US to provide military training
After his four-person bipartisan delegation meets with Buhari and military service chiefs, Issa says the U.S. is ready to provide military training to help Nigeria’s battle against Islamic extremists. He says Nigeria’s military is not outgunned by Boko Haram and needs training, not arms, to defeat the insurgents. This contradicts Buhari, who says that the United States is aiding Boko Haram by refusing to sell attack helicopters to Nigeria. Issa:
The number one thing we bring is professional training to help the Nigerian forces fight Boko Haram and to advise them how to treat insurgents and civilians captured in the war zone. [Nigeria’s military] doesn’t lack basic firearms … it lacks training in military strategy and in international and humanitarian laws. This is a military that was allowed to fall into disrepair during the previous administration. Morale is low when training is low.
He says Obama’s pledge to give whatever training is needed signals ‘a new day’ in U.S.-Nigeria relations.
Mugabe says heroes acre only for ZANU PF
Mugabe makes it clear that only those who participated in the liberation struggle and continue to show their allegiance to him and his Zanu PF party will be conferred hero status when they die. Addressing the thousands who turned out to remember the country’s liberation heroes at the national shrine in Harare, President Mugabe says those who leave Zanu PF and go into opposition should not expect to be granted hero status at the end of their lives. He says there are some ‘misguided elements’ in society whom he accused of denigrating the country’s heroes and the national shrine, adding some went as far as suggesting how national heroes should be selected saying this his and Zanu PF’s prerogative only.
Heroes proved to be heroes as they fought and lived for the independence. They never abandoned struggles, they never were rebels or selfish or what we now call sellouts.
Trump: Kelly should apologize to me
On MSBNC’s Morning Joe Trump says Kelly should be apologizing to him, not the other way around.
She asked me a very inappropriate question. She should really be apologizing to me, you want to know the truth.
Says Ailes promises fair treatment
Trump tweets that Ailes called him and assured him of fair treatment.
Roger Ailes just called. He is a great guy & assures me that “Trump” will be treated fairly on @FoxNews. His word is always good!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 10, 2015
Family not eligible for compensation
The Dawabsheh family won’t be entitled to government compensation granted Israeli victims of terror. The law governing compensation applies only to Israeli citizens and residents – including West Bank settlers, who live in territory Israel never annexed. To seek compensation, the Dawabsheh family would have to apply to a special interministerial exceptions committee.
MK Jabareen (Joint Arab List) asks Attorney General Weinstein to apply the law to all Palestinian victims of Jewish terror.
The case of the Dawabsheh family underscores the absurdity that exists today in the legal and political arrangements related to paying compensation…Victims of nationalist attacks should be entitled to compensation from the state regardless of whether they are Jews or Arabs…This is a population without means or resources, which has been under Israeli control for about five decades…As long as the state controls the Palestinian territories, it is obligated under international law to protect Palestinian residents of the place, including the obligation to compensate them for crimes of hatred and racism against them simply because they are Palestinians. [The harm is] terrible and irreversible. No amount of money can compensate the family for its losses.
Calls death ‘just an incident’
Zuma brushes aside the killing of Cecil.
What it sounds like from a distance [is] that the hunter did not know that Cecil was so popular, just saw a lion, and killed a lion, and it’s Cecil, and Cecil is very well loved and it caused a problem, because everyone wants to go and see Cecil. I think it’s just an incident. I was told by somebody that there is a brother of Cecil. Who? There is Jericho. Thanks God, now people will ask if Jericho is among these lions and they will not shoot, I would imagine. Really I didn’t think it could become such a big issue, but it is a big issue because Cecil was loved. But I think maybe that the fellow did not know. And he just took a nice lion and it was Cecil. I think Zimbabwe has laws about hunting and everything, I don’t think it’s a matter we could really debate that much.
The President of Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe responds:
I’m surprised that President Zuma would make a such a comment with regard to an animal hunted in a neighbouring country. I find it very undiplomatic and very unfair to comment on a sovereign state.
Seven classified mails found, two ‘Top Secret’
McCulloch, the inspector general for the Intelligence Community, notifies senior members of Congress that seven e-mails contained classified information, including two with top-secret material. Two of a sample of forty classified emails discovered on the server Clinton maintained at her New York home contained material deemed to be ‘TOP SECRET//SI//TK//NOFORN”, one of the highest security classifications. Much of the classified information in the e-mail conversations originated with the CIA, according to two government officials familiar with the records. Some of the information was deemed to be classified by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s classification guidelines. The information included references to information related to satellite images and electronic communications, according to the officials.
