ASSOCIATE AG WEST'S REMARKS ON ACCESS TO LEGAL AID FOR CRIMINALS

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Associate Attorney General West Delivers Remarks at the International Conference on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems

~ Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Thank you, Jennifer [Smith of the International Legal Foundation] for your kind words.  On behalf of the United States, it is a privilege to be here with all of you today at this historic international convening on criminal legal aid.  I want to thank Minister [of Justice and Correctional Services Michael] Masutha, Judge President Mlambo, the Government of the Republic of South Africa, Legal Aid South Africa, the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Development Programme, and the International Legal Foundation, for coordinating this important gathering so that we may, together, explore how to strengthen and improve access to criminal legal aid around the world.

And equally important, I want to thank all of you -- the gathered Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Attorneys General, Supreme Court Justices, and criminal legal aid providers and experts -- for participating in this conference.  Your presence here epitomizes the dual truths that all free people, wherever they may live, lay valid claim to equality in the eyes of the law, and that the majesty of the law finds its best and highest use in the service of justice.

Two years ago, I had the privilege of being in New York, during the opening of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, to participate in a side-event to the High-Level Meeting on the Rule of Law hosted by the Permanent Mission to the U.N. of the Republic of South Africa.  And during that event, I was honored to express the United States' strong support for the U.N. Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems.  The principles articulated in that document affirm that criminal legal aid “is an essential element of a fair, humane and efficient criminal justice system that is based on the rule of law.”

And now we have come here, to the land of Madiba and in the spirit of Ubuntu, to rededicate ourselves to the urgent task of making real the principle at the core of the U.N. Principles, articulated in the Lilongwe Declaration a decade ago, and reiterated in so many of your national constitutions, as well as mine: a criminal justice system is not just if it fails to guarantee a right to competent counsel through legal aid.

For the United States, that constitutional right to counsel is a cornerstone of the U.S. criminal justice system.  And my country's best articulation of this fundamental principle originated not with an august conference of learned judges and justice ministers, or by a declaration of universal rights and aspirations; its origins were much more humble than that.  It started with the arrest of a man once described as a drifter and petty thief.

His name was Clarence Gideon.  And in 1961, he was arrested for breaking into a pool hall and stealing about five U.S. dollars in change from a cigarette vending machine.  At his trial, Gideon asked the judge for a lawyer, saying he was too poor to hire one himself.  The presiding judge denied Gideon’s request, and, after representing himself at trial, Gideon lost and was convicted and sentenced to five years.

From the confines of his jail cell, Gideon wrote a simple, five-page plea asking the United States Supreme Court to grant him a new trial with appointed counsel.  “It makes no difference how old I am or what color I am or what church I belong to if any,” Gideon wrote.  “The question,” he said, “is very simple.  I did not get a fair trial.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately heard Gideon's plea and, in a milestone judicial opinion that bears his name, the justices established the principle that our Constitution guarantees defendants in criminal cases the right to a lawyer whether that person can afford one or not.  Gideon received a new trial – this time with the assistance of a court-appointed lawyer – and this time, he was acquitted.

I think it speaks volumes that if you visit Washington D.C. today -- and I know that many of your countries will be represented in Washington soon for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that President Obama is hosting in August -- you will find Gideon’s humble, handwritten five-page petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, penciled on prison stationary, sitting in our National Archives, alongside our Nation's most treasured documents: the Declaration of Independence that created our country; the Bill of Rights which protected our liberty; and the Emancipation Proclamation that eradicated the scourge of slavery from our land.

And in the five decades since the Gideon case was decided, the U.S. Supreme Court has continued to refine this important and basic right -- expanding the right to counsel to juveniles and in certain misdemeanor cases.

So for the United States, the right to counsel is a principle that represents the most basic notions of fundamental fairness.  But it also reflects the aspirations of a Nation that is still very much a work in progress.

Because the challenge of effective criminal legal aid and fairness in the criminal justice system are issues that the United States has been grappling with since its founding.  At times, we have made great strides, committing resources, energy and ideas to the task.  At times, we have fallen short of our own ideals.  And with each triumph and setback, we are reminded that justice is as much a journey as it is a destination -- as much a process as it is an outcome -- and that the fairest criminal justice system gives equal attention to both.

Addressing this challenge is something that our nation's Attorney General, Eric Holder, has made a priority of his tenure in office.  In his first year, he launched the Access to Justice Initiative -- an effort that I oversee at the U.S. Department of Justice and which seeks to ensure basic legal services are available, affordable and accessible to everyone in the United States regardless of wealth or status.   Much of the work of this initiative is directed at strengthening criminal defense for the poor by focusing on many of the same values outlined in the U.N. Principles and Guidelines.

Our work through the Access to Justice Initiative has helped to raise awareness about the urgent need that exists in indigent criminal defense in the United States.  The lawyers who provide legal aid to criminal defendants -- we call them public defenders -- too often they are overworked, underpaid, and overwhelmed by the need for criminal defense services among the poor.

In response, the Access to Justice Initiative -- which is fortunate to have the leadership of Maha Jweied, the Acting Deputy Counselor of Access to Justice and a participant in this week's conference -- has supported piloting programs that test innovative indigent criminal defender services throughout our country and identified best practices that can improve the way we serve indigent clients who need legal representation.

There are other steps we've taken to make real our commitment to legal aid in the criminal justice system.  One of the most comprehensive is an effort launched by our Attorney General aimed at reforming and improving our criminal justice system in ways that not only improve access to justice and public safety, but also saves money and more effectively deploys our limited criminal justice resources.

We call it the "Smart on Crime" initiative.  It's a reform effort based on the premise that while aggressive enforcement of our criminal statutes remains our Justice Department's central law enforcement mission, experience teaches us that we cannot arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation.  Over the last three decades, the United States has enjoyed great success -- for a variety of reasons -- in bringing down violent crime rates.  Yet over that same time period, our prison populations have exploded by more than 800 percent, requiring the commitment of greater and greater resources.

And for those offenders who are non-violent and low-level, it's not clear that spending increasing amounts of our nation's treasure to incarcerate them is a sound investment in public safety; indeed, there may be better, less expensive ways of keeping our communities safe while at the same time holding offenders like these accountable and reducing the likelihood they will return to prison after they've been released.

So to truly be effective, our Smart on Crime initiative encourages our law enforcement officials at both the federal and state levels to focus on other aspects of criminal justice, like crime prevention, reducing over-incarceration and facilitating the successful reentry of individuals back into their communities after release.

Because if our experience in the United States teaches us anything, it is that building a better criminal justice system is always unfinished business.  Like our nation itself, our criminal justice system is in a state of constant self-evaluation, constant self-improvement, constant reform.  And our participation in this important conference is but one part of that infinite process.

So let me close where I began: by thanking all of you for your participation in this conference.  Because at the end of the day, after all of the keynote speeches are forgotten and resolutions adopted; after the outcome document is written and this conference center is empty, what will be left is the hard work of engaging in what I call "doing justice":  building criminal and civil legal systems that deliver the promise of dignity and equality before the law for every individual, regardless of who they are, their color or class, the god they worship or the person they love.

"Doing justice" means embracing the aspirations expressed in the U.N. Principles and Guidelines while at the same time being honest with ourselves about addressing those areas where we fall short, where we can learn from one another, and where we can do better.  It's about becoming, to paraphrase an American statesman,  a society whose greatness is measured not by how it treats those at the top, but how it treats those who dance in the dawn of life, those who rest in the sunset of life, and those who struggle in the shadows of life; those who often work the hardest but have the least; those who know not the mainstream but life's margins.

