000 people. If that happened today, the FDA would immediately stop the research. Salk’s vaccine would not have had a chance to save thousands of lives and prevent so much misery.

Thiel funded startups such as Facebook, PayPal, LinkedIn and Yelp. It’s no coincidence that such wonderful innovation happened in cities far from Washington, DC. By the time regulators woke up, good things had already happened. But now the central planners want control over the Internet. Today, in response, Internet companies spend more on lobbying than Wall Street or defense contractors.

Today’s innovators take for granted that there’s only a short window of opportunity before regulators swoop in and ruin everything by dictating a single, centrally planned formula by which innovation may proceed.

That may not bother CEO’s who get in on the ground floor — their way of doing things becomes the template everyone else must use. But everyone else suffers. Bye-bye, innovation. But innovation was once what America was about.

John Stossel is host of “Stossel” on Fox News and author of “No They Can’t! Why Government Fails, but Individuals Succeed.”

Central planning creates the kind of inefficiency

US

brian-williams-nbc-news

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has stepped down temporarily amid revelations he lied about being in a helicopter that took RPG and Ak-47 fire in Iraq back in 2003.

DEVELOPING –  NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams was suspended for six months without pay amid further revelations he lied on several occasions, NBC said Tuesday night. Williams was recently caught lying about a story he often repeated, which claimed the helicopter he was traveling in while covering the Iraq War in 2003 took RPG and AK-47 fire.

“We have decided today to suspend Brian Williams as managing editor and anchor of NBC Nightly News for six months,” NBC News president Deborah Turness said in a statement. “The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately. We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News.”

Over the weekend, NBC News announced they had begun an investigation into Williams’ reporting on what was the highest rated network evening news program (though it has already been scrubbed), and the well-known anchor confirmed he would be stepping down “temporarily.”

NBC chief executive Steve Burke said Tuesday that Williams’ actions were inexcusable and jeopardized the trust he has built up with viewers during his decade as the network’s lead anchor. But he said Williams deserved a second chance.

According to a recent survey, a plurality of Americans adults said the once well-liked anchor hurt the network’s credibility and that they thought he should resign. Forty percent of American adults said Williams, who was once the poster boy for NBC News and the effort to marginalize alternative media, should resign because of his lie, while 35 percent disagreed. A quarter of Americans (25 percent) said they weren’t sure yet.

Williams apologized last week for the Iraq War lie, but more and more stories have surfaced putting Williams’ credibility into question.

Turness said its probe into Williams’ statements is continuing.

NBC confirmed Nightly News anchor Brian Williams

Entertainment

jon-stewart-obama-daily-show

President Obama shares a laugh with ‘Daily Show’ host Jon Stewart in an Oct. 18, 2012 taping at Comedy Central’s New York studios. (Photo: Reuters)

Jon Stewart, the face of Comedy Central and host of “The Daily Show,” will leave the broadcast later this year, the network confirmed Tuesday night.

Stewart, 52, broke the news to the audience at Tuesday’s taping in New York, ending a run on the nighttime satirical news program that began in 1999 after he succeeded Craig Kilborn. Stewart used “The Daily Show” to emerge as a leading voice for the progressive movement, frequently giving platform to political figures both sides of the political spectrum.

“Jon has been at the heart of Comedy Central, championing and nurturing the best talent in the industry, in front of and behind the camera,” Comedy Central President Michele Ganeless said in a statement. “Through his unique voice and vision, ‘The Daily Show’ has become a cultural touchstone for millions of fans and an unparalleled platform for political comedy that will endure for years to come. Jon will remain at the helm of ‘The Daily Show’ until later this year. He is a comic genius, generous with his time and talent, and will always be a part of the Comedy Central family.”

While there is no immediate indication on what Stewart plans to do after his tenure on the show, he had taken a several months-long hiatus in 2013 to direct “Rosewater,” a film about an Iranian-born journalist who was imprisoned for 118 days in Tehran and accused of being a spy.

The network lost another major host last year when Stephen Colbert left to take over David Letterman’s late night show on CBS.

Jon Stewart, the face of Comedy Central

World

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The parents of Kayla Mueller, the U.S. citizen and aide worker who was taken hostage by ISIS in August, 2013, have confirmed their daughter has died.

“We are heartbroken to share that we’ve received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller, has lost her life,” Carl and Marsha Mueller, of Prescott, Ariz., said in a statement. “Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace.”

The family received a message from her ISIS captors over the weekend informing them of her death, which has also been confirmed by U.S. officials.

“The family received a private message from Kayla’s ISIL captors containing additional information,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said Tuesday. “Once this information was authenticated by the intelligence community, they concluded that Kayla was deceased.”

It is not yet known how or when 26-year-old Mueller died, though ISIS claimed last week she was killed by a Jordanian airstrike. They offered no evidence to support the claim at the time, nor have U.S. or Jordanian officials given any credence to the claim.

“It is with profound sadness that we have learned of the death of Kayla Jean Mueller,” President Obama said in a statement Tuesday. “On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I convey our deepest condolences to Kayla’s family – her parents, Marsha and Carl, and her brother Eric and his family – and all of those who loved Kayla dearly.  At this time of unimaginable suffering, the country shares in their grief.”

The suffering of children in the early stages of Syria’s continuing civil war prompted Mueller to leave her home in Prescott, Ariz., in December, 2012,  to work with the Danish Refugee Council and the humanitarian organization Support to Life to help refugees. According to a family spokesperson, Kayla found the work heartbreaking but compelling.

“For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal, something we just accept,” Mueller told her hometown newspaper, The Daily Courier, in a 2013 interview during a trip home to her family. “It’s important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we are. And from that place, start caring and get a lot done.”

She was captured on Aug. 4, 2013, in Aleppo, Syria, while leaving a Spanish hospital staffed by the international humanitarian group Doctors without Borders.

“I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing,” Kayla wrote to her parents in a letter dated November 2, 2014, while in captivity. “Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I, by God’s will we will be together soon.”

Jordan has been launching airstrikes against the extremist group in response to a video released last week showing captured Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh being burned to death in a cage. Al-Kaseasbeh, whose F-16 came down in December while conducting airstrikes as part of a campaign against the militants by a U.S.-led coalition, was believed to have been killed in early January. For weeks, ISIS played a sick game negotiating with Jordanian officials for his release knowing they had already killed him.

Mueller is one of four Americans to die while being held by the ISIS terror army, including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig. The aforementioned three were beheaded by the group.

In confirming her death, the Mueller family quoted a letter the young women penned to her father on his birthday in 2011.

“I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. If this is how you are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you,” Kayla wrote in the letter. “I will always seek God. Some people find God in church. Some people find God in nature. Some people find God in love; I find God in suffering. I’ve known for some time what my life’s work is, using my hands as tools to relieve suffering.”

The parents of Kayla Mueller, the U.S.

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