Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who grew up in a working class family, led a failed coup, and became an internationally controversial head of state while maintaining the support of marginalized groups, died Tuesday at the age of 58.
A new survey shows that Americans support a wide range of proposals to reduce gun violence. Learn more here.
The drone is a radical departure from traditional warfare. It allows the United States, using either its civilian spy agency or military, to reach out and kill someone who may be standing in a country that the U.S. isn’t even at war with. And that includes American citizens.
Until now, it wasn’t known what legal or procedural framework the U.S. government operated under when ordering the killing of its citizens. A leaked memo lays out the following conditions that must be met for a lawful killing:
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U.S. government has determined that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States;
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Capture is infeasible, and the United States continues to monitor whether captures becomes feasible
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The operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable law of war principles.
This Week on the Hill: Budgets, Filibusters, Guns and More
Obama is sworn in (twice). And that thing with Beyonce also happened. Just another busy week on Capitol Hill:
- No Budget, No Pay, No Problem: The House got right to work on Wednesday debating and passing the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013.
- Hill’s on the Hill: On Tuesday, Clinton sat for five hours answering questions about the attacks in Benghazi that left four Americans, including an ambassador, dead.
- CA Lawmakers and Guns Control: Democrats Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced the introduction of a new assault weapons ban and Rep. Mike Thompson chaired the second hearing of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.
- Filibuster Deal Goes Bust: A group of senators decided it was time to bring back the talking filibuster (cue: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and pushed leadership hard to get it done.
- Dudes for Women: A pair of Senators, Pat Leahy, D-Vt., and Mike Crapo R-Idaho, reintroduced the Violence Against Women Act this week. The 1994 law was up for a third reauthorization last year but it could not make it through the House.
- John Kerry, Subject of a Hearing by the Committee He Is Currently Chairman of: Yes, John Kerry is going to become the next Secretary of State. So, rather unnaturally, he sat before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — of which he is the current chairman — and explained why he would be a good Secretary of State. It was a fairly friendly hearing.
LIVE: “Fireside Hangout” with VP Joe Biden
T-Minus 1 hour: Hari Sreenivasan will moderate a Google “Fireside Hangout” with Vice President Joe Biden on gun violence.
President Obama delivers his second inaugural address. (Text here)
More U.S. Troops Died by Suicide Than in Afghanistan Combat in 2012
After a decade of war, more servicepeople died by their own hand last year than were killed in action with the enemy. Watch Ray Suarez’s interview with Dr. psychiatrist and retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Xenakis; interview highlights below.
Q: Why now? Why is the suicide rate going up when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been winding down?
A: We have seen this before. We saw it 20 years ago in the first Gulf War. We even in some ways saw it after Vietnam. I mean, the issues of medical health, of personal stress, of family stress, in fact, go up after the actual fighting has stopped and the soldiers redeploy, they’re back in garrison, because the force is still under a lot of stress.
And we find now, in fact, that the military is about to get into this phase of downsizing. Probably 100,000 or so Army soldiers and Marines will be leaving the military. There are going to be budget cuts. And all these things are putting great burden on the leadership and great burden on the soldiers on the front lines.
And that accumulates and builds, and it ends up that you have got that group that, in fact, will have — will commit suicide as their expression of that stress.
Q: If someone reports they are having trouble, are they given long-term treatment, or are they removed from the service first?
A: Well, both. Interestingly, and sadly, over half the people who commit suicide have already seen mental health clinicians…These are tough problems. The soldiers have…really been affected by a number different stresses.
It’s not just the emotional stress of combat and seeing their fellow soldiers killed and maimed. They have been exposed to IED blasts, have concussions. Their sleep patterns are very disturbed, which causes in of itself some sort of psychiatric and psychological difficulties.
They’re exposed to toxins. They come home to family situations. And they’re young people. And young people have a lot of ups and downs. So there’s lots of different factors here. And no one is the real particular cause for these suicides.
Q: So, what should we be on the lookout for? Is there any way that’s reliable to keep an eye on people who may be in real trouble when they come back from active duty?
A: There’s not one real technique or tactic you can use. What we should recognize is that this is an epidemic, in the sense that it’s across the Army. The whole Army has been — and Marine Corps and the other services under — have been a lot of stress. And the focus, I think, is on changing the culture and making and bringing the spotlight on to the individual and everyone being concerned for the kinds of stresses that they’re showing and that may lead to the various problems.
I mean, there are problems with misconduct, with family abuse, with drug and alcohol abuse, with sexual assaults. There’s all sorts of things that really end up being the signals of these 10 years of war and stress on the individuals.”
Related:
Transcript
Video: The Wilderness After War — Living with PTSD
