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US

cheerleading-team-bus-crash-drunken-driver

The Bullitt Central High School cheerleading squad. (Photo: Facebook)

A chartered bus carrying a cheerleading team to a tournament in Florida was struck early Thursday by an alleged drunken driver just north of Atlanta.

WAVE-3 reported that the head-on crash occurred near the I-75/I-28 interchange, located just north of Atlanta. The bus, which was carrying 29 cheerleaders, chaperones and a driver, was headed from LaRue County, Ky.,  to Orlando. Bullitt County Public Schools Superintendent Keith Davis said no one on board the bus was injured.

“All parents have been contacted,” Davis posted on Facebook. “Feeling very fortunate as it could have been much worse.”

A parent of one of the cheerleaders said other buses in the charter turned around to pick up the Bullitt Central cheerleaders and continued on to Florida.

The condition of the car’s driver, who was reportedly driving in the wrong direction, was not immediately clear. However, students said the driver of the car that hit the bus was walking around after the crash.

Tracey Watson, the public information officer for the Georgia Department of Public Safety, said the Georgia State Patrol responded to a call received at 1:53 a.m., which reported a 2015 Kia Optima was traveling the wrong way on the interstate, heading north in the southbound lanes.

Watson told WAVE-3 that the female driver, Lisa Mills, 22, of Atlanta, sustained minor injuries and was transported to Grady Hospital by ambulance. Mills was charged with DUI, driving on the wrong side of roadway, reckless driving and failure of a driver to exercise due care.

A chartered bus carrying a cheerleading team

Entertainment

Amy Pascal arrives at the AFI Awards 2013 in Beverly Hills

Amy Pascal arrives at the AFI Awards 2013 honoring excellence in film and television in Beverly Hills, California January 10, 2014.

Sony Pictures Entertainment (NYSE:SNE) executive Amy Pascal resigned following the hacking scandal in November that revealed embarrassing emails between her and producer Scott Rudin. The two liberal Hollywood elites hypocritically joked about President Obama liking movies that centered around African-Americans.

Pascal was criticized and under intense media scrutiny following the hack and she actually caved to Rev. Al Sharpton, promising to include him in unspecified decisions made by the company. It is unclear whether the strange cave has anything to do with Pascal’s resignation.

Deadline reports Pascal will transition into a new position and launch a new production venture at the studio.

Sony Pictures Entertainment (NYSE:SNE) executive Amy Pascal

Economy

trade-gap-reuters

Reporting on the U.S. trade deficit, otherwise known as the trade gap, from the U.S. Commerce Department. (Photo: Reuters)

The U.S. trade deficit in December ballooned to its highest level since 2012 despite lower energy costs, indicating 4Q growth estimates will be revised down. as imports rose

The Commerce Department said on Thursday the trade deficit widened sharply to 17.1 percent up to $46.6 billion, which is the largest since November 2012. Further, it was the biggest percentage increase since July of 2009. Meanwhile, November’s numbers were revised up to $39.8 billion from a previously reported $39.0 billion.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade deficit falling to $38.0 billion and, when adjusted for inflation, the deficit widened to $54.7 billion from $48.7 billion in November.

December unexpected increase in the trade gap suggests a downward revision to the fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate. The Commerce Department reported last week that GDP expanded at a 2.6 percent annual rate. The rate represented a return to the mediocre growth since the end of the Great Recession, but it is likely overstated, because trade was initially estimated to have shaved 1.02 percent off of GDP growth.

In December, imports rose 2.2 percent to $241.4 billion, with imports of non-petroleum products surging to a record high, a sign of strengthening in the domestic economy. It also reflected the strength of the U.S. dollar.

Exports slipped 0.8 percent to $194.9 billion in December. Exports have been hurt by slowing growth in Asia and Europe, a strengthening dollar, as well as a labor dispute at U.S. West Coast ports, which has been cited by some manufacturers as causing delays in the movement of goods.

