Patricia Steele-Bettega passed away Friday, June 13, 2014. Better known to her friends and family as Patsy, she was born January 9th, 1961, in Santa Rosa, California.

She went to school at Margaret Keating School, Crescent Elk Middle School and Del Norte High School. Patsy was a member of the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians.

We went to school together in Klamath at Margaret Keating. Later, she and I attended the same fifth period worthless math class at Del Norte High in Crescent City.

Somehow, I let her talk me out of a scorpion choker I had bought in San Francisco – which she never gave back. She called my bluff, punching me in the nose when I tried to grab it back from her.

Patsy was tough like that and though short in height, no one messed with her. The memory makes me chuckle, now, but at the time Mr. Sveum chased me out of the classroom because I was bleeding all over the floor.

Patsy’s husband, Edwin Bettega Jr. passed away before she did as did her father, Daniel and sisters, Nadine and Sandra. She is however survived by her daughter, Natasha and son Edwin, her mother, Carol and brothers, Bert and Randy.

She was laid to rest June 19th at the IOOF Memorial Cemetery in Crescent City, California.

 

A poll conducted by WPA Research, between June 9th to June 10th, showed Mississippi state Senator Chris McDaniel up eight-points, outside the margin of error of 4.4 percent, over Senator Thad Cochran a little less than a week from Tuesday’s runoff election.

The poll of 500 likely GOP primary runoff voters had McDaniel leading Cochran 49 percent to 41 percent, with 10 percent undecided. However, that’s not how it turned out.

McDaniel lost the runoff to Cochran, which showed the incumbent winning 50.8 percent of the vote to McDaniel’s 49.2 percent. This after, Cochran’s openly courted non-GOP voters, including the state’s sizable Black Democratic population.

Cochran also got a last-minute influx of financial support from Republican establishment groups and fellow senators like Nevada’s Dean Heller. Other senators who tossed money in the hat for Cochran included Cochran’s Mississippi colleague Senator Roger Wicker and Senators Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman, Lamar Alexander, Orrin Hatch, Chuck Grassley, John Barrasso, John Thune, John Cornyn, Bob Corker, Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte , Richard Shelby, and Mitch McConnell.

Also, gun-hater and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $250,000 to the pro-Thad Cochran super PAC “Mississippi Conservatives” in late May, Federal Election Commission filings show. In another case, it secured a $100,000 check from Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker, whose donations show an overwhelming Democrat tilt.

Cochran made the argument to voters he was a solid conservative who would continue routing federal money back to Mississippi, just as he’s done for decades. Promising to keep bringing federal dollars to Mississippi, the senator’s campaign worked to appeal to voters outside the typical GOP electorate, including Democratic black voters.

In a piece by CNN, a trio of self-identified Democrats admitted that they voted for Cochran in the primary.

By CNN’s count, about 61,000 more people voted Tuesday than in the primary two weeks ago. Cochran’s backers turned to Democrats, especially Blacks, who make up 37 percent of the state’s population.

In Mississippi, any resident can vote in a party’s primary. But some observers have noted that it could be illegal for Democrats to vote in the Republican primary — or more precisely, Mississippi state law prohibits voters from participating in a party’s primary if they don’t intend to support that party’s candidates in the general election.

Legal decisions have rendered that rule effectively unenforceable.

Furthermore a flyer, posted by journalist Charles Johnson suggests McDaniel and the Tea Party wanted to prevent blacks from voting in the Mississippi runoff election. Cochran’s critics allege the longtime senator’s campaign was behind the flyers.

As for McDaniel, he has refused to concede the race even after it was called for Cochran.

Even as Congressman Paul Ryan ripped into IRS Commissioner John Koskinen during an appearance before Congress last Friday, for not being forthcoming, the Commissioner failed to mention how the agency used the services of an email archiving company even after former IRS official Lois Lerner’s computer crashed.

Lerner’s computer supposedly crashed in June 2011, but it was not until the end of August 2011 that the agency nixed its contract with email archiving company Sonasoft. The missing emails in question are from January 2009 to April 2011, which is well within the time frame Sonasoft was employed.