And honorable guests, our hands -- yours and mine -- we must do that work.  We come here from the perches of privilege -- the privilege of being servants of the people we represent, and whose dreams and aspirations we strive to realize.  We must make the persuasive arguments in the halls of power for those who find no voice there.  We must take the bold steps, make the hard choices and, yes, even at times accept the political risks, because that is what building the future of fair and effective justice systems requires.

And I am thankful to you because I know you are up to the task, or you would not be here today.  And I am grateful for the opportunity to be your partner in this endeavor, for there is much we can learn from you, much we can share with you, and so much we can achieve working with you; as we, in the writer's words, float "as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold -- brothers who know now that they are truly brothers,"  bound together by a shared commitment to the majesty that is the law and the justice that it must always serve.

HHS TOUTS ACA FOR EXPANDED COVERAGE IN PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

Affordable Care Act helps 76 million Americans with private coverage access free preventive services

Women save nearly $500 million on oral contraception out-of-pocket costs

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced today that about 76 million Americans in private health insurance plans are newly eligible to receive expanded coverage for one or more recommended preventive health care services, such as a mammogram or flu shot, with cost sharing, because of the Affordable Care Act. The new data were released in a report from HHS today.

Under the Affordable Care Act most health plans must cover a set of recommended preventive services like screening tests and immunizations at no out-of-pocket cost to consumers. This includes Marketplace private insurance plans.

“Today’s findings are just one more indicator that the Affordable Care Act is delivering impact for millions of people nationwide,” said Secretary Burwell. “Seventy-six million is more than just a number.  For millions of Americans, it means no longer having to put off a mammogram for an extra year. Or it means catching a problem early enough that it’s treatable.”

Today’s data are broken down across states, age, race and ethnic group.  For example, the report finds that approximately 30 million more women are now eligible to receive coverage for the recommended preventive services with no out-of-pocket costs.  Altogether, a total of 48.5 million women are estimated to benefit from free preventive services.  Covered preventive services for women include well-woman visits, screening for gestational diabetes, domestic violence screening and counseling, and FDA-approved prescription contraception with no cost-sharing.

Recent evidence from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics (IMS) shows that an additional 24.4 million prescriptions for oral contraceptives were dispensed with no co-pays in 2013 compared to 2012, translating to an estimated $483.3 million reduction in out-of-pocket spending by women.

Of the 76 million Americans with expanded access to free preventive services:

18.6 million are children receiving expanded preventive services coverage for immunization vaccines for children from birth to age 18; vision screening; hearing screening for newborns; behavioral assessments; obesity screening; and height, weight, and body mass index measurements.

29.7 million are women receiving expanded preventive services coverage for cervical cancer screening, mammograms for women over 40, recommended immunizations, healthy diet counseling for women at higher risk for chronic disease and obesity screening and counseling; cholesterol and blood pressure screening; screening for HIV; depression screening; and tobacco-use screening; well-woman visits, screening for gestational diabetes, domestic violence screening and counseling, and FDA-approved contraception with no cost sharing.
28.1 million are men receiving expanded preventive services coverage for recommended immunizations such as flu shots, colorectal cancer screening for adults over 50, healthy diet counseling for those at higher risk for chronic disease, obesity screening and counseling, cholesterol and blood pressure screening, screening for HIV, depression screening, and tobacco-use screening.

LARGEST U.S. NURSING HOME PHARMACY COMPANY SETTLES FALSE BILLINGS ALLEGATIONS FOR $124 MILLION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Nation’s Largest Nursing Home Pharmacy Company to Pay $124 Million to Settle Allegations Involving False Billings to Federal Health Care Programs

Omnicare Inc., the nation’s largest provider of pharmaceuticals and pharmacy services to nursing homes, has agreed to pay $124.24 million for allegedly offering improper financial incentives to skilled nursing facilities in return for their continued selection of Omnicare to supply drugs to elderly Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, the Justice Department announced today .   Omnicare is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.


“Health care providers who seek to profit from providing illegal financial benefits will be held accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery.  “Schemes such as this one undermine the health care system and take advantage of elderly nursing home residents.”

“Omnicare provided improper discounts in return for the opportunity to provide medication to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,” said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “Nursing homes should select their pharmacy provider based on the best quality, service and cost to the residents, not based on improper discounts to the nursing facility.”

The settlement resolves allegations that Omnicare submitted false claims by entering into below-cost contracts to supply prescription medication and other pharmaceutical drugs to skilled nursing facilities and their resident patients to induce the facilities to select Omnicare as their pharmacy provider.  The facilities were participating providers under agreements with Medicare and Medicaid.   In addition to the facilities’ own claims for reimbursement from Medicare for short-term rehabilitation treatment rendered to patients, Omnicare submitted additional claims for reimbursement to Medicare and Medicaid for drugs Omnicare supplied.   Of the $124.24 million to be paid by Omnicare, $8.24 million will go to various states which jointly funded the Medicaid programs impacted by Omnicare’s conduct.

The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by Medicare, Medicaid and other federally funded programs.  The Anti-Kickback Statute is intended to ensure that the selection of health care providers and suppliers is not compromised by improper financial incentives and is instead based on the best interests of the patient.

The settlement resolves allegations brought in two lawsuits filed by whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allow private parties to bring suit on behalf of the government and to share in any recovery.  The first whistleblower, Donald Gale, a former Omnicare employee, will receive $ 17.24 million.

The settlement with Omnicare was the result of a coordinated effort by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.

This settlement illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and marks another achievement for the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative, which was announced in May 2009 by Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.  The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid financial fraud through enhanced cooperation.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Since January 2009, the Justice Department has recovered a total of more than $19.5 billion through False Claims Act cases, with more than $13.9 billion of that amount recovered in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs.

The claims resolved by this settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

RECENT U.S. NAVY PHOTOS

FROM:  U.S. NAVY 

Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Robert Pucel, from Beachmaster Unit (BMU) 1, signals Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) 58, assigned to Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 5, to hold it's position after landing during an equipment transfer between the amphibious dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47) and Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay. The equipment will be used to support Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2014, the world's largest international maritime exercise. Twenty-two nations, more than 40 ships and submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 26 to Aug. 1. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dustin Knight (Released) 140625-N-HU377-137.

The guided-missile destroyers USS Mustin (DDG 89) and USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and the submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40), center, test maritime obscurants south of Guam to assess their tactical effectiveness for anti-ship missile defense. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Wilson (Released) 140625-N-EF657-340.

NSF-FUNDED SUPERCOMPUTER DOES WHAT LAB EXPERIMENTS CAN'T

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SCIENCE 

A high-performance first year for Stampede

NSF-funded supercomputer enables discoveries throughout science and engineering

Sometimes, the laboratory just won't cut it.

After all, you can't recreate an exploding star, manipulate quarks or forecast the climate in the lab. In cases like these, scientists rely on supercomputing simulations to capture the physical reality of these phenomena--minus the extraordinary cost, dangerous temperatures or millennium-long wait times.

When faced with an unsolvable problem, researchers at universities and labs across the United States set up virtual models, determine the initial conditions for their simulations--the weather in advance of an impending storm, the configurations of a drug molecule binding to an HIV virus, the dynamics of a distant dying star--and press compute.

