Public School Costs/Results

Posted on May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 by Denise Simon

It would be important for all owners of real estate regardless of whether there are school aged children to ask some hard questions of the respective school system. Chicago is a symptom of a big problem where results are quite questionable.

The Real Cost of CPS Borrowing: District Now Owes $38,000 per Student

ManhattanInstitute: By all accounts, Chicago Public Schools has made significant academic progress over the last 15 years. Since 2003 the district’s proficiency rates on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam have more than doubled in math and have nearly doubled in reading.

But this progress is now threatened by severe financial mismanagement. The district faces a budget crisis driven by the rising cost of past, unpaid bills that is crowding out spending on today’s teachers and students.

CPS’ budget crisis was not created overnight. For more than a decade, the district has struggled with a widening structural budget deficit. Since 2001, inflation-adjusted spending per pupil increased by nearly 40 percent. In 2001, CPS spent close to $12,000 per student; in 2015, $16,432. Yet revenue has not kept pace: CPS per-pupil revenue has not matched per-pupil spending, with revenue falling short, on average, by $1,000 per pupil since 2001. More recently, the revenue gap has widened to nearly $3,000 per year.

CPS has papered over its annual shortfalls by borrowing vast sums from bond markets. As a result, CPS bonds are now rated as “junk” and the district has to pay a huge premium to get anyone to buy them (three times the rate for benchmark government bonds).

What’s more, by failing to make the necessary pension contributions, CPS has borrowed even larger amounts from its current and former teachers through the pension fund—today the district owes the fund billions upon billions. CPS owes bondholders and the pension fund more than $38,000 for every student, up from less than $10,000 in 2001.

Rising debt service costs are beginning to take a real bite out of district resources. And CPS has scrambled to keep pace while protecting classroom spending. Since 2011, CPS has made nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in budget cuts “away from the classroom,” with administrative and programmatic spending hit especially hard. Nevertheless, from 2001 to 2015, annual per-pupil inflation-adjusted spending has been hit hard as well:

Spending on textbooks has declined by 36 percent.

Spending on classroom supplies has fallen by nearly 60 percent.

Budgets for elementary school sports (coaching stipends and equipment) have been cut by the millions.

Annual per-pupil spending on capital repairs and replacement has dropped by 55 percent.

Because the majority of a school district’s spending is on salaries and benefits, there is only so much that can be cut beyond that. Which is why Chicago’s teachers are feeling the budgetary pressure. Since 2001, CPS teacher salaries, as a share of total CPS spending, have fallen by more than 10 percentage points, while pension contributions have jumped, from 2 percent of total CPS spending to more than 10 percent.

Teachers’ retirement benefits have also been reduced. Changes for new teachers instituted in 2011 represent an average total compensation cut of about 10 percent compared with teachers who began working before the changes took effect. For career teachers the drop is even larger—representing a reduction of more than 40 percent of the total potential benefit value.

There are only three ways to right CPS’ sinking financial ship: Secure additional revenue, reduce teachers’ retirement benefits, or cut services for current students. Start with revenue. Given that the Legislature is mired in a long-running budget standoff, securing significant additional state aid seems unlikely. Raising more local revenue faces another constraint: Chicago’s property tax increases are capped at the rate of inflation.

As for cuts to retiree benefits, the Illinois Supreme Court has prohibited pension reductions for all but future hires, thereby disallowing even the modest changes to teachers’ benefits. For these reasons, major service cuts to Chicago’s public schools—however undesirable—appear most plausible.

Fighting on the Same Side of Iranian Militias

Posted on May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 by Denise Simon

BAGHDAD – American commandos are on the front lines in Syria in a new push toward the Islamic State group’s de facto capital in Raqqa, but in Iraq it is an entirely different story: Iran, not the United States, has become the face of an operation to retake the jihadi stronghold of Fallujah from the militant group.

On the outskirts of Fallujah, tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers, police officers and Shiite militiamen backed by Iran are preparing for an assault on the Sunni city, raising fears of a sectarian bloodbath. Iran has placed advisers, including its top spymaster, Qassim Suleimani, on the ground to assist in the operation.