McCullough also located two e-mails that included classified material from among a separate batch of 296 related to the 2012 attacks on U.S. outposts in Benghazi. One of those e-mails had been publicly released by the State Department, causing consternation within the intelligence community. He has also located one additional e-mail in the sample of 40 that was classified at the time it was sent but has since been declassified and two e-mails they believe contain information that the State Department considers classified, and they have alerted the agency so it can conduct its own review. Clinton aides have maintained that nothing on her server was classified at the time she saw it, suggesting that classified messages were given the label after the fact.
NTSB report: Roper at fault
The NTSB rules that Roper is at fault for the fatal accident that killed comic James McNair and seriously injured Morgan. Their report says Roper had driven 800 miles before even reaching Walmart’s distribution center and at the time of the crash and had been up for 28 hours straight. Roper also failed to wear a seat belt and was traveling 20 miles per hour above the 45-mph speed limit when he hit the tour van carrying Morgan and six others. Morgan and the other passenger’s injuries were made worse because all but one of the van’s occupants was wearing a seat belt. The van had also been modified. NTSB Chairman Hart:
The passengers … had no available exits until emergency responders removed part of a plywood panel that had been installed between the passenger compartment and the cab. [The only other way of exiting, a sliding door] had become inoperable in the crash.
NTSB investigators recommended that Wal-Mart improve fatigue management programs for drivers and install better vehicle warning systems for drivers and delivery operators.
Sweden to drop sex assault inquiry
Swedish prosecutors will drop their investigation into sexual assault allegations against Assange because of the statutes of limitation on that charge have expired due to investigators not being able to interview Assange. Prosecutors had until 13 August to question Assange about one accusation of sexual molestation and one of unlawful coercion, while the time limit on a further allegation of sexual molestation runs out on 18 August. The more serious allegation of rape is not due to expire until 2020. Assange’s lawyers:
Our position is that the investigation should have been shut down earlier because there wasn’t enough evidence to keep it going. It’s regrettable that it’s gone on for this long. We are convinced that as soon as he has the opportunity to give his version of the circumstances [of the alleged rape], there’ll be no need to continue the investigation.
Campaign sends email to supporters
Clinton’s campaign sends a 13-paragraph email to supporters defending her email use while at the State Department. Palmieri:
Hillary didn’t send any classified materials over email: Hillary only used her personal account for unclassified email. No information in her emails was marked classified at the time she sent or received them. She viewed classified materials in hard copy in her office or via other secure means while traveling, not on email. What makes it complicated: It’s common for information previously considered unclassified to be upgraded to classified before being publicly released. Some emails that weren’t secret at the time she sent or received them might be secret now. And sometimes government agencies disagree about what should be classified, so it isn’t surprising that another agency might want to conduct its own review, even though the State Department has repeatedly confirmed that Hillary’s emails contained no classified information at the time she sent or received them…To be clear, there is absolutely no criminal inquiry into Hillary’s email or email server. Any and all reports to that effect have been widely debunked. Hillary directed her team to provide her email server and a thumb drive in order to cooperate with the review process and to ensure these materials were stored in a safe and secure manner.
Gives military three months
Buhari swears in a new set of military chiefs in Abuja, ordering them to end Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency within three months.
You need to brace up and continue to team up with other stakeholders to come up with a well co-ordinated joint effort which will bring a desired end to these insurgencies within three months. The activities of these misguided groups and individuals have resulted in wanton destruction of lives and properties of our citizens and a disruption of social economic lives of millions of Nigerians.
The president urges the armed forces to conform with international law.
In particular you must protect innocent civilians and respect the rights of combatants.
Leadership change
Chad’s President Deby says Boko Haram has a new leader. He does not say what had happened to Shekau, but says he had been replaced by Daoud – who has not been heard of before. Derby says Daoud is open to dialogue.
Boko Haram is decapitated. There are little groups [of fighters] scattered throughout east Nigeria, on border with Cameroon. It is within our power to definitely overcome Boko Haram.
Deby added that he would not recommend that Nigeria negotiate with ‘a terrorist’.