And then they wait as the Stampede supercomputer in Austin, Texas, crunches the complex mathematics that underlies the problems they are trying to solve.

By harnessing thousands of computer processors, Stampede returns results within minutes, hours or just a few days (compared to the months and years without the use of supercomputers), helping to answer science's--and society's--toughest questions.

Stampede is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the U.S. for open research, and currently ranks as the seventh most powerful in the world, according to the November 2013 TOP500 List. Able to perform nearly 10 trillion operations per second, Stampede is the most capable of the high-performance computing, visualization and data analysis resources within the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE).

Stampede went into operation at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) in January 2013. The system is a cornerstone of NSF's investment in an integrated advanced cyberinfrastructure, which allows America's scientists and engineers to access cutting-edge computational resources, data and expertise to further their research across scientific disciplines.

At any given moment, Stampede is running hundreds of separate applications simultaneously. Approximately 3,400 researchers computed on the system in its first year, working on 1,700 distinct projects. The researchers came from 350 different institutions and their work spanned a range of scientific disciplines from chemistry to economics to artificial intelligence.

These researchers apply to use Stampede through the XSEDE project. Their intended use of Stampede is assessed by a peer review committee that allocates time on the system. Once approved, researchers are provided access to Stampede free of charge and tap into an ecosystem of experts, software, storage, visualization and data analysis resources that make Stampede one of the most productive, comprehensive research environments in the world. Training and educational opportunities are also available to help scientists use Stampede effectively.

"It was a fantastic first year for Stampede and we're really proud of what the system has accomplished," said Dan Stanzione, acting director of TACC. "When we put Stampede together, we were looking for a general purpose architecture that would support everyone in the scientific community. With the achievements of its first year, we showed that was possible."

Helping today, preparing for tomorrow

When the National Science Foundation (NSF) released their solicitation for proposals for a new supercomputer to be deployed in 2013, they were looking for a system that could support the day-to-day needs of a growing community of computational scientists, but also one that would push the field forward by incorporating new, emerging technologies.

"The model that TACC used, incorporating an experimental component embedded in a state-of-the-art usable system, is a very innovative choice and just right for the NSF community of researchers who are focused on both today's and tomorrow's scientific discoveries," said Irene Qualters, division director for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at NSF. "The results that researchers have achieved in Stampede's first year are a testimony to the system design and its appropriateness for the community."

"We wanted to put an innovative twist on our system and look at the next generation of capabilities," said TACC's Dan Stanzione. "What we came up with is a hybrid system that includes traditional Intel Xeon E5 processors and also has an Intel Xeon Phi card on every node on the system, and a few of them with two.

The Intel Xeon Phi [aka the 'many integrated core (MIC) coprocessor'] squeezes 60 or more processors onto a single card. In that respect, it is similar to GPUs (graphics processing units), which have been used for several years to aid parallel processing in high-performance computing systems, as well as to speed up graphics and gaming capabilities in home computers. The advantage of the Xeon Phi is its ability to perform calculations quickly while consuming less energy.

"The Xeon Phi is Intel's approach to changing these power and performance curves by giving us simpler cores with a simpler architecture but a lot more of them in the same size package," Stanzione said

As advanced computing systems grow more powerful, they also consume more energy--a situation that can be addressed by simpler, multicore chips. The Xeon Phi and other comparable technologies are believed to be critical to the effort to advance the field and develop future large-scale supercomputers.

"The exciting part is that MIC and GPU foreshadow what will be on the CPU in the future," Stanzione said. "The work that scientists are putting in now to optimize codes for these processors will pay off. It's not whether you should adopt them; it's whether you want to get a jump on the future. "

Though Xeon Phi adoption on Stampede started slowly, it now represents 10-20 percent of the usage of the system. Among the projects that have taken advantage of the Xeon Phi co-processor are efforts to develop new flu vaccines, simulations of the nucleus of the atom relevant to particle physics and a growing amount of weather forecasting.

Built to handle to big data

The power of Stampede reaches beyond its ability to gain insight into our world through computational modeling and simulation. The system's diverse resources can be used to explore research in fields too complex to describe with equations, such as genomics, neuroscience and the humanities. Stampede's extreme scale and unique technologies enable researchers to process massive quantities of data and use modern techniques to analyze measured data to reach previously unachievable conclusions.

Stampede provides four capabilities that most data problems take advantage of. Leveraging 14 petabytes of high speed internal storage, users can process massive amounts of independent data on multiple processers at once, thus reducing the time needed for the data analysis or computation.

Researchers can use many data analysis packages optimized to run on Stampede by TACC staff to statistically or visually analyze their results. Staff also collaborates with researchers to improve their software and make it run more efficiently in a high-performance environment.

Data is rich and complex. When the individual data computations become so large that Stampede's primary computing resources cannot handle the load, the system provides users with 16 compute nodes with one terabyte of memory each. This enables researchers to perform complex data analyses using Stampede's diverse and highly flexible computing engine.

Once data has been parsed and analyzed, GPUs can be used remotely to explore data interactively without having to move large amounts of information to less-powerful research computers.

"The Stampede environment provides data researchers with a single system that can easily overcome most of the technological hurdles they face today, allowing them to focus purely on discovering results from their data-driven research," said Niall Gaffney, TACC director of Data Intensive Computing.

Since it was deployed, Stampede has been in high demand. Ninety percent of the compute time on the system goes to researchers with grants from NSF or other federal agencies; the other 10 percent goes to industry partners and discretionary programs.

"The system is utilized all the time--24/7/365," Stanzione said. "We're getting proposals requesting 500 percent of our time. The demand exceeds time allocated by 5-1. The community is hungry to compute."

Stampede will operate through 2017 and will be infused with second generation Intel Xeon Phi cards in 2015.

With a resource like Stampede in the community's hands, great discoveries await.

"Stampede's performance really helped push our simulations to the limit," said Caltech astrophysicist Christian Ott who used the system to study supernovae. "Our research would have been practically impossible without Stampede."

-- Aaron Dubrow, NSF
Investigators
Daniel Stanzione
William Barth
Tommy Minyard
Niall Gaffney
Fuqing Zhang
Roseanna Zia
Christian Ott
Edward Marcotte

ALLEGED DEBT-COLLECTOR BULLY TO PAY $100,000 AND SURRENDER ASSETS

FROM:  U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

FTC Continues Crack Down on Deceptive Debt Collection; Houston-based Defendants Agree to Stop Deceptive Fees and Practices

Owner to Pay $100,000, Surrender Assets, Including Luxury Motor Home

A Houston debt collection company, RTB Enterprises, Inc., which does business as Allied Data Corporation, and Raymond T. Blair, its president and sole shareholder, have agreed to a federal court order prohibiting them from the allegedly deceptive tactics they have been using to bully English and Spanish-speaking consumers into paying debts and unnecessary fees.

 According to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission, the defendants violated the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by using false and deceptive methods to collect more than $1.3 million in so-called “convenience fees” and “transaction fees” from consumers who authorized payments by telephone. The defendants allegedly trained their collectors to deceive consumers into believing that payments were not accepted by U.S. mail and that the fees were unavoidable. In some instances, the fees were added to consumers’ accounts without their knowledge or consent, the FTC charged.

The FTC also alleged that the defendants’ collectors deceived both English and Spanish- speaking consumers by falsely claiming to speak for attorneys, falsely threatening to sue consumers who did not pay, and using deceptive schemes to coerce consumers into paying or providing their personal information.