The battle over Fallujah has evolved into yet another example of how United States and Iranian interests seemingly converge and clash at the same time in Iraq. Both want to defeat the Islamic State. But the United States has long believed that Iran’s role, which relies on militias accused of sectarian abuses, can make matters worse by angering Sunnis and making them more sympathetic to the militants. More here from HoustonChronicle

Armoured vehicle modified by Hashd engineers carries AAH emblem during the operations to move toward Fallujah

Rafsanjani Admits Iran’s Involvement in Region’s Crises

London-Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that Iran is involved in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Afghanistan to defend national interests.

Rafsanjani explained during an interview with Aftab News that Iran cannot leave these countries easily, adding that continuing what they have started with there is not an easy mission.

He considered Iran’s intervention in regional crises as one of the international challenges his country is facing.

He added by saying, “Arab and Islamic countries are united against Iran in Syria and now want to control things in Iraq.”

Moreover, Rafsanjani admitted that Iran is facing troubles in the region; adding that these problems should be solved by proper management in order to reach a suitable solution.

On the other hand, Rafsanjani called for Americans to be “flexible” with Iran for a few years in order to gain the confidence of the Iranian officials; thus normalizing U.S.-Iranian relations.

He also implicitly pointed out that Rouhani wants to meet U.S. President Barack Obama. But “Khamenei’s pressure exerted on the Iranian president,” in addition to the unsuitable circumstances, “prevents such meeting from taking place.”

Rafsanjani acknowledged the existence of profound differences in the Iranian leadership, accusing some officials of deceiving public opinion.

Three days ago, Commander of Iranian Quds Force Qassem Soleimani pointed out implicitly to the existence of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. on the crises in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council defended Hassan Rouhani by explaining that one of his major political pledges, regarding ending the house arrest of Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, has not been met yet because it is out of the government’s powers.

Notably, Rouhani is passing through very critical times due to the increased pressure exerted on him and as a result of the long list of accusations directed by his allies and rivals.

In addition, Rafsanjani mentioned that Iran is facing great internal challenges because of the political disputes, unemployment, and inflation.

Iranian websites circulated news on Rafsanjani’s statements at the time when former Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Mohsen Rezaee attacked the Saudi foreign minister with racist terms.

Furthermore, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Amir Abdullahian said that Tehran is determined to continue playing its advisory role in the region, reiterating Iran’s continuous presence in Syria, according to IRNA official agency.

He explained on Monday that Iran, with pride and determination, continues its advisory support in the region, pointing out to Iran’s crucial role to guarantee security and stability in regional countries and the world.

Iran justifies its military presence in Syria and Iraq by considering itself playing an advisory role, yet it names its militants in these areas with ideological titles such as “Defending Shi’ite Shrines,” showing contradiction between the official speeches given in Iran and the involved institutions that are sending armed militants to Arab countries.

In a common matter, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani defended Iran’s decision to intervene in Syria and Iraq.

Meanwhile:

Turkey plans to install computerized automatic weapons to secure border with Syria: report

Turkey is stepping security measures on its border with Syria, including plans to install computerized automated firing systems, Yeni Şafak newspaper reported Monday.

IHA Photo

The weapons would be part of “smart towers” equipped with thermal imaging systems to prevent illegal crossings over the border.

If anyone gets within 300 metres of the border a warning will be sounded in three languages, which if not heeded, will trigger the weapons system, according to the report in the pro-government daily. The Ministry of Defence has yet to comment on the reports.

Securing the border with Syria plays a crucial role in Ankara’s foreign policy. Faced with a grave threat from across the border, Ankara has repeatedly asserted that any threat from Syria will receive retaliation in kind.

Around two dozen people have been killed in the Turkish border town of Kilis by rocket fire from DAESH terrorists since January, which has prompting the Turkish military to respond with artillery, and Turkish Special Forces carried out an operation within northern Syria earlier this month to take out DAESH teams which were launching these rockets.

Turkey, although a member of the U.S.-led coalition battling DAESH, has received almost none of the support requested from its allies in the fight against the extremist group, and has increasingly indicated Ankara is prepared to take unilateral action. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have stepped up attacks on DAESH in Syria in recent weeks, after rockets fired by the group repeatedly landed in Kilis, in what appeared to be a sustained and deliberate assault. More than a dozen rockets hit the town in just the last week.

