Douglas Ernst

Wife of female soldier killed in suicide bombing to receive full benefits

The gay widow of a female soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan will receive full retroactive benefits for her wife's death.

May 20, 2014

Bush skipped 9/11 museum dedication to be with Medal of Honor recipients

Former President George W. Bush's absence at the 9/11 Memorial Museum dedication in New York City on Thursday may have confused some of the victims' families, but it turns out he had a good excuse: he was meeting with a crowd of living recipients of the Medal of Honor in Bentonville, Arkansas.

May 16, 2014

Kerry: ‘We’re not going to pin ourselves down’ if Assad continues to use chemical weapons

"We're not going to pin ourselves down," was Secretary of State John Kerry's response in London on Thursday to a reporter who asked what the U.S. would do if it were confirmed that the Assad regime recently used chlorine-based chemical weapons in Syria.

May 16, 2014

Mastermind behind al Qaeda’s first attack on U.S. now a security official in Yemen

The man who masterminded al Qaeda's first attack on the United States is now a security official in Yemen.

May 16, 2014

Jake Tapper to Obama White House: ‘How many dead veterans do you need’ before Shinseki goes?

CNN's Jake Tapper wants to know exactly what it would take for the Obama administration to fire Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki for deadly wait times at many VA hospitals.

May 15, 2014

Air Force program will allow airmen three years off to start families

The Air Force is going to allow airmen to leave the service in order to keep them. The Career Intermission Pilot Program will permit a small group of officers and enlisted personnel three years to start a family, at which time they would return to service. The program will start later this year.

May 15, 2014

Iraq plans to sign $1B arms deal with U.S. to combat terrorism

American troops are no longer in Iraq, but the country still wants U.S. weapons for its security needs. The nation is primed to receive roughly $1 billion worth of military hardware from the United States.

May 15, 2014

Sriracha hot sauce CEO who fled communist Vietnam: Calif. isn’t much different

People love Sriracha hot sauce, but the CEO of Huy Fong Foods does not love California's officials. He even compares the state to the the communist nation he fled decades ago.

May 15, 2014

Pentagon has plan for ‘Counter-Zombie Dominance’ during zombie apocalypse

The Pentagon has a contingency plan for just about everything — and that includes the zombie apocalypse.

May 15, 2014

Kim Jong-un gets a video game: ‘Glorious Leader!’ takes on ‘capitalist swine’ on flaming unicorn

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will soon get to play the video game version of himself taking on "capitalist swine" when Atlanta-based Moneyhorse releases "Glorious Leader!"

May 15, 2014

Bill Clinton: Putin trying to ‘re-establish Russian greatness’

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in March that Russian President Vladimir Putin shouldn't behave in "19th-century fashion" by invading countries and redrawing global maps, but former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday that exactly such a thing is happening.

May 14, 2014

Paratroopers go digital: In-flight Internet gives airborne warriors more mission prep time

U.S. Army paratroopers now have one less opportunity to catch a power nap before missions. The Enroute Mission Command Capability (EMC2) will provide soldiers parachuting into warzones with in-flight Internet access to plan for missions up to the moment they hurl themselves out the plane.

May 14, 2014

U.S. Special Forces heading to Nigeria, training troops to ‘take the fight to Boko Haram’

U.S. Special Forces are heading to Nigeria to train its troops on ways to neutralize the Islamist group Boko Haram.

May 13, 2014

No, Uncle Sam doesn’t really want YOU: Military now turns down 80% of applicants

Uncle Sam doesn't want you. At least 80 percent of you. These days, the U.S. military is only taking 20 percent of the applicants who walk into their local recruiter's office intent on enlisting in the armed services.

May 13, 2014

Marine One fleet to get $1.24B upgrade; Sikorsky scores contract

The president's Marine One fleet of helicopters is getting an upgrade — a $1.24 billion upgrade. Sikorsky helicopters secured the multibillion-dollar contract with the Navy to build six test aircraft for the commander in chief, with the first to be completed by 2020.

May 13, 2014

DOE awards Chinese-backed firm $47M for $188M windmill project N.J. rejected twice

New Jersey regulators rejected a Chinese-backed windmill project twice, but that didn't stop the Department of Energy. The federal government has awarded $47 million to sweeten the deal for a $188 million project the Garden State has deemed too risky for ratepayers.

May 7, 2014

‘Simpsons’ boy band episode is evidence of U.S. plot to start Syrian civil war, says Egyptian host

An Egyptian television station believes it has evidence that the Syrian civil war was probably a U.S. plot hatched in 2001: a "Simpsons" episode featuring Bart, Milhouse, Nelson Muntz and Ralph Wiggum as a boy band with the hit video "Oh Say Can You Rock."

May 7, 2014

Obama court nominee wrote memos justifying drone strikes on U.S. citizens

Harvard Law School scholar David Barron is an Obama administration nominee for a federal appeals court. He is also the author of government memos that make legal justifications for killing U.S. citizens overseas with drone strikes.

May 7, 2014

France to deploy cops from China to protect tourists, deter crime

French authorities have turned to Chinese police to help them protect tourist hot spots in the nation.

May 7, 2014

Calif. city may criminalize bullying; kindergartners would be subject to penalties

Officials in the city of Carson, Calif. are considering a new ordinance that would criminalize bullying. The proposal, which was introduced Tuesday, would make it a misdemeanor to bully anyone from kindergarten through age 25.

May 7, 2014