“It’s illegal for debt collectors to lie, make false threats, use a false identity, or trick people into paying a debt or an unauthorized fee,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The FTC will continue to protect consumers from deceptive or abusive debt collection practices, regardless of whether the deception or abuse occurs in English, Spanish, or any other language.”          

The federal court order imposes a penalty of $4 million, which will be partially suspended based on inability to pay once Blair surrenders assets totaling $100,000. The proposed order also requires Blair to relinquish a luxury motor home. The order prohibits Blair and his company from repeating any of the unfair or deceptive practices alleged in the complaint, and it requires them to truthfully disclose information about any fees they charge, and the steps consumers can take to avoid paying.

For consumer information about dealing with debt collectors, see Debt Collection.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and approving the proposed federal court order was 5-0. The FTC filed the complaint and proposed order in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division on June 17, 2014.

NOTE: The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The proposed order has the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.

SETTLEMENT ALLOWS AUTISTIC BOY TO BRING HIS DOG TO SCHOOL

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

New Jersey School District to Adopt Service Animal Policies and Pay Fine to Resolve Justice Department Investigation

The Justice Department announced today that it reached a settlement with the Delran Township School District in New Jersey under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The agreement resolves allegations that the school district violated the ADA by refusing to allow a student with autism and encephalopathy to have his service dog in school or at school-related activities.  The service dog alerts to the student’s seizures, provides mobility and body support and mitigates the symptoms of his autism.

The department found that the student’s mother spent six months responding to burdensome requests for information and documentation, and still the school district refused to allow the student to be accompanied by his service dog.  Despite her efforts, the student was even prevented from bringing his service dog with him on the bus for his school’s end of the year field trip.  Instead, his mother followed the school bus with the service dog in her car.

Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in public schools.  Under the ADA, public schools must generally modify policies, practices or procedures to permit the use of a service dog by a student with a disability at school and school-related activities.  Because service dogs must be under the control of a handler, students often act as the handler of their own service dog; when that is not possible, the family may provide an independent handler, as the family offered to do here.

The school district worked cooperatively with the department throughout the investigation.  Under the agreement, the school district will pay $10,000 to the family to compensate them for the harm they endured as a result of the school district’s actions.  In addition, the school district will adopt an ADA-compliant service animal policy and provide training to designated staff on the school district’s obligations under Title II of the ADA, including requirements related to service dogs.

“ The old view of service animals working only as guide dogs for individuals who are blind has given way to a new generation of service animals trained to perform tasks that further autonomy and independence for individuals with a myriad of disabilities , ” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.  “The Civil Rights Division will vigorously enforce the ADA to ensure that students who use service animals have a full and equal opportunity to participate in all school activities with their peers.”

Enforcing the ADA is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division.  Those interested in finding out more about this settlement or the obligations of public entities schools under the ADA may call the department’s toll-free ADA information line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD), or access the ADA website .  ADA complaints may be filed by email to ada.complaint@usdoj.gov .

The Civil Rights Division would like to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey for their assistance in this matter.

BENGHAZI TERRORIST SUSPECT MAKES FIRST COURT APPEARANCE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Ahmed Abu Khatallah Indicted for Terrorist Conspiracy Stemming from September 2012 Attack in Benghazi, Libya

Defendant Makes Initial Court Appearance Today

Ahmed Abu Khatallah, aka Ahmed Mukatallah, made his first appearance today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on a federal terrorism offense arising from his alleged participation in the Sept. 11 through 12, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

Khatallah was indicted by a federal grand jury on the charge of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists, knowing and intending that these would be used in preparation for and in carrying out a killing in the course of an attack on a federal facility, and the offense resulted in death.

The investigation is ongoing and the Justice Department can bring additional charges as the case continues.

“Now that Ahmed Abu Khatallah has arrived in the United States, he will face the full weight of our justice system,” said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.  “We will prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant’s alleged role in the attack that killed four brave Americans in Benghazi.”

“Capturing Ahmed Abu Khatallah and bringing him to the U.S. to face justice for his role in killing American citizens in Benghazi is a major step forward in our ongoing investigation,” said FBI Director James B. Comey.  “Our work, however, is not over.  This case remains one of our top priorities and we will continue to pursue all others who participated in this brazen attack on our citizens and our country.”

“Ahmed Abu Khatallah's capture and his appearance in court today were critical steps toward bringing him to justice for his role in the terrorist attacks on our diplomatic facilities in Benghazi,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin.  “We will not rest in our pursuit of the others who attacked our facilities and killed the four courageous Americans who perished that day.”

“In a courtroom in our nation's capital, today we took the first step down the road to justice for the four American heroes killed in Benghazi,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. for the District of Columbia.  “This prosecution is a reflection of our determination to honor the sacrifice of U.S. citizens who perish on foreign soil in service to our country.  We will be steady, deliberate and relentless in seeking to hold accountable all who were responsible for this deadly act of terror.”

“The capture and return to the United States of Ahmed Abu Khatallah should be a warning to all those who want to harm the United States,” said Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office George Venizelos.  “As alleged in the indictment, Khatallah participated in September 11-12, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of four innocent Americans.  Now he is in the United States to stand trial for his actions.  The FBI will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who conduct such heinous acts no matter where they are located.”

Khatallah, a Libyan national approximately 43 years of age, was taken into custody earlier this month.  He initially was charged in a criminal complaint that was filed under seal on July 15, 2013, and that became public on June 17, 2014.  The Justice Department secured the defendant’s initial indictment on June 26, 2014, and the charging document was unsealed today.

An indictment is merely a formal allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the FBI New York Office's Joint Terrorism Task Force with substantial assistance from various other government agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S WEEKLY ADDRESS FOR JUNE 28, 2014

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Weekly Address: Focusing on the Economic Priorities for the Middle Class Nationwide

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, the President discussed his recent trip to Minneapolis where he met a working mother named Rebekah, who wrote the President to share the challenges her family and many middle class Americans are facing where they work hard and sacrifice yet still can’t seem to get ahead. But instead of focusing on growing the middle class and expanding opportunity for all, Republicans in Congress continue to block commonsense economic proposals such as raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment insurance and making college more affordable.  The President will keep fighting his economic priorities in the weeks and months ahead, because he knows the best way to expand opportunity for all hardworking Americans and continue to strengthen the economy is to grow it from the middle-out.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
June 28, 2014

Hi, everybody.  This week, I spent a couple days in Minneapolis, talking with people about their lives – their concerns, their successes, and their hopes for the future.

I went because of a letter I received from a working mother named Rebekah, who shared with me the hardships her young family has faced since the financial crisis.  She and her husband Ben were just newlyweds expecting their first child, Jack, when the housing crash dried up his contracting business.  He took what jobs he could, and Rebekah took out student loans and retrained for a new career.  They sacrificed – for their kids, and for each other.  And five years later, they’ve paid off debt, bought their first home, and had their second son, Henry.

In her letter to me, she wrote, “We are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”  And in many ways, that’s America’s story these past five years.  We are a strong, tight-knit family that’s made it through some very tough times. 

Today, over the past 51 months, our businesses have created 9.4 million new jobs.  By measure after measure, our economy is doing better than it was five years ago.

But as Rebekah also wrote in her letter, there are still too many middle-class families like hers who do everything right – who work hard and who sacrifice – but can’t seem to get ahead.  It feels like the odds are stacked against them.  And with just a small change in our priorities, we could fix that.