Gunfire and occasional explosions from across the border could be heard on Wednesday from a hill in Kilis, which is home to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees.

Refugees with Active TB Arrived

Posted on May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 by Denise Simon

Eleven Refugees With Active TB Arrived in Florida After 2013

Eleven refugees with active tuberculosis (TB) were among more than 111,000 refugees who arrived in Florida during the three years between 2013 and 2015, according to a report the Florida Department of Health recently sent to Breitbart News.

Their active TB status was determined in medical screenings completed within 90 days of their arrival in the Sunshine State.

This news comes barely a week after Breitbart News reported that four refugees with active TB were sent to Indiana in 2015.

The Florida Department of Health provided a breakdown, by year of arrival, of the eleven refugees who arrived in Florida with active TB:

Number of refugees who completed domestic medical screening who were diagnosed with active TB at the time of that screening.

Year Number Diagnosed with Active TB
2013 5
2014 5
2015 1

Total 11

Breitbart: The vast majority of these refugees who arrived in Florida between 2013 and 2015–104,000 of the 111,000– came from Cuba under the “wet-foot, dry-foot policy,” the 1995 “amendment to the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. . . [that] gives migrants from Cuba special treatment that no other group of refugees or immigrants receives… [and] puts Cubans who reach U.S. soil on a fast track to permanent residency,” as Dan Moffett reports.

Only a small percentage of these 104,000 Cuban refugees–an estimated total of 3,000–entered as “traditional arrival” refugees, the program through which approximately 70,000 refugees per year enter the United States from over 100 different countries.

The remaining 111,000 Cuban refugees were classified as part of the additional 70,000 migrants who enter the United States annually and are designated as “other served populations” eligible to participate in refugee programs administered by the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Many in this group are classified by the federal government as “non-traditional arrivals,” a designation that includes “irregular maritime arrivals. . . and border crossers.”

In 2015, for instance, of the 140,093 total migrants who were eligible to be served by the refugee programs administered by the Office of Refugee Resettlement 69,933 were refugees, while 70,160 were “other served populations.”

Another small percentage of the 111,000 refugees who entered Florida between 2013 and 2015–a total of 7,000–entered through the “traditional arrival” refugee resettlement program administered by the Office of Refugee Resettlement from countries other than Cuba.

While all 10,000 refugees (3,000 from Cuba, 7,000 from other countries) who arrived in Florida between 2013 and 2015 through the “traditional arrival” refugee resettlement program were medically screened overseas prior to being approved to come to the U.S., the 101,000 Cubans who came to Florida under the category “others served by the refugee resettlement program” over the same period were not medically screened prior to their arrival in the U.S.

Most startling of all the information included in the Florida Department of Health data is that only two of the eleven refugees (18 percent) who arrived in Florida with active TB were included in the B1, B2, B3 refugee tuberculosis medical risk notifications sent to the Florida Department of Health by the CDC through the National Electronic Disease Notification System.

Total number of refugees who arrived with a B1, B2, or B3 tuberculosis notification who were diagnosed with active TB at the time of that screening, expressed as an absolute number and also as a percentage of notification of refugees screened.

Year Number Diagnosed with Active TB Percentage of Refugee Notifications
2013 1 3.7%
2014 1 2.4%
2015* 0 0%
* Preliminary data

The other nine refugees who arrived in Florida with active TB (82 percent) were most likely Cuban migrants in the category “others served by the refugee resettlement program” who were not medically screened overseas prior to their arrival in the U.S. It possible, however, that some of the non-Cubans who were given a clean bill of health by the CDC’s overseas medical screening program were in this latter group.

When the CDC provides the Florida Department of Health with advance notifications for each “traditional arrival” refugee bound for Florida when they arrive at a U.S. port of entry, it also provides B1, B2, and B3 tuberculosis medical risk notifications for those “traditional arrival ” refugees carrying those classifications. The Florida Department of Health provided Breitbart News with the number of refugees who arrived with B1,B2, and B3 medical risk notifications between 2013 and 2015:

Number of B1, B2, and B3 tuberculosis notifications sent to the Florida Department of Health by the CDC.