Exports to Canada and Mexico – the main U.S. trading partners – fell in December, while exports to Japan, China and the European Union rose in December.

The politically sensitive U.S.-China trade deficit fell 5.5 percent to $28.3 billion.

The U.S. trade deficit in December widened

Economy

Weekly jobless claims, or the number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment rose for the week ended Jan. 31, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.

First-time claims for state unemployment benefits increased 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000 for the week ended Jan. 31, while claims for the week ended Jan. 24 were revised to show 2,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Economists had forecast claims rising to 290,000 last week.

Claims have been volatile in recent months because of difficulties adjusting the data for seasonal variations. For instance, last week’s huge decline was largely fueled by the holiday and other factors. But the four-week moving average of claims — which is considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility — fell 6,500 to 292,750 last week.

Last week’s data will not impact Friday’s employment report for January because it falls outside the survey period. According to payroll processor ADP, U.S. job creation slowed last month, as the private sector added just 213,000 jobs in January, missing economists’ expectations. Further, a gauge of service sector growth in the U.S. came in stronger than expected in January, but 8 industries reported contraction.

Still, according to a Reuters survey of economists, non-farm payrolls are expected to increase by 234,000, down from 252,000 in December. While it would be the longest stretch of job gains above 200,000 since 1994, the government’s methods have come under fire this week. In an attempt to explain why the American people aren’t feeling the economic football spike that Washington politicians and Wall Street bankers claim, Gallup’s CEO Jim Clifton explained how the unemployment rate measured and reported by the Labor Department “amounts to a Big Lie.”

“There’s no other way to say this,” said Clifton. “The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently unemployed as well as the depressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie.”

As Clifton explained, the government considers an individual who clocks in a minimum of one hour of work in a week and was paid at least $20, as employed. Meanwhile, the percentage of those with a good job in the U.S. is at a staggeringly low rate of 44 percent, which is the number of full-time jobs as a percent of the adult population, 18 years and older.

The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid edged up 6,000 to 2.40 million in the week ended Jan. 24. That is a concerning number considering the low number of eligible Americans, as well as the number of long-term unemployed who later dropped out of the labor force.

Weekly jobless claims, or the number of

World

jordan-airstrikes-isis

Jordanian protestor holds a picture of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, the pilot captured by ISIS in December and burned alive in a horrific execution that has galvanized the Kingdom. (Photo: FOX News/Shepard Smith/Video)

Jordan’s King Abdullah II is making good on his promise to avenge the death of a captured Jordanian pilot who was burned alive by ISIS. Jordanian fighter pilots conducted a series of devastating airstrikes on ISIS targets early Thursday, reportedly killing 55 members of ISIS, including a senior commander known as the “Prince of Nineveh.”

While PPD has not been able to independently confirm the death of the ISIS commander, if true, then it would be a significant victory both politically and strategically for King Abdullah.

The airstrikes come roughly 24 hours after King Abdullah stepped up his rhetoric and military involvement against the terrorist army in neighboring Iraq and Syria. The reaction follows the horrific death of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who was seen being burned alive in a cage on a videotape released by Islamic State on Tuesday. Upon their return from the mission, the Jordanian fighter jets roared over Lt. al-Kaseasbeh’s hometown in southern Jordan. The king, who was seen pointing at the planes as he sat next to the pilot’s father.

Abdullah, a former general and special forces commander, paid a condolence visit to the grieving family.

“I want the state to get revenge for my son’s blood through more executions of those people who follow this criminal group that shares nothing with Islam,” Safi al-Kasseasbeh, the father of the Jordanian pilot told Reuters. He said the two executions carried out Wednesday morning were not enough to avenge his son’s death.

Jordanian state-run media did not specify where the strikes took place, but the ISIS stronghold of al-Raqqah, Syria is located roughly 330 miles from the Jordanian-Syrian border. In a statement Wednesday, he pledged to hit the militants “hard in the very center of their strongholds.”