The problem is, Republicans in Congress keep blocking or voting down almost every serious idea to strengthen the middle class.  This year alone, they’ve said no to raising the minimum wage, no to fair pay, no to student loan reform, no to extending unemployment insurance.  And rather than invest in education that helps working families get ahead, they actually voted to give another massive tax cut to the wealthiest Americans.

This obstruction keeps the system rigged for those at the top, and rigged against the middle class.  And as long as they insist on doing it, I’ll keep taking actions on my own – like the actions I’ve taken already to attract new jobs, lift workers’ wages, and help students pay off their loans.  I’ll do my job.  And if it makes Republicans in Congress mad that I’m trying to help people out, they can join me, and we’ll do it together.

The point is, we could do so much more as a country – as a strong, tight-knit family – if Republicans in Congress were less interested in stacking the deck for those at the top, and more interested in growing the economy for everybody.  

So rather than more tax breaks for millionaires, let’s give more tax breaks to help working families pay for child care or college.  Rather than protect tax loopholes that let big corporations set up tax shelters overseas, let’s put people to work rebuilding roads and bridges right here in America.  Rather than stack the decks in favor of those who’ve already succeeded, let’s realize that we are stronger as a nation when we offer a fair shot to every American.

I’m going to spend some time talking about these very choices in the week ahead.  That’s because we know from our history that our economy doesn’t grow from the top-down, it grows from the middle-out.  We do better when the middle class does better.  That’s the American way.  That’s what I believe in.  And that’s what I’ll keep fighting for. 

Have a great Fourth of July, everybody – and good luck to Team USA down in Brazil.

Thanks.

NEW LOOK AT EARTH'S CLIMATE RHYTHMS

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Ancient ocean currents may have changed pace and intensity of ice ages
Slowing of currents may have flipped switch.

Climate scientists have long tried to explain why ice-age cycles became longer and more intense some 900,000 years ago, switching from 41,000-year cycles to 100,000-year cycles.

In a paper published this week in the journal Science, researchers report that the deep ocean currents that move heat around the globe stalled or may have stopped at that time, possibly due to expanding ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere.

"The research is a breakthrough in understanding a major change in the rhythm of Earth's climate, and shows that the ocean played a central role," says Candace Major, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research.

The slowing currents increased carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in the oceans, leaving less CO2 in the atmosphere. That kept temperatures cold and kicked the climate system into a new phase of colder, but less frequent, ice ages, the scientists believe.

"The oceans started storing more carbon dioxide for a longer period of time," says Leopoldo Pena, the paper's lead author and a paleoceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO). "Our evidence shows that the oceans played a major role in slowing the pace of the ice ages and making them more severe."

The researchers reconstructed the past strength of Earth's system of ocean currents by sampling deep-sea sediments off the coast of South Africa, where powerful currents originating in the North Atlantic Ocean pass on their way to Antarctica.

How vigorously those currents moved can be inferred by how much North Atlantic water made it that far, as measured by isotope ratios of the element neodymium bearing the signature of North Atlantic seawater.

Like tape recorders, the shells of ancient plankton incorporate these seawater signals through time, allowing scientists to approximate when currents grew stronger and when weaker.

Over the last 1.2 million years, the conveyor-like currents strengthened during warm periods and lessened during ice ages, as previously thought.

But at about 950,000 years ago, ocean circulation slowed significantly and stayed weak for 100,000 years.

During that period the planet skipped an interglacial--the warm interval between ice ages. When the system recovered, it entered a new phase of longer, 100,000-year ice age cycles.

After this turning point, deep ocean currents remained weak during ice ages, and ice ages themselves became colder.

"Our discovery of such a major breakdown in the ocean circulation system was a big surprise," said paper co-author Steven Goldstein, a geochemist at LDEO. "It allowed the ice sheets to grow when they should have melted, triggering the first 100,000-year cycle."

Ice ages come and go at predictable intervals based on the changing amount of sunlight that falls on the planet, due to variations in Earth's orbit around the sun.

Orbital changes alone, however, are not enough to explain the sudden switch to longer ice age intervals.

According to one earlier hypothesis for the transition, advancing glaciers in North America stripped away soils in Canada, causing thicker, longer-lasting ice to build up on the remaining bedrock.

Building on that idea, the researchers believe that the advancing ice might have triggered the slowdown in deep ocean currents, leading the oceans to vent less carbon dioxide, which suppressed the interglacial that should have followed.

"The ice sheets must have reached a critical state that switched the ocean circulation system into a weaker mode," said Goldstein.

Neodymium, a key component of cellphones, headphones, computers and wind turbines, also offers a good way of measuring the vigor of ancient ocean currents.

Goldstein and colleagues had used neodymium ratios in deep-sea sediment samples to show that ocean circulation slowed during past ice ages.

They used the same method to show that changes in climate preceded changes in ocean circulation.

A trace element in Earth's crust, neodymium washes into the oceans through erosion from the continents, where natural radioactive decay leaves a signature unique to the land mass from which it originated.

When Goldstein and Lamont colleague Sidney Hemming pioneered this method in the late 1990s, they rarely worried about surrounding neodymium contaminating their samples.

The rise of consumer electronics has changed that.

"I used to say you could do sample processing for neodymium analysis in a parking lot," said Goldstein. "Not anymore."

-NSF-


Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF

ScienceCasts: The Coolest Spot in the Universe

POLICE DEPARTMENT COMPUTER NETWORK HACKER PLEADS GUILTY TO HACKING AND CREDIT CARD THEFT

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Monday, June 23, 2014

Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty to Computer Hacking and Credit Card Theft

A Massachusetts man pleaded guilty today to hacking into computer networks around the country – including networks belonging to law enforcement agencies, a local police department and a local college – to obtain highly sensitive law enforcement data and alter academic records.  He also pleaded guilty to obtaining stolen credit, debit and payment card numbers.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts, Special Agent in Charge Vincent Lisi of the FBI’s Boston Division and Colonel Timothy P. Alben of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement.

On June 2, 2014, Cameron Lacroix, 25, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, was charged by a criminal information with two counts of computer intrusion and one count of access device fraud.  Lacroix entered his guilty plea today before U.S. District Court Judge Mark Wolf of the District of Massachusetts.   He pleaded guilty to both counts in the information and agreed to serve a four-year prison sentence.

According to the plea agreement, b etween May 2011 and May 2013, Lacroix obtained and possessed payment card data for more than 14,000 unique account holders.   For some of these account holders, Lacroix also obtained other personally identifiable information, including the account holders’ full names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, email addresses, bank account and routing numbers and lists of merchandise the account holders had ordered.

Lacroix also admitted to hacking into a computer server operated by a local Massachusetts police department in September 2012, and then accessing an e-mail account belonging to its chief of police.   Additionally, Lacroix admitted to repeatedly hacking into law enforcement computer servers containing sensitive information including police reports, arrest warrants, and sex offender information, between August 2012 and November 2012.   Lacroix also admitted to using stolen credentials to access and change information in the servers of Bristol Community College on multiple occasions between September 2012 and December 2013.

Judge Wolf set Lacroix’s sentencing for Oct. 27, 2014.

The case was investigated by the FBI Boston Division Cyber Task Force.   The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Mona Sedky from the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Bookbinder of the District of Massachusetts.   The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to thank Bristol Community College for its cooperation during this investigation.