Arrival Number of Refugees
2013 61
2014 80
2015 92

Source: Electronic Disease Notification system (EDN)

Refugees who entered Florida with these medical risk notifications were from among the 10,000 “traditional arrival” refugees between 2013 and 2015, 3,000 from Cuba, and 7,000 from other countries. None of the 111,000 Cubans who entered Florida between 2013 and 2015 from the “others served by the refugee resettlement program” category were subject to these medical notifications, since none had been medically screened overseas.

Though the CDC has gone to great lengths to assure Americans that refugees do not present a tuberculosis health risk to them, the actual data from Florida and Indiana belie that claim.

As Breitbart News reported previously:

Refugees who are diagnosed in overseas medical screenings as having “active infectious tuberculosis” are classified as Class A medical risks, and are not allowed to migrate to the United States without a special waiver.

Refugees who are diagnosed as having something the CDC calls, in a classic bureaucratic oxymoron, “active tuberculosis – non-infectious,” are classified as Class B1 medical risks and are allowed to migrate to the United States.

According to the most recent 2007 standards provided by the CDC to the approximately 700 medical doctors who have been authorized by U.S. embassies or consulates overseas to be part of the U.S. Control Panels that perform overseas medical screenings of U.S. bound refugees, any refugee who (1) has a chest radiograph that suggests the presence of TB and has either (1) sputum smears that test positive or (2) sputum cultures that test positive, is categorized as a Class A medical risk.

Class B2 tuberculosis medical risks are refugees who complete the overseas medical screening and require “[l]atent tuberculosis infection evaluation .”

Class B3 tuberculsosis medical risks are refugees who complete the overseas medical screening and require “contact evaluation.”

The Florida Health Refugee Health Program Report for 2010 to 2012 explains why refugees from Cuba and Haiti are treated differently than those from other countries:

Most refugee arrivals in Florida enter through the Miami port of entry and resettle in Miami-Dade County. However, Florida is experiencing an increase in refugees arriving through the Chicago and New York City ports of entry.

The RHP (Florida Refugee Health Program) is notified in advance of traditional port of entry (i.e.,international airports and seaports) refugee arrivals by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Electronic Disease Notification (EDN) System.

The RHP does not receive prior arrival notifications for non-traditional refugee arrivals such as primary asylees, irregular maritime arrivals, and border crossers who are eligible for refugee services.

Irregular maritime arrivals and border crosser populations refer to Cuban/Haitian entrants who may have arrived via water or land (U.S./Mexico or U.S./Canada border) and have received an immigration status that deems them eligible for refugee benefits.

The vast majority of Texas arrivals consisted of border-crossers.

Arrivals through non-traditional ports of entry increased dramatically between 2010 and 2012.

There were 338 (1.4%) non-traditional arrivals in 2010, 2,298 (8.8%) in 2011, and 8,229 (26.9%) in 2012. Non-traditional arrivals include both border-crossers and irregular maritime arrivals.

Border-crossers are Cuban/Haitian entrants who may have arrived via water or land (U.S./Mexico or U.S./Canada) and have received an immigration status that deems them eligible for refugee benefits, such as public interest parole…

Closely related to the trends in ports of entry for refugee arrivals are the trends in the immigration status of refugee arrivals. Although the term refugee is used throughout this report to encompass all eligible populations, there are 11 different immigration statuses represented in Florida’s arrivals.

Since 2010, parolees ( …individuals granted entry into the U.S. for humanitarian reasons or for emergent or compelling reasons of significant public benefit) have been the largest immigration status represented in the eligible arrival population in Florida, followed by refugees and asylees.

Many Cuban refugees (the majority of whom are technically “parolees”) enter the United States by land, with Texas being the leading port of entry. These individuals, along with Cuban refugees who are classified as “non-traditional maritime” arrivals are not medically screened prior to their arrival here.

As Pew Research reported:

Thousands of Cubans have migrated to the U.S. by land. Many fly to Ecuador because of the country’s liberal immigration policies, then travel north through Central America and Mexico. The majority of Cubans who entered the country arrived through the U.S. Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector in Texas, which borders Mexico. In fiscal 2015, two-thirds (28,371) of all Cubans came through this sector, an 82% increase from the previous fiscal year.