“The blood of martyr Muath al-Kaseasbeh  will not be in vain and the response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” said King Abdullah in a statement released by the royal court. “Jordan’s response will be harsh because this terrorist organization is not only fighting us, but also fighting Islam and its pure values.”

The response, itself, stands in stark contrast to the decision by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to withdraw from conducting airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. The UAE quit the coalition in December, despite the Obama administration repeatedly claiming it remained a nation in the air over ISIS. The UAE claims they had concerns over pilot rescue capabilities in wake of the downed Jordanian fighter jet, but others suspect support for their internal radical factions to be the true reason.

Lt. al-Kaseasbeh was a well-known name in the Kingdom before the atrocity. He was from a prominent family in the Kingdom of Jordan, and at least for now, King Abdullah has public opinion firmly on his side.

“We are all Hashemites and we are following the government with no reservations in this fight against these godless terrorists,” a cafe patron, Yousf Majid al-Zarbi, told The Guardian. “Have you seen that video? I mean really, how in humanity could this be a just punishment for any person?”

King Abdullah met with U.S. lawmakers in Washington Wednesday and told them that Jordan would fight the Islamic State until it ran “out of fuel and bullets.” Lawmakers from both parties have increased pressure on the Obama administration to speed up deliveries of aircraft parts, night-vision equipment and other weapons to Jordan.

All 26 members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, which stated the situation Jordan and coalition now faces “demands that we move with speed to ensure they receive the military material they require.”

“Specifically, Jordan is seeking to obtain aircraft parts, additional night vision equipment and precision munitions that the king feels he needs to secure his border and robustly execute combat air missions into Syria,” wrote the committee, the members of which all met with the king.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the administration would consider any foreign aid package passed by Congress, but indicated the White House would rather consider a specific request from the Jordanian government.

Meanwhile, the king was greeted by applause and crowds of thousands of supporters flooding the streets upon his return Wednesday. They lined the main roads to and from the airport, with many waving flags and holding pictures of both the king and the pilot.

Jordan, which was thought to be home to hundreds of supporters of Islamic terror, was a kingdom previously divided on its role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. But that has changed following the release of horrific video and execution of their own, beloved pilot.

Jordan’s information minister, Mohammad al-Momani told AFP: Amman was “more determined than ever to fight the terrorist group Daesh,” using another name for Islamic State, which is also commonly referred to as ISIS.

“I swear to God we will kill all those pigs,” one man said of the terror group. “Whatever it takes to finish them is what we will do.”

Jordan's King Abdullah II is making good

Entertainment, Video

Jimmy Fallon hosted a “Save By The Bell” mini reunion on the “Tonight Show” Wednesday, for those who grew up watching the teen hit show. Nearly all of the original cast and crew of the show made appearances, including Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), ‘A.C.’ Slater (Mario Lopez), as well as the still-beautiful girlfriends Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen) and Jesse Spano (Elizabeth Berkley).

Even Dennis Haskins, who played the father-like Principle Richard Belding, made an appearance.

Dustin Diamond, who played Samuel “Screech” Powers, the nerdy best friend to Zack, and Lark Voorhies, who played the love of Screech’s life, Lisa Turtle, are noticeably absent. While Turtle’s absence and not known, Diamond is currently involved in a legal battle in Wisconsin after being accused of stabbing a man in a bar around Christmas.

Jimmy Fallon hosted a "Save By The

US

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)

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted he lied about being in a helicopter hit by an RPG in Iraq, a claim oft-repeated by the network over the years. In fact, he claimed he was in a helicopter forced down during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as recently as Friday night.

Williams, 55, most recently told the story during NBC coverage of a tribute to a retired command sergeant major at a New York Rangers hockey game. On Friday, and in the past, Williams claimed that he was traveling in a Chinook helicopter that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire on March 24, 2003. But, in reality, he arrived at the scene in a separate helicopter about an hour later.

He apparently was never in any danger, and the Chinook that took fire, one of three in its formation, made an emergency landing with no casualties.