PRESIDENT'S REMARKS ON THE ECONOMY IN MINNEAPOLIS, MN

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Remarks by the President on the Economy -- Minneapolis, MN

Lake Harriet Band Shell
Minneapolis, Minnesota

10:15 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Minneapolis!  (Applause.)  How is everybody doing today?  You look good.  (Applause.)  It is good to see all of you.  I miss Minneapolis.  I missed you guys.  Go ahead and have a seat, I’m going to be talking for a while.  (Laughter.) 

So we’ve got some wonderful folks here today.  I want to acknowledge a few of them.  First of all, your outstanding Governor, Mark Dayton.  (Applause.)  Your wonderful senators, Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar.  (Applause.)  Congressman Keith Ellison.  (Applause.)  Your Mayor, Betsy Hodges.  (Applause.)  And all of you are here, and that’s special. 

I want to thank Rebekah for not just the introduction and for sharing her story, but for letting me hang out with her and her family for the last couple of days.  I really like her.  (Laughter.)  And her husband is like the husband of the year.  Generally, you don’t want your wife to meet Rebekah’s husband, because she’ll be like, well, why don’t you do that?  (Laughter.)  Why aren’t you like that? 

I’ve been wanting to visit a place where all the women are strong and the men are good-looking, and the children above average.  (Applause.)  And this clearly is an example of what Minnesota produces.  So yesterday, Rebekah and I had lunch at Matt’s Bar, had a “Jucy Lucy” -- (applause) -- which was quite tasty.  We had a town hall at Minnehaha Park, although I did not take a kayak over the falls, which seemed dangerous.  (Laughter.)  We got ice cream at Grand Ole Creamery -- very good, very tasty. 

And then this morning, Al Franken and I and Secretary Tom Perez, our Secretary of Labor who’s here -- Tom, stand up -- (applause) -- we stopped by a community organization that helps with a lot of job programs and job placement programs.  And this program in particular was focused on young moms.  It was really interesting talking to them, because there are teenage mothers, 16 to 18, and it was a great pleasure for me to be able to say to all of them that my mom was a teenage mom, and she was 18 when she had me -- and to be able to say to all of them that here in this country, it is possible for the child of a teenage mom, a single mom, to end up being President of the United States.  (Applause.)  And I think that it maybe gave them something to think about. 

So you guys have been great hosts, Minnesota. 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Thank you!

THE PRESIDENT:  You’re welcome.  (Laughter.) 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  I love you back.  (Laughter and applause.) 

So I want to give you a sense of how this visit came up.  As some of you know, every day we get tens of thousands of correspondence at the White House.  And we have a big correspondence office, and every night the folks who manage the correspondence office select 10 letters for me to read. 

And the job of these letters is not to just puff me up -- so it’s not like they only send me letters saying, Mr. President, you’re doing great.  (Laughter.)  Sometimes the letters say thank you for something I may have done.  Sometimes the letters say, you are an idiot and the worst President ever.  (Laughter.)  And most of the stories, though, are stories of hardship, or hard-won success, or hopes that haven’t been met yet.  Some appreciate a position that I may have taken; some disagree with what I’m doing.  Some consider policies like the Affordable Care Act to be socialism; some tell stories about the difference that same policy may have made in folks’ lives.

So I’m getting a good sample of what’s happening around the country.  And last month, three young girls wrote to me that boys aren’t fair because they don’t pass the ball in gym class.  (Laughter.)  So there’s a wide spectrum -- and I’m going to prepare an executive order on that. 

But the letter that Rebekah sent stood out -- first of all, because she’s a good writer, and also because she’s a good person.  And the story that she told me reminded Michelle and I of some of our own experiences when we were Rebekah and her husband’s age.  And in many ways, her story for the past five years is our story, it’s the American story. 

In early 2009, Rebekah and Ben, her husband, they were newly married, expecting their first son, Jack.  She was waiting tables, he was in construction.  Like millions of middle-class families who got hammered by the Great Recession -- the worst recession since the Great Depression -- life was about to get pretty hard.  “If only we had known,” she wrote, “what was about to happen to the housing and construction market.” 

Ben’s business dried up.  But as a new husband and dad, he did what he had to, so he took whatever jobs he could, even if it forced him to be away from his family for days at a time.  Rebekah realized she needed to think about how her career would unfold, so she took out student loans and enrolled in St. Paul College, and retrained for a new career as an accountant. 

And it’s been a long, hard road for them.  They had to pay off debt.  They had to sacrifice for their kids and for one another.  But then last year, they were able to buy their first home, and they’ve got a second son.  And they love where they work, and Ben’s new job lets him be home for dinner each night.  (Applause.)  And so what Rebekah wrote was, “It’s amazing what you can bounce back from when you have to.  We’re a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

And that describes the American people.  We, too, are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.  And today, over the past 51 months, our businesses have created 9.4 million new jobs.  Our housing market is rebounding.  Our auto industry is booming.  Our manufacturing sector is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s.  We’ve made our tax code fairer.  We’ve cut our deficits by more than half.  More than 8 million Americans have signed up for private insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act.  (Applause.)  So here in Minnesota, you can now say that the women are strong, the men are good-looking, the children are above average, and 95 percent of you are insured.  (Applause.) 

And it’s thanks to the hard work of citizens like Rebekah and Ben and so many of you that we’ve come farther, we’ve recovered faster than just about any other advanced economy on Earth.  More and more companies are deciding that the world’s number-one place to create jobs and invest is once again the United States of America.  (Applause.)  That’s the good news.  And you don’t hear it very often.

By every economic measure, we are better off now than we were when I took office.  (Applause.)  You wouldn’t know it, but we are.  We’ve made some enormous strides.  But that’s not the end of the story.  We have more work to do. 

It wasn’t the end of Rebekah’s story, because she went on to write in her letter, “We did everything right.  The truth is, in America, where two people have done everything they can to succeed and fight back from the brink of financial ruin -– through job loss and retraining, and kids, and credit card debts that are set up to keep you impoverished forever, and the discipline to stop spending any money on yourselves or take a vacation in five years -- it’s virtually impossible to live a simple middle-class life.”  That’s what Rebekah wrote.  Because their income is eaten up by childcare for Jack and Henry that costs more each month than their mortgage.  And as I was telling Rebekah -- Michelle and I, when we were their age, we had good jobs and we still had to deal with childcare issues and couldn’t figure out how to some months make ends meet. 

They forego vacations so they can afford to pay off student loans and save for retirement.  “Our big splurge,” Rebekah wrote, “is cable TV, so we can follow our beloved Minnesota Wild, and watch Team USA in the Olympics!”  (Applause.)  They go out once a week for pizza or a burger.  But they’re not splurging.  And at the end of the month, things are tight.  And this is like this wonderful young couple, with these wonderful kids, who are really working hard.

And the point is, all across this country, there are people just like that, all in this audience.  You’re working hard, you’re doing everything right.  You believe in the American Dream.  You’re not trying to get fabulously wealthy.  You just want a chance to build a decent life for yourselves and your families, but sometimes it feels like the odds are rigged against you.   

And I think sometimes what it takes for somebody like Rebekah to sit down and write one of these letters.  And I believe that even when it’s heartbreaking and it’s hard, every single one of those letters is by definition an act of hope. 
Because it’s a hope that the system can listen, that somebody is going to hear you; that even when Washington sometimes seems tone deaf to what’s going on in people’s lives and around kitchen tables, that there’s going to be somebody who’s going to stand up for you and your family. 