However, a larger percentage increase occurred in the Miami sector, which operates in several states, but primarily in Florida. The number of Cubans who entered in the Miami sector during fiscal 2015 more than doubled from the previous year, from 4,709 .

Over 80 percent of the more than 56,000 Cuban refugees and migrants who arrived in the United States in FY 2015 were resettled in Florida. Ten percent were resettled in Texas, while the remainder were resettled in other states.

In Florida, Cuban refugees and migrants account for well over 90 percent of all resettled refugees, as this breakdown of refugees arriving in the Sunshine State between 2013 and 2015, as provided to Breitbart News by the Florida Department of Health, shows:

FY 2013-2015 Arrivals, By Country of Origin
Country 2013 2014 2015 Total
Cuba 29,506 31,443 43,681 104,630
Burma 383 408 467 1,258
Iraq 481 577 302 1,360
Haiti 486 538 189 1,213

Total 31,906 33,978 45,907 111 ,791

NOTE: some of this data is still preliminary in nature.

Residents of the Sunshine State can take some comfort, however, in the fact that Florida has consistently had a very high rate–well over 90 percent–of arriving refugees who successfully complete their medical screenings within 90 days:

Total Arrivals, FY 2013 to FY 2015

Year Number of Arrivals Number Screened Percentage Screened
FY 13 31,906 29,838 93.52%
FY 14 33,978 33,217 97.76%
FY 15 45,907 44,672 97.31%

This is just part of the TB refugee health data provided by the Florida Department of Health to Breitbart News, important information that is not made available to the public in many other states, particularly those like Tennessee where refugee resettlement operations are controlled by VOLAGs (voluntary agencies) selected by the Office of Refugee Resettlement under the statutorily questionable Wilson Fish alternative program.

The special treatment of Cuban refugees, however, may be coming to an end, a result of concerns over financial scandals reported in the resettlement program in Florida, as well as the re-establishment of formal relations with Cuba by the Obama administration in 2015.

Critics question why Cubans should not enter through the traditional refugee resettlement program like the 70,000 refugees resettled by ORR each year. Should that take place, Cuban refugees would then be subject to overseas medical screenings.

Since two of the eleven refugees who arrived in Florida with active TB between 2013 and 2015 went through that screening and were classified B1, B2, B3 tuberculosis medical risks cleared for entry into the U.S., it is not clear if adding overseas medical screenings to Cuban refugees will offer significant improvements to the public health risks Americans face from refugees who are now readily cleared by an obviously imperfect medical screening system.

But, since nine of the eleven refugees who arrived with active TB between 2013 and 2015 were likely not subjected to overseas medical screening, adding overseas medical screenings as a requirement for entry for all Cuban refugees would not make the current flawed system worse.

The only sure-bet policy that could make the current system better, however, at least in terms of guaranteeing that no refugees arriving in the U.S. will increase the risk of Americans being infected with active or latent TB, would be to completely shut down the program and allow no refugees to enter.

Is My Daddy an Angel?

Posted on May 30, 2016May 30, 2016 by Denise Simon

Here’s how a little girl who lost her Marine dad taught the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the full cost of war

by Ward Carroll by – May 29, 2016 2:08:13 pm Memorial Day

General Dempsey talking to the troops in Iraq. (Photo: CBS News)

Mighty: Like most general officers commissioned right after the Vietnam War ended, Gen. Martin Dempsey’s firsthand experience of dealing with combat losses came relatively late in his career. During the summer of 2003, then-Major General Dempsey was commanding “Task Force Iron” in Iraq when the post-invasion lull ended and the insurgency began going after American troops.

“We started taking casualties,” Gen. Dempsey recounted. “And during the morning briefing, after we talked about the high-level mission items and what we called ‘significant incidents,’ we’d flash up the names of the fallen and have a moment of silence.

“The names were up there on the screen and then, whoosh, they were gone,” he said. “After about two or three weeks of the same thing, I became really uncomfortable with that. One minute it was there and real, and then the next minute it was somebody else’s problem.”

Gen. Dempsey attended a number of the memorial services held at the forward operating bases downrange for those killed in action.

“They were both heart wrenching and inspirational,” the general said about the services. “To see the love that these soldiers had for each other made me take my responsibilities that much more seriously.”

