In a letter to President Obama on July 19, Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas relayed his concerns about the disability claims backlog facing the Department of Veterans Affairs. “The status quo at the VA is …
National
Thrustworthy
Senior Airman Nate Hall inspects an F-16 July 5 at Kandahar Airfield.
“I don't have a zero option. No one has asked me to prepare a zero option. I don't recommend a zero option. So there is no zero option, but there could be a zero outcome because we can only stay here if we're invited to do so.”
— Army General Martin Dempsey, speaking July 22 in Kabul, on the wisdom of leaving zero U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2015, a possibility the White House has suggested may occur.
Why Obama Keeps Going Back to One Small Illinois College
Knox College wasn’t just the site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates–it’s a place of special importance to the 44th President
Personhood Movement Continues to Divide Pro-Life Activists
A new legislative push in Wisconsin is the latest sign of a rift in the movement to limit abortion
Why General Sinclair’s Lawyer Wants the Chain of Command Delinked
Last week, support continued to build for legislation sponsored by Senator Kirstin Gillibrand, D-N.Y., aimed at improving the military’s approach to addressing allegations of sexual assault. Gillibrand’s bill would grant …
94
— The number of children allegedly killed in Pakistan by CIA and allied drone strikes, among 147 civilian and 746 total deaths, between 2006 and 2009, according to “Details of Attacks by Nato Forces/Predators in FATA” prepared by government officials in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), available here.
Fewer Hospitals May Lead to Higher Prices
Obamacare is coming and with it a new wave of hospital consolidation
Are Private Contractors Really Cheaper?
Those who support using private military and security contractors often claim that a major reason for doing so is that it is more cost-effective than using regular military forces.
While there hasn’t been a whole lot of …
The Most Dangerous States To Work In America—And The Most Dangerous Jobs To Have In Them
There’s surprisingly wide variation in workplace-injury rates from state to state—even within the same industries
Listen to the Kids
A decade of war does a lot to parents serving in the military…and even more to their children left behind at home.
Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center, has issued a report on the risks facing young …
$31,200
— Cost of a "required" oil painting of former defense secretary Leon Panetta to hang in the Pentagon, here. h/t Weekly Standard
“Regretfully, many of the early administrative records for Fort Myer were consumed in celebratory bonfires following the Allied victories over Germany and Japan in 1945.”
— From the official history, here, of Quarters Six, the home on Virginia’s Fort Myer of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.