And that’s why I’m here -- because I want to let Rebekah know, and I wanted to let all of you know that -- because you don’t see it on TV sometimes.  It’s not what the press and the pundits talk about.  I’m here to tell you I’m listening, because you’re the reason I ran for President.  (Applause.)  Because those stories are stories I’ve lived.  The same way that when I saw those young teenage moms, I thought of my mother.  And when I see Rebekah and Ben, I think of our struggles when Malia and Sasha were young.  And they’re not distant from me and everything we do.

I ran for President because I believe this country is at its best when we’re all in it together and when everybody has a fair shot, and everybody is doing their fair share.  (Applause.)  And the reason I believe that is because that’s how I came here.  That’s how I got here.  That’s how Michelle and I were able to succeed.  (Applause.)  And I haven’t forgotten. 

And so even though you may not read about it or see it on TV all the time, our agenda, what we’re fighting for every day, is designed not to solve every problem, but to help just a little bit.  To create more good jobs that pay good wages -- jobs in manufacturing and construction; energy and innovation.  That’s why we’re fighting to train more workers to fill those jobs.  That’s why we’re fighting to guarantee every child a world-class education, including early childhood education and better childcare.  (Applause.)  That’s why we’re fighting to make sure hard work pays off with a wage you can live on and savings you can retire on, and making sure that women get paid the same as men for the same job, and folks have flexibility to look after a sick child or a sick parent.  (Applause.) 

That’s what we’re fighting for.  We’re fighting so everybody has a chance.  We’re fighting to vindicate the idea that no matter who you are, or what you look like, or how you grew up, or who you love, or who your parents were, or what your last name is, it doesn’t matter -- America is a place where if you’re doing the right thing, like Ben and Rebekah are, and you’re being responsible and you’re taking care of your family, that you can make it.

And the fact is, we can do that.  If we do some basic things, if we make some basic changes, we can create more jobs and lift more incomes and strengthen the middle class.  And that’s what we should be doing.  And I know it drives you nuts that Washington isn’t doing it.  And it drives me nuts.  (Applause.)  And the reason it’s not getting done is, today, even basic commonsense ideas can’t get through this Congress. 

And sometimes I’m supposed to be politic about how I say things -- (laughter) -- but I’m finding lately that I just want to say what’s on my mind.  (Applause.)  So let me just be clear -- I want you think about this -- so far this year, Republicans in Congress have blocked or voted down every single serious idea to strengthen the middle class.  You may think I’m exaggerating, but let me go through the list.  They’ve said no to raising the minimum wage.  They’ve said no to fair pay.  Some of them have denied that there’s even a problem, despite the fact that women are getting paid 77 cents for every dollar a man is getting paid. 

They’ve said no to extending unemployment insurance for more than three million Americans who are out there looking every single day for a new job, despite the fact that we know it would be good not just for those families who are working hard to try to get back on their feet, but for the economy as a whole.  Rather than invest in working families getting ahead, they actually voted to give another massive tax cut to the wealthiest Americans. 

AUDIENCE:  Booo --

THE PRESIDENT:  Don’t boo, by the way.  I want you to vote.  (Laughter and applause.)  I mean, over and over again, they show that they’ll do anything to keep in place systems that really help folks at the top but don’t help you.  And they don’t seem to mind.  And their obstruction is keeping a system that is rigged against families like Ben’s and Rebekah’s.

Now, I’m not saying these are all bad people; they’re not.  When I’m sitting there just talking to them about family, we get along just fine.  Many of them will acknowledge when I talk to them -- yes, I know, I wish we could do something more, but I can’t -- but they can’t be too friendly towards me because they’d be run out of town by the tea party.  (Laughter.)
 
 But sometimes I get a sense they just don’t know what most folks are going through.  They keep on offering a theory of the economy that time and again failed for the middle class.  They think we should give more tax breaks to those at the top.  They think we should invest less in things like education.  They think we should let big banks, and credit card companies, and polluters, and insurers do only whatever is best for their bottom line without any responsibility to anybody else.  They want to drastically reduce or get rid of the safety net for people trying to work their way into the middle class. 
And if we did all these things, they think the economy will thrive and jobs will prosper, and everything will trickle down.
 
And just because they believe it, it doesn’t mean the rest of us should be believing it -- because we’ve tried what they’re peddling, and it doesn’t work.  We know from our history that our economy does not grow from the top down, it grows from the middle out.  We do better when the middle class does better.  We do better when workers are getting a decent salary.  We do better when they’ve got decent benefits.  (Applause.)  We do better when a young family knows that they can get ahead.  And we do better when people who are working hard know that they can count on decent childcare at an affordable cost, and that if they get sick they’re not going to lose their homes. 

We do better when if somebody is stuck in a job that is not paying well enough, they know they can go get retrained without taking on huge mountains of debt.  That’s when things hum.  And with just a few changes in priorities, we could get a lot of that done right now if Congress would actually just think about you and not about getting reelected, not about the next election, not about some media sound bite, but just focus on you.  (Applause.)

So that’s why I’ve said, look, I want to work with Democrats and Republicans.  My favorite President, by the way, was the first Republican President -- a guy named Abraham Lincoln.  So this is not a statement about partisanship.  This is a statement about America and what we’re fighting for.  And I’m not going to let gridlock and inaction and willful indifference and greed threaten the hard work of families like yours.   And so we can’t afford to wait for Congress right now.  And that’s why I’m going ahead and moving ahead without them wherever I can.  (Applause.) 

That’s why I acted to raise more workers’ wages by requiring federal contractors to pay their employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour.  (Applause.)  That’s why I acted to help nearly five million Americans make student loan payments cap those payments at 10 percent of their income.  That’s why I made sure more women have the protections they need to fight for fair pay in the workplace.  (Applause.)  That’s why we went ahead and launched new hubs to attract more high-tech manufacturing jobs to America.

And, now, some of you may have read -- so we take these actions and then now Republicans are mad at me for taking these actions.  They’re not doing anything, and then they’re mad that I’m doing something.  I’m not sure which of the things I’ve done they find most offensive, but they’ve decided they’re going to sue me for doing my job.  I mean, I might have said in the heat of the moment during one of these debates, “I want to raise the minimum wage, so sue me when I do.”  (Laughter.)  But I didn’t think they were going to take it literally.

But giving more working Americans a fair shot is not about simply what I can do -- it’s about what we can do together.  So when Congress doesn’t act, not only have I acted, I’ve also tried to rally others to help.  I told CEOs, and governors, and mayors, and state legislatures, for example, they don’t have to wait for Congress to raise the minimum wage.  Go ahead and raise your workers’ wages right now.  And since I first asked Congress to raise the minimum wage, 13 states and D.C. have raised theirs, including Minnesota, where more than 450,000 of your neighbors are poised to get a raise.  (Applause.) 

When Gap raised wages for its employees, job applications went up through the roof.  It was good for business.  I even got a letter from a proud mom right here in Minneapolis who just wanted me to know that her son starts his employees at $15 an hour, at Aaron’s Green Cleaning here in town.  (Applause.)  There they are!  (Applause.)  So the letter said, “We are very proud of his people-centered business philosophy!  Three cheers for a decent living wage!” 

So we don’t have to wait for Congress to do some good stuff.  On Monday, we held the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families, and we heard from a lot of other families like Ben and Rebekah.  They count on policies like paid leave and workplace flexibility to juggle everything.  We had business owners who came and told me they became more profitable when they made family life easier for their employees. 