But as he greeted the battle buddies of the fallen, Gen. Dempsey wasn’t sure what to say to them that would help at those moments. “I had nothing,” he said. “I mean, I’d say, ‘hang in there’ or ‘we’re really sorry about what happened’ . . . I felt so superficial.”

Then it hit him one morning after he was just waking up in his quarters in Baghdad. “A phrase was echoing in my head,” he remembered. “Make it matter.”

He did two things immediately after that: First, he had laminated cards made for every soldier who had been killed to that point. The cards were carried by all the general officers in theater as a constant physical reminder of the human cost of the war. In time the number of casualties became so great that it was impractical to carry the cards at all times, so he had a mahogany box engraved with “Make it Matter” on the top and put all but three of the cards inside of it. He would constantly rotate the three he carried in his pocket with the ones in the box.

Second, from that point forward when he would address the soldiers in units that had experienced losses, he’d simply say, “Make it matter.”

“They knew exactly what I meant,” Gen. Dempsey said.

****

Five years after Gen. Dempsey’s introduction to the challenges a two-star leader faces during periods of significant combat losses, Marine Corps Major David Yaggy, a veteran of three combat deployments, was an instructor flying in the rear cockpit of a Navy T-34C trainer on a cross-country flight between Florida and South Carolina when the airplane went down in the hills of Alabama. Yaggy and his flight student at the controls in the front cockpit were both killed in the crash.

The day of that crash is burned into the memory of Maj. Yaggy’s widow, Erin. She first heard from a realtor friend that a helicopter had gone down, and she immediately went online and saw a report that, in fact, a T-34 had crashed in Alabama. Fearing the worst, she put her 18-month-old daughter Lizzy in a stroller and went for a walk, in denial and hoping to avoid any officials who might show up to tell her that her husband had been killed.

During the walk, she received a phone call from her cousin. “Where are you?” she asked.

“I’m at your house,” he replied. That was all he said.

Erin ran home pushing the stroller, in her words, “like a crazy person.” When she arrived she caught a glimpse of a uniform, and she broke down, hysterical. “That didn’t go so well,” she said.

She had a long period of vacillating between shock, anger, and sorrow. “I felt like other people wanted me to cry,” she said. “I was like, ‘I don’t want permission to cry, I just want him here.”

Lizzy Yaggy visiting the Arlington National Cemetery gravesite of her father. (Photo: Erin Yaggy)

The sister of the flight student killed with Erin’s husband convinced her to get involved with Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, and she wound up making the short trip from Baltimore to Washington DC to attend her first Good Grief Camp — the organization’s signature gathering — when Lizzy was four years old.

****

General Dempsey had just taken over as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army when his aide briefed him that he was scheduled to address the TAPS Good Grief Camp attendees gathered in a hotel ballroom across the interstate from the Pentagon. Although the general had heard of TAPS and was armed with the requisite three-by-five cards filled with talking points provided by his staff, when he got there he realized he wasn’t fully ready for what he was walking into.

“I walked into this room with 600 kids all wearing big round buttons with images of their parents, and I knew I was ill-prepared,” Gen. Dempsey said. “It was emotionally overwhelming. It’s hard enough meeting a single family that’s had a loss. It’s another thing altogether meeting 600 families.”

Gen. Dempsey started his appearance with a question-and-answer session, and after a couple of innocent ones like “do you have your own airplane?” and “do you like pizza?” a little girl dramatically shifted the mood by asking, “Is my daddy an angel?”

“I was stunned,” Gen. Dempsey recalled. “How do you answer that question?”

Lizzy Yaggy greets Gen. Dempsey during TAPS Good Grief Camp. (Photo: Erin Yaggy)

The general thought for a few moments before calling an audible of sorts. Fearing that he could well break down if he tried to talk he decided to attempt something else.

“I knew I could sing through emotion instead of trying to speak,” he said.

So he answered that, of course, her father was an angel — like the fathers of everyone there — and that the entire group should sing together because singing is joyful and the fact that their fathers were angels should bring them great joy.

Then he launched into the Irish classic, “The Unicorn Song,” including a lesson in the proper hand gestures required during the chorus. Soon the entire room was singing.