“I want to apologize,” Williams said on Wednesday night’s broadcast of NBC Nightly News. “I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft.”

However, had it not been for several servicemen and Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that covers the United States Armed Forces, Williams would have continued to perpetuate a lie that most veterans consider amounts to stolen valor.

In a 2008 blog post, Williams said he was flying in a Chinook helicopter as part of a four-chopper formation, and all four took fire.

“The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG,” Williams said on an earlier the broadcast. “Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry.”

Except, crew members from the 159th Aviation Regiment called Williams out on his lie.

Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Miller, the flight engineer on the very aircraft that carried the journalists, told Stars and Stripes that the story was bogus.

“No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft,” he said Wednesday.

Several service members at the scene said they remember seeing NBC reporting Williams was aboard the aircraft that was attacked, despite the claim being a lie.

“It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I know how lucky I was to survive it,” said flight engineer Lance Reynolds. “It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in.”

Mike O’Keeffe, a door gunner on the actual Chinook helicopter that took fire and suffered actual damage along with Reynolds, told the Stars and Stripes the incident has bothered him since he and others first saw the original report.

“Over the years it faded,” he said, “and then to see it last week it was — I can’t believe he is still telling this false narrative.”

Of course, rather than just admit the story was a lie a take his lumps, Williams first disputed claims to the newspaper that his original report was even a lie, saying that instead he originally reported that he was in another helicopter but that he had confused the events.

“I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams told the newspaper. “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”

Pathetic. Williams went on via social media to blame the lie not on the fog of war, but “the fog of memory.” The comment has since been removed from Facebook, and his Twitter feed has been temporarily blocked to viewers.

“The admission raises serious questions about his credibility in a business that values that quality above all else,” says Howard Kurtz of Media Buzz on FOX News.

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted

Politics

mitt-romney

July 2, 2014: In this file photo, Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential nominee, addresses a crowd of supporters while introducing New Hampshire Senate candidate Scott Brown at a farm in Stratham, N.H. (Photo: AP)

So Mitt Romney’s not running. Hillary Clinton probably is. And the field of Republican candidates who are testing waters, to various degrees, stands in the double digits. How to choose wisely?

As tempting as an “anybody but Obama” mentality might seem, the better rationale – the one that could very well prove the solution to this nation’s political ills – is to consider first and foremost: God.

That’s an odious idea to many, and not just atheists. Plenty of believers still don’t think religion and politics mix; plenty would argue that religion belongs in church and politicians have no business bringing, say, the Bible into their public offices.

But we’re not talking Bible-thumping here. It’s not about preaching the word of God – it’s about living it. It’s about abiding age-old moral precepts and values that don’t change with the times – that have been set in stone by a higher authority – and that teach generation upon generation such ideals as thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit false witness; thou shalt not covet.

Or, how about the godly teachings of remaining humble, and putting service to others above service to self?

Those are qualities and traits that are in dire need on Capitol Hill. Just look at the current White House makeup: Would a president who abided the biblical teaching against lying tell an American public that ObamaCare wouldn’t change their doctor? Would a president who actually put service to constituents above the quest for legacy even have shoved ObamaCare into law — or continued to shove it despite the many start-up fails – and dismissed all the poor poll showings and numerous legislative attempts at repeal?

First and foremost, the next president needs to hold himself – or herself – accountable to a higher authority. Why? Because we certainly can’t rein in a runaway president; just look at Obama and his many executive abuses. We need a leader who has the moral maturity and humility of spirit to self-monitor and re-direct as prayerfully prompted.

This is not a new notion for U.S. politicians. One of America’s most iconic images is of George Washington, on bended knee at Valley Forge, in an act of humble prayer.

The idea of a higher authority guiding our nation’s government has been rooted in our system from the start. As most Founding Fathers agreed: the fate of the nation’s freedom rested in the morality of the people.