Kept Mueller as sex slave
Mueller’s parents say they were informed by government officials that their daughter was repeatedly raped by Baghdadi. American officials allegedly learned about Kayla’s abuse, after interviewing two Yazidi girls, 16 and 18, who escaped from the same compound where they were all held as sex slaves. The girls said Kayla was held in the home of Abu Sayyaf, a Tunisian man in charge of ISIS’ oil and gas revenue. Sayyaf’s wife, Umm Sayyaf, who was captured in a U.S. raid on the compound confirmed the information. Baghdadi is said to have regularly visited the house to both speak to Sayyaf and rape Kayla. The information discredits reports that Mueller warmed to her captors and had even willingly married a member of the state.
Willing to spend $1 billion on bid
When a reporter asks Trump, just outside the Iowa State Fair grounds if he would throw a billion of his own money into the campaign, he says:
I would do that, yeah. If I had to….You saw I make $400 million a year, so what difference does it make?
He also fulfils a promise he made earlier in the campaign by giving children a ride in the helicopter he arrived in.
Criticizes Zuckerberg on immigration
Trump’s immigration plan criticizes Zuckerberg, who supports a more open immigration policy. While Zuckerberg wants to make more H-1B visas available to tech employers so they can hire foreign skilled workers, Trump says he wants to require employers to pay H-1B workers much more money, which he said would discourage companies from hiring them and boost job prospects for Americans. He also wants to have tech jobs offered to unemployed Americans before they can be filled by workers with H-1B visas.
This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities.
Responds to NYT article
Bezos sends an internal mail to all Amazon employees discussing the New York Times article.
Here’s why I’m writing you. The NYT article prominently features anecdotes describing shockingly callous management practices, including people being treated without empathy while enduring family tragedies and serious health problems. The article doesn’t describe the Amazon I know or the caring Amazonians I work with every day. But if you know of any stories like those reported, I want you to escalate to HR. You can also email me directly at jeff@amazon.com. Even if it’s rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero…The article goes further than reporting isolated anecdotes. It claims that our intentional approach is to create a soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard. Again, I don’t recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don’t, either. More broadly, I don’t think any company adopting the approach portrayed could survive, much less thrive, in today’s highly competitive tech hiring market. The people we hire here are the best of the best. You are recruited every day by other world-class companies, and you can work anywhere you want.
I strongly believe that anyone working in a company that really is like the one described in the NYT would be crazy to stay. I know I would leave such a company. But hopefully, you don’t recognize the company described. Hopefully, you’re having fun working with a bunch of brilliant teammates, helping invent the future, and laughing along the way.
Thank you, Jeff
305 docs with potentially classified information
The State Department reports to a Federal court that it is getting back on schedule for publicly releasing Clinton’s emails after falling more than 1,000 pages behind in July, when the need to screen messages for secret information overwhelmed the department. Five security agencies are involved in the review, and have checked 20 percent of the emails, finding 305 messages (5.1%) that needed to be referred to the security agencies to determine whether they did, in fact, have secret information that needed to be redacted before public release. State Dept spokesperson:
We’re taking this very seriously.
Missing daughter found safe
O’Donnell’s 17-year-old daughter, Chelsea, is found safe in New Jersey. She hadn’t been seen since leaving her home on Aug. 11 with her six-month-old therapy dog, the entertainer said in a post on her website. A family spokeswoman had said in a statement that Chelsea had run away from home and suffers from mental illness.
Chelsea, like millions of people, lives with mental illness. It has been a difficult road for Chelsea and her family, and they just want her back safe.
chelsea has been found and is safe in police custody – thank u all for the help and light #missingchildren
— ROSIE (@Rosie) August 18, 2015
Responds to Trump
In response to Trump’s interview in the New York Times where he said, “Heidi Klum. Sadly, she’s no longer a 10”, Klum posts a video where she wears a T-shirt with the number 10 on it during a photo shoot. Aman sporting a Donald Trump mask shows up and rips off the sign to reveal the figure 9.99.
#TrumpHasSpoken #sadly #9.99 #NoLongerA10 #IHadAGoodRun #donaldtrump #HeidiTrumpsTrump #BeautyIsInTheEyeOfTheBeheld pic.twitter.com/dwDmEXNKMR
— Heidi Klum (@heidiklum) August 17, 2015
FBI: Server wipe attempt
The FBI says an “attempt” was made to wipe Clinton’s email server’s hard drive, to remove all data on it. FBI officials are optimistic that the data can be recovered. Clinton responds at a press conference.
Wipe it with a cloth? I do not know how that works digitally at all.