After his appearance, General Dempsey asked Bonnie Carroll, the founder of TAPS, if he could meet the little girl who’d asked the question and her family, so Bonnie introduced him to the Yaggys. The general was immediately struck by Lizzy’s spark, and, as Erin put it, Lizzy was drawn to the man with lots of silver stars on his Army uniform who’d raised her spirits by singing with all of the kids.

“His timing was perfect,” Erin said. “Before [General Dempsey’s singalong], Lizzy had just said, ‘I don’t want to talk about daddy being dead anymore.’ Her attitude changed after she met General Dempsey.”

****

At the following year’s Good Grief Camp, they began what blossomed into a tradition: Lizzy introduced him as the keynote speaker.

“She stood up and said, ‘this is General Dempsey. We love him, and he loves to sing, and he makes us feel good,’” the general recalled. “And she finished with, ‘and now my friend, General Dempsey.’” With that, once again, General Dempsey had to fight back tears as he faced hundreds of military survivors.

Lizzy introducing Gen. Dempsey at the TAPS Gala for the first time. (Photo: Erin Yaggy)

General Dempsey and his wife Deanie stayed in touch with the Yaggys, exchanging email updates and Christmas cards. The third year Lizzy introduced the general he’d taken over as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon’s senior-most position. Before they got on stage together she gave him a little box with an angel-shaped medallion in it, saying, “You’re my guardian angel.”

The general was deeply moved and wanted to return the gesture, but all his aide had in his possession was a ballcap with the numeral “18” on the front of it, signifying the 18th CJCS. He wrote in black ink on the bill: “To Lizzy — From your chairman friend. Martin E. Dempsey.”

“It was so cute to see her wearing that hat for the rest of the night,” Deanie Dempsey said. “Here was this little girl in this long green dress with a ballcap on.”

“She wore that hat all the time after that,” Erin said. “She even took it to bed with her.”

Lizzy wearing her favorite hat, a gift from the 18th CJCS. (Photo: Erin Yaggy)

The entire time General Dempsey served as the chairman he only had two things on his desk in the Pentagon: The mahogany “Make it Matter” box full of the laminated cards that profiled those who were killed under his command in Iraq and the guardian angel medallion Lizzy gave him.

****

When it came time for the general to retire, the Pentagon’s protocol apparatus sprang into action — after all, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff change of command is like the Super Bowl of military ceremonies. As the officials were coordinating all the moving parts, including the details surrounding President Obama’s attendance, they were surprised to learn who the outgoing chairman wanted to introduce him. They pushed back, but the general was insistent.

The day arrived and at the appropriate moment in the event, a little girl on the dais confidently strode by the dignitaries and political appointees and the President of the United States and stood on the box positioned behind the podium just for her.

And without any hesitation, Lizzy Yaggy delivered her remarks to the thousands in attendance, and finished with, “Please welcome my friend, General Dempsey . . .”

Lizzy hugging now-retired Gen. Dempsey at this year’s TAPS Good Grief Camp in DC. (Photo: TAPS.org)

Chemical Weapons in Iraq and Beyond

Posted on May 29, 2016May 29, 2016 by Denise Simon

During the first Gulf War, distribution was made to our soldiers for the protection of chemical weapons.

U.S. troops were frequently ordered to don their gas masks and protective suits. The term Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) refers to the amount of protective gear that troops are ordered to wear in response to an assessed chemical-warfare threat, and ranges from MOPP-0 (no protection) to MOPP-4 (the entire protective ensemble).

The incidents are recorded here by date, location and the type of chemical weapon. The Veterans Administration noted the types of risks and was careful omitting admission of chemical weapons, yet did include them on the website.

There was also congressional testimony in 1992/1993. One cannot ignore the in depth report the New York Times did about two years ago.

Soldiers Exposed to “Chemical Unknown” in Iraq not Getting Adequate FOIA Responses from DOD, and More: FRINFORMSUM 5/19/2016

May 19, 2016

The two-page 2003 Camp Taji Incident report — released a dozen years after the dangerous exposure.

The Defense Department is telling soldiers that were exposed in 2003 to a “chemical unknown” in Taji, Iraq that it has no documents on the incident – after a decade of saying that documents on the event were classified.