John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Fisher Ames: “Our liberty depends on our education, our law, and habits … it is founded on morals and religion.”

Patrick Henry: “Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue.”

Good morals, virtuous beliefs, as defined by God – these are the traits we need to look for first in our nation’s presidents. Secondary are their public policy platforms. For a quick cheat-sheet at the polls, just remember this: “Bad men cannot make good citizens,” and sub in the word “leaders” for “citizens.” Politicians who don’t live by a higher moral code and hold themselves accountable to an omnipresent authority – whether Democrat or Republican – are a dime a dozen already. Why should we elect more?

Cherly Chumley, a full-time news writer with The Washington Times, is also the author of Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare is Becoming Our Reality, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. To learn more about Cheryl, visit her website.

[mybooktable book=”police-state-usa-how-orwells-nightmare-is-becoming-our-reality” display=”summary”]

As tempting as an “anybody but Obama”

Opinion

christie-paul-vaccines

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, right.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unwittingly ignited a firestorm earlier this week when he responded to a reporter’s question in Great Britain about forced vaccinations of children in New Jersey by suggesting that the law in the U.S. needs to balance the rights of parents against the government’s duty to maintain standards of public health.

Before Christie could soften the tone of his use of the word “balance,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul jumped into the fray to support the governor. In doing so, he made a stronger case for the rights of parents by advancing the view that all vaccines do not work for all children and the ultimate decision-maker should be parents and not bureaucrats or judges. He argued not for balance, but for bias — in favor of parents.

When Christie articulated the pro-balance view, he must have known that New Jersey law, which he enforces, has no balance, shows no deference to parents’ rights and permits exceptions to universal vaccinations only for medical reasons (where a physician certifies that the child will get sicker because of a vaccination) or religious objections. Short of those narrow reasons, in New Jersey, if you don’t vaccinate your children, you risk losing parental custody of them.

The science is overwhelming that vaccinations work for most children most of the time. Paul, who is a physician, said, however, he knew of instances in which poorly timed vaccinations had led to mental disorders. Yet, he was wise enough to make the pro-freedom case, and he made it stronger than Christie did.

To Paul, the issue is not science. That’s because in a free society, we are free to reject scientific orthodoxy and seek unorthodox scientific cures. Of course, we do that at our peril if our rejection of truth and selection of alternatives results in harm to others.

The issue, according to Paul, is: WHO OWNS YOUR BODY? This is a question the government does not want to answer truthfully, because if it does, it will sound like Big Brother in George Orwell’s novel “1984.” That’s because the government believes it owns your body.

Paul and no less an authority than the U.S. Supreme Court have rejected that concept. Under the natural law, because you retain the rights inherent in your birth that you have not individually given away to government, the government does not own your body. Rather, you do. And you alone can decide your fate with respect to the ingestion of medicine. What about children? Paul argues that parents are the natural and legal custodians of their children’s bodies until they reach maturity or majority, somewhere between ages 14 and 18, depending on the state of residence.

What do the states have to do with this? Under our Constitution, the states, and not the federal government, are the guardians of public health. That is an area of governance not delegated by the states to the feds. Of course, you’d never know this to listen to the debate today in which Big Government politicians, confident in the science, want a one-size-fits-all regimen.

No less a champion of government in your face than Hillary Clinton jumped into this debate with a whacky Tweet that argued that because the Earth is round and the sky is blue and science is right, all kids should be vaccinated. What she was really saying is that in her progressive worldview, the coercive power of the federal government can be used to enforce a scientific orthodoxy upon those states and individuals who intellectually reject it.

In America, you are free to reject it.

Clinton and her Big Government colleagues would be wise to look at their favorite Supreme Court decision: Roe v. Wade. Yes, the same Roe v. Wade that 42 years ago unleashed 45 million abortions also defines the right to bear and raise children as fundamental, and thus personal to parents, and thus largely immune from state interference and utterly immune from federal interference.

