A former Army Special Forces officer is accusing retired Marine General James Mattis, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be defense secretary, of “leaving my men to die” after they were hit by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2001.
Mattis has not commented publicly on the incident, which was chronicled in a 2011 New York Times bestselling book, “The Only Thing Worth Dying For,” by Eric Blehm. The book portrays Mattis as stubbornly unwilling to help the Green Berets.
His actions, which were not formally investigated at the time, are now likely to get far more scrutiny during the retired general’s Senate confirmation process.
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James M. Mattis (2R), U.S. Marine General, aboard the USS Peleliu in 2001. JIM HOLLANDER / EPA
America died on Nov. 8, 2016, not with a bang or a whimper, but at its own hand via electoral suicide. We the people chose a man who has shredded our values, our morals, our compassion, our tolerance, our decency, our sense of common purpose, our very identity — all the things that, however tenuously, made a nation out of a country.
Whatever place we now live in is not the same place it was on Nov. 7. No matter how the rest of the world looked at us on Nov. 7, they will now look at us differently. We are likely to be a pariah country. And we are lost for it. As I surveyed the ruin of that country this gray Wednesday morning, I found weary consolation in W.H. Auden’s poem, September 1, 1939, which concludes:
“Defenseless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame.”
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The sun sets behind the Jefferson Memorial in Washington. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
In 1996, Purdue Pharma introduced a new painkiller it said carried a low risk of abuse or addiction. It called the drug “OxyContin.”
In reality, of course, OxyContin was extremely addictive — and Purdue knew it. A decade later, three Purdue executives, and the company itself, pleaded guilty to criminal charges tied to OxyContin’s marketing and agreed to pay more than $600 million in fines.
But the executives dodged prison time, and the prosecution did little to slow the rise of opioid use. The pharmaceutical industry had spent the past 10 years and billions of dollars pushing the medical community to ramp up the use of OxyContin and other opioids. By 2013, the number of annual opioid prescriptions, including short term and multiple, had nearly tripled, topping 200 million — in a country of just over 300 million people.
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Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
As a candidate, Trump’s often unsubstantiated attacks on political opponents, foreign governments, election officials, law enforcement, a federal judge, news outlets and Muslims shattered political norms and sowed division. As president, his decisions will carry the full weight of White House policy, raising concerns about where he gets his information and whether he might act on false or flawed reports.
Trump’s baseless claim that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote with “millions” of illegal voters, for example, appears to have been popularized by Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has also claimed the 9/11 attacks were carried out by the government and that the Sandy Hook shootings were faked.
Every president makes difficult decisions on sensitive issues based on incomplete intelligence and competing advisers, making the ability to discern what news is credible critical to the job. This is especially important when it comes to national security, where presidents have broad latitude to order military action and direct negotiations with foreign leaders.
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Trump Pushes Baseless Claim That ‘Millions’ Voted Illegally in Election
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Monday asked the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), to look into President-elect Donald Trump’s financial entanglements and make sure he’s not breaking the law.
“The scope of Mr. Trump’s conflicts of interest around the world is unprecedented,” the 17 Democrats on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee wrote. “Over the past two weeks, new revelations have raised serious concerns about the intermingling of Mr. Trump’s businesses and his responsibilities as president.”
Trump’s potential conflicts of interest are staggering, with business interests across the globe and no clear firewall between those businesses and the office of the presidency. Trump had said previously that he would enter into a blind trust, which would require him to sell many of his businesses and be unaware of his holdings, but he’s backed away from those promises. Trump also said he would step away from his dealings and have his children run day-to-day operations. But several of Trump’s children are intimately involved in his political operation ― Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr. are all on the presidential transition team ― and simply handing over the businesses to his children wouldn’t disassociate Trump from his enterprises. He still knows what businesses he owns.
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Alex Wong/Getty Images
Committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) waits for the beginning of a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, July 7, 2016.
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A mother and daughter whose tweets have offered heartbreaking insight into Syria’s civil war were “on the run” Monday as the pro-regime troops pushed into a rebel-held area of Aleppo.
Seven-year-old Bana al-Abed and her mother, Fatemah, have provided dispatches from the front line.
Fatemah told NBC News last month how her daughter had “started to ask me if we are going to die in the bombings.”
I returned to work on Sunday to find three envelopes from you on my desk. They must have arrived sometime last week when I was in Wisconsin with my family for Thanksgiving.
In the letters, which were all identical (I’m not sure why you felt the need to send three), you claim to be someone I went to high school with. You say you love Donald Trump because “he’s anti-semitic and anti-Islamic” and you think I’m a “stupid Jewish faggot.” I can’t be sure we really went to school together but the envelopes were postmarked with a stamp from Milwaukee so I suspect, sadly, that you’re telling the truth.
Apparently you started a petition to get me fired because of my anti-Trump posts on Facebook and because you “don’t like Jewish people” and you “don’t like” me. You claim to be circulating the petition amongst alumni from our high school “and various people across the United States.” You’ve supposedly already secured 500 signatures and, not only that, you are planning to file a “civil suite” (whatever that is) against me and The Huffington Post as well.
Donald Trump established what’s alleged to have been an entirely fraudulent “university.” He has a hard-earned reputation for screwing over contractors and investors, a long history of hanging out with mobsters and has been named a defendant in 1,450 lawsuits. And yet he’s dubbed his opponent, who’s been subjected to dozens of investigations that all came up with bupkis, “Crooked Hillary.” No candidate in history has taken projection to such remarkable lengths.
But an even more impressive example of projection can be found in Trump’s constant claims that this election is being “rigged” for Hillary Clinton. There do seem to be a lot of actors trying to manipulate the outcome – or at least having that effect – but they’re all lined up behind the guy who won’t stop whining about election-rigging.
It’s unclear whether WikiLeaks is actually in cahoots with the Russian government. But Reuters reported this week that U.S. intelligence officials are investigating “a campaign they believe is backed by the Russian government to undermine the credibility of the U.S. presidential election.”
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Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that this election is being “rigged” for Hillary Clinton. Spencer Platt/Getty
Fidel Castro, the cigar-chomping Cuban revolutionary leader and dictator who defied U.S. efforts to topple him for five decades, has died. He was 90.
President Raul Castro announced his brother’s death on state television Friday night. Cuba declared nine days of national mourning early Saturday. A burial ceremony will be held on Dec. 4.
The bearded communist took power in a 1959 revolution and ruled Cuba for 49 years with a mix of charisma and iron will, creating a one-party state and becoming a central figure in the Cold War.
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Cuban-Americans in Miami Celebrate Death of Fidel Castro
Republican Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions’ racially insensitive comments and hardline anti-immigration positions are prompting a host of civil rights groups to condemn President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of him for attorney general.
But white nationalists are over the moon about Sessions’ selection, apparently seeing him as one of their own.
Liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America compiled a list of the leading figures on the bigoted “alt-right” who have publicly praised his appointment.
Sessions’ vocal white nationalist backers include David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, radio host James Edwards, writer Hunter Wallace and video blogger RamzPaul.
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Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
James' World 2 