C. J. Chivers of the The New York Times reported in May 2015 that, for over a decade, the US military denied FOIA requests on the chemicals soldiers were exposed to, resulting in chronic illnesses. The Army only released the two-page 2003 Camp Taji Incident report, written by the multinational Iraq Survey Group, after years of FOIA requests; the report found that the chemical soldiers came in contact with was a potentially fatal “carcinogen and poisonous chemical.” The Archive’s Director Tom Blanton told the Times in 2015 that, in addition to the secrecy trumping common sense, that “the outrage here is extraordinary.” Blanton noted, “Soldiers exposed to something really dangerous cannot find out what it was because ‘Sorry it’s classified’?” he said. “It’s creepy and it’s crazy.”

Now, according to reporting by Samantha Foster at the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Army is telling soldiers like Army Spc. Sparky Edwards and former Sgt. First Class Dennis Marcello that there are no documents on the chemical they were exposed to or the incident. Nate Jones, the Archive’s FOIA project director, notes that the DOD may be claiming to have no documents because they were possibly destroyed or misfiled during the war – or because the large, decentralized Defense Department genuinely doesn’t know where to look to find the records. Jones identifies this as a prime example of why FOIA requesters “must specify exactly where they want to search or risk the agency not going the extra mile” to find them, and that it is always a good idea to appeal a “no records” response.

According to Department of Justice statistics, last fiscal year an obscenely high 130,113 FOIA requests (16.9 percent of requests processed) were deemed to result in “no records” responses. As the Archive has learned, more often than not, appealing a “no records” response and explaining why you think the records exist and even suggesting which records (including the Washington Records Center –control f) the agency should search leads to more records being found. Link for citation is here.

As recently as last month, it was found that Islamic State had taken cached and reserve chemical weapons and made a new factory at Mosul University.

Just last week:

ISIS testing chemical weapons on prisoners and animals in grisly laboratories

VILE Islamic State (ISIS) jihadis are testing chemical weapons on its prisoners in grisly suburban laboratories, terrified Iraqi citizens have claimed.

ExpressUK: The sick militants are testing chlorine and mustard gas on its captives, in direct opposition to the Geneva Protocol’s war crime guidelines.

ISIS’s laboratories are located deep within its territory in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

The lunatic extremists are understood to be working frantically to improve its chemical and nuclear weapon capabilities, with plans to launch attacks in Iraq, Syria and on the West.

Abu Shaima, the head of ISIS’s chemical warfare unit, has now moved the operation away from the city’s university to residential areas like al-Mohandseen, which are surrounded by innocent civilian homes.

Concerned residents have reported several houses in the area have now been taken over by ISIS researchers, according to The Telegraph.

Chillingly, dozens of dead dogs and rabbits have also been found nearby, hinting at the cruel experiments taking place within, while nearby residents are suffering from breathing difficulties and rashes.

The extremists are believed to have seized chemicals and weapons from Syrian forces, with which they have already launched a devastating chemical attack on the Iraqi town of Taza.

That attack this March killed a three-year-old girl and injured 600 others, as well as highlighting the terror group’s chemical warfare intentions.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, formerly of the UK Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment, said: “ISIL’s chemical weapons operation has been heavily targeted – as is detailed in this report – and moving into residential areas is exactly what you would expect them to do now.

“Now we know the extent of the ISIL chemical and dirty bomb aspirations we must make doubly sure that our security in the UK is absolutely water-tight against this threat.”

Iraqi forces uncover an Islamic State weapon hideaway including gas canisters used to make homemade bombs. For the slide show on photos, go here.

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Chemical Agents as Weapons of Terror Rather Than as Weapons of Mass Destruction

In February 2012, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency identified that “terrorist organizations are working to acquire and employ chemical, biological, and radiological materials.”43 Many experts believe that it would be difficult for terrorist groups to use chemical agents as weapons of mass destruction. In 1993, the Office of Technology Assessment estimated that VX, the most lethal of nerve agents, spread uniformly and efficiently would require tons of material to kill 50% of the people in a 100 km2 area.44 On the other hand, chemical agents might be effectively used as weapons of terror in situations where limited or enclosed space might decrease the required amounts of chemical. That is, the use of the weapon itself, even if casualties are few, could cause fear that would magnify the attack’s effect beyond what would be expected based solely on the number of casualties. Full summary here.