Paul’s poignant question about who owns your body — and he would be the first to tell you that this is not a federal issue — cannot be ignored by Christie or Clinton or any other presidential candidate. If Paul is right, if we do own our bodies and if we are the custodians of our children’s bodies until they reach maturity, then we have the right to make health care choices free from government interference, even if our choices are grounded in philosophy or religion or emotion or alternative science.

But if Paul is wrong, if the government owns our bodies, then the presumption of individual liberty guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution has been surreptitiously discarded, and there will be no limit to what the government can compel us to do or to what it can extract from us — in the name of science or any other of its modern-day gods.

Judge Andrew Napolitano has written nine books on the U.S. Constitution. The most recent is Suicide Pact: The Radical Expansion of Presidential Powers and the Lethal Threat to American Liberty.

Judge Andrew Napolitano weighs in on the

World

UAE-F-16e_block60

United Arab Emirates Air Force F-16 Block 60 taking off from the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas.

The UAE, a key Arab partner in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, quit airstrikes over Syria after the capture of the now-executed Jordanian pilot in December.

The development was a clear setback for the coalition, a fact that wasn’t lost on the Obama administration. In fact, the U.S. military and White House claimed in its daily news releases that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were still conducting airstrikes.

“Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the U.S., Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” the latest updated release stated on Feb. 1, 2015. Yet, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest also said Wednesday that the administration wasn’t misleading media and the American people, nor should either be concerned that the coalition is weakened in any way.

“I don’t think people should take away from that announcement that the commitment from the Emiratis and other Arab countries in the region to this broader coalition has waned in any way,” Earnest said. “There’s a very important role for the Emiratis to play in terms of the range of other aspects of our counter-ISIL strategy that requires broad international support.”

But coalition nations conducting humanitarian missions will not “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS, and do much to undermine whatever opportunity the Obama administration had to seize on Jordan’s pledge to ramp up airstrikes and military operations against the Islamic terror army. The Obama administration, though, is facing mounting pressure to move more quickly to provide military equipment to Jordan to help the country respond to public opinion in the wake of the execution Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday and requested more military assistance.

“In the short term, he needs help. He intends to push back against ISIS, but he needs more fuel. He needs more bombs. He needs more equipment,” said Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

The pressure is bipartisan, as Republicans and Democrats both pressured the Obama administration on Wednesday to not do what they typically do — procrastinate. Lawmakers urged Obama to move quickly to provide Jordan various military systems and support.

All 26 members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, which stated the situation Jordan and coalition now faces “demands that we move with speed to ensure they receive the military materiel they require.”

“Specifically, Jordan is seeking to obtain aircraft parts, additional night vision equipment and precision munitions that the king feels he needs to secure his border and robustly execute combat air missions into Syria,” wrote the committee, the members of which all met with the king.

The letter stated that King Abdullah expressed his appreciation for the U.S. aid his country has received in the past, but “we were concerned to hear from the king that Jordan is experiencing complications and delays in obtaining certain types of military equipment through our foreign military sales system.”

They firmly requested a Feb. 13 deadline to brief congressional staff on the status of the aid.

Meanwhile, Earnest said the administration would consider any foreign aid package passed by Congress, but indicated the White House would rather consider a specific request from the Jordanian government.

“I’d want a little more detailed assessment of what exactly they’re talking about,” Earnest said. “But I can tell you that this is something — that this is something that the president feels strongly about.”

According to sources, the UAE made the decision to stop flying missions because the U.S. did not have enough search-and-rescue assets positioned close enough to the theater of operation, and fact General Thomas G. McInerney has confirmed. But while the UAE claims they were concerned about the ability to assist with downed planes, others say the reason might have more to do with domestic public opinion in the UAE.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest also said Wednesday that the Defense Department maintains that an “intensive airborne search was immediately initiated” after the Jordanian pilot was shot down.

“The simple fact of the matter is that we were not in a position to locate the pilot before he was picked up by ISIL forces,” Earnest said.

The UAE, a key Arab partner in

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