So more companies are deciding that higher wages and workplace flexibility is good for business -- it reduces turnover, more productive workers, more loyal workers.  More cities and states are deciding this is good policy for families.  So the only holdout standing in the way of change for tens of millions of Americans are some Republicans in Congress. 

Because I just want to be real blunt:  If you watch the news, you just see, okay, Washington is a mess, and the basic attitude is everybody is just crazy up there.  But if you actually read the fine print, it turns out that the things you care about right now Democrats are promoting.  (Applause.)  And we’re just not getting enough help. 

And my message to Republicans is:  Join us.  Get on board.  If you’re mad at me for helping people on my own, then why don’t you join me and we’ll do it together?  (Applause.)  We’ll do it together.  I’m happy to share the credit.  You’re mad at me for doing some things to raise the minimum wage, let’s pass a law -- Republicans and Democrats giving America a raise. 

If you’re mad at me for taking executive action to make it easier for women to find out if they’re not getting treated fairly in the workplace, let’s do it together.  You can share the credit.  (Applause.)  You’re worried about me trying to fix a broken immigration system, let’s hold hands and go ahead and make sure that this country continues to be a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.  I want to work with you, but you’ve got to give me something.  You’ve got to try to deliver something -- anything.  (Applause.) 

They don’t do anything -- (laughter) -- except block me.  And call me names.  It can’t be that much fun.  (Laughter.)  It’d be so much more fun if they said, you know what, let’s do something together.  If they were more interested in growing the economy for you, and the issues that you’re talking about, instead of trying to mess with me -- (laughter) -- then we’d be doing a lot better.  That’s what makes this country great, is when we’re all working together.  That’s the American way. 

Now more than ever, with the 4th of July next week, Team USA moving on down in Brazil -- (applause) -- we should try to rally around some economic patriotism that says we rise or fall as one nation and one people.  Let’s rally around the idea that instead of giving tax breaks for millionaires, let’s give more tax breaks for working families to help pay for childcare or college.  (Applause.) 

Instead of protecting companies that are shifting profits overseas to avoid paying their fair share, let’s put people to work rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our airports.  (Applause.)  Let’s invest in manufacturing startups so that we’re creating good jobs making products here in America, here in Minnesota.  (Applause.)  Rather than stack the deck in favor of those who have already got an awful lot, let’s help folks who have huge talent and potential and ingenuity but just need a little bit of a hand up so that we can tap the potential of every American. 

I mean, this isn’t rocket science.  There are some things that are complicated -- this isn’t one of them.  Let’s make sure every 4-year-old in America has access to high school -- high-quality preschool -- (applause) -- so that moms like Rebekah and dads like Ben know their kids are getting the best quality care and getting a head start on life.  Let’s redesign our high schools to make sure that our kids are better prepared for the 21st century economy.  Let’s follow the lead of Senator Franken and Secretary Perez and give more apprenticeships that connect young people to rewarding careers.  (Applause.)

Let’s tell every American if they’ve lost their job because it was shipped overseas, we’re going to train you for an even better one.  (Applause.)  Let’s rally around the patriotism that says our country is stronger when every American can count on affordable health insurance and Medicare and Social Security, and women earn pay equal to their efforts, and family can make ends meet if their kid get sick, and when nobody who works full-time is living in poverty.  We can do all these things. 

And so let me just -- let me wrap up by saying this.  I know sometimes things get kind of discouraging.  And I know that our politics looks profoundly broken, and Washington looks like it’s never going to deliver for you.  It seems like they’re focused on everything but your concerns.  And I know that when I was elected in 2008 and then reelected in 2012, so many of you were hoping that we could get Washington to work differently, and sometimes when I get stymied you’d think, oh, maybe not; maybe it’s just too tough, maybe things won’t change.  And I get that frustration.  And the critics and the cynics in Washington, they’ve written me off more times than I can count. 

But I’m here to tell you, don’t get cynical.  Despite all of the frustrations, America is making progress.  Despite the unyielding opposition, there are families who have health insurance now who didn’t have it before.  And there are students in college who couldn’t afford it before.  And there are workers on the job who didn’t have jobs before.  And there are troops home with their families after serving tour after tour.  (Applause.)  Don’t think that we’re not making progress. 

So, yes, it’s easy to be cynical; in fact, these days it’s kind of trendy.  Cynicism passes off for wisdom.  But cynicism doesn’t liberate a continent.  Cynicism doesn’t build a transcontinental railroad.  Cynicism doesn’t send a man to the moon.  Cynicism doesn’t invent the Internet.  Cynicism doesn’t give women the right to vote.  Cynicism doesn’t make sure that people are treated equally regardless of race. 

Cynicism is a choice, and hope is a better choice.  And every day I’m lucky to receive thousands of acts of hope -- every time somebody sits down and picks up a pen, and writes to me and shares their story, just like Rebekah did.  And Rebekah said in her letter -- she ended it, she said, “I’m pretty sure this is a silly thing to do to write a letter to the President, but on some level I know that staying silent about what you see and what needs changing, it never makes any difference.  So I’m writing to you to let you know what it’s like for us out here in the middle of the country, and I hope you will listen.” 

And I’m here because Rebekah wrote to me and I want her to know I’m listening.  I’m here as President, because I want you all to know that I’m listening.  (Applause.)  I ran for office to make sure that anybody who is working hard to meet their dreams has somebody in Washington that is listening.  And I’m always going to keep listening.  And I’m always going to keep fighting.  (Applause.) 

And your cares and your concerns are my own, and your hopes for your kids and your grandkids are my own.  And I’m always going to be working to restore the American Dream for everybody who’s willing to work for it.  (Applause.)  And I am not going to get cynical; I’m staying hopeful, and I hope you do too. 

Thank you.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.) 

END
10:50 A.M. CDT

DRONES OVER IRAQ

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Armed, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Patrolling Skies Over Iraq

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2014 – Some of the manned and unmanned aircraft that the United States is flying over Iraq are armed to protect newly arrived American military advisers on the ground, Pentagon press secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said today.

The aircraft are being flown with the Iraqi government’s permission, the admiral said during a regular Pentagon briefing.

“The reason that some of those aircraft are armed is primarily for force protection reasons now that we have introduced into the country some military advisers whose objective will be to operate outside the confines of the embassy."
There are 90 U.S. service members on six teams assessing conditions in and around Baghdad. Another 90 Americans are setting up the joint operations center in Baghdad.

All told, there are around 500 American service members in the country sent by President Barack Obama to help the Iraqi military as it faces advances by Sunni militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who have overrun much of the country’s northern and western provinces.

The aircraft are flying between 30 and 40 missions a day in and around Baghdad, Kirby said. The information gathered will feed into the team assessments and the information is being shared with Iraqi forces.

The president has made no decisions about the use of kinetic force, Kirby said, “but it would be irresponsible for us not to be planning, preparing and thinking and to be ready in case he should make that decision.”

Obama has however, decided to ask Congress for $500 million for fiscal year 2015 to help train and equip moderate elements of the opposition battling the Assad regime in neighboring Syria, where the civil war is being blamed for sending Sunni extremists across the border and destabilizing Iraq.
“That opposition, mind you, still has to be vetted,” Kirby said.

Defense officials say it’s imperative that such aid does not end up arming extremists. “But that doesn't mean that you stop the effort to try to enable and build the capacity of partners in a very tough part of the world,” Kirby said. “You don’t just turn it off because there’s a risk that … some of it may fall into the wrong hands.”