Then during Monday night hearing, Congressman Trey Gowdy lowered the boom on Koskinen asking about the “spoliation of evidence,” a legal phrase meaning the jury can draw a negative inference if a party fails to preserve evidence that could be damaging.

Backed into a corner, Koskinen deflected by asking, “Is this a trial? Is this a jury?”

“If you want to go down that road, I’ll be happy to go down that road with you, Commissioner,” Gowdy exclaimed. “In fact, I’m glad you mentioned it. You have already said multiple times today that there was no evidence that you found of any criminal wrongdoing. I want you to tell me what criminal statutes you’ve evaluated.”

“I have not looked at any,” Koskinen replied.

“Well then how can you possibly tell our fellow citizens that there’s not criminal wrongdoing if you don’t even know what statutes to look at?” asked Gowdy.

“Because I’ve seen no evidence that somebody consciously…” Koskinen started but was cut-off.

“Common sense? Instead of the criminal code, you want to rely on common sense?” Gowdy asked.

Koskinen is a 1964 graduate of Yale University School of Law, most recently serving as the Non-Executive Chairman of Freddie Mac from September 2008 to December 2011. He has shelled out nearly $100,000 to Democratic candidates and groups since 1979.

During the same meeting, Congressman Darrell Issa also wasted no time going after Koskinen. The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee pressed Koskinen about why all Lerner’s emails weren’t backed up on the server – but kept on the C-drive of her computer.

“All emails are not official records under any official records act,” Koskinen said, seeming to contradict IRS rules that require printing all emails and a backup of all systems.

Koskinen then blamed a budget shortfall, saying it would cost $30 million to overhaul the backup systems.

That’s a drop in the bucket for the IRS’s $1.8 billion IT budget, Issa pointed out.

“On $1.8 billion, isn’t the retention of key documents that the American people need to count on, like whether or not they’re being honestly treated by your employees?” Issa asked. “Isn’t that, in fact, a priority that should’ve allowed for full retention?”

Issa, frustrated with Koskinen’s refusal to directly answer his questions, finally snapped, “My time has expired and I’ve lost my patience with you.”

Under questioning from Congressman Jason Chaffetz, Koskinen said that the IRS made no effort to recover Lerner’s email archive from the six month backups after her initial computer problems in June of 2011.

“My understanding is that the backup of emails only lasted for six months, that’s correct?” Chaffetz asked.

“Yes,” answered Koskinen, “it’s actually a disaster recovery system and it backs up for six months in case the entire system goes down.
Chaffetz then asked, “And that was in place in 2011?”

“That was the rule in 2011,” Koskinen replied. He quickly corrected himself saying,” Policy.”

“So when Lois Lerner figured out on June 13th that her computer crashed, and there have been emails showing that she was going to great lengths to try to get that recovered, why didn’t they just go to that six month tape?” continued Chaffetz.

“Because that six month tape is a disaster recovery tape that has all of the emails on it and is a very complicated tape to actually extract emails for, but I have not seen any emails to explain why they didn’t do it, so it would be difficult, but I don’t know why,” answered Koskinen.

“But you said the IRS was going to extraordinary lengths to give it to the recovery team, correct?” Chaffetz reminded Koskinen.

Koskinen answered, “That’s correct.”

“But it’s backed up on tape,” Chaffetz stated.

“For six months,” Koskinen responded, “yes.”

“And that was within the six month window, so why didn’t you get them off the backup?” Chaffetz redirected.

“All I know about that is that the backup tapes are disaster recovery tapes that put everything in one lump and extracting individual emails out of that is very costly and difficult. And that was not the policy at the time,” claimed Koskinen.

Chaffetz questioned, “Did anybody try?”

“I have no idea or indication that they did,” Korkinen said.

“So you have multiple emails showing she was trying to recover this, it’s the testimony of the IRS that they were trying desperately, in fact you got a forensic team to try to extract this, you went to great lengths, you made a big point over the last week about all the efforts you’re going through, but they were backed up on tape, and you didn’t do it?” asked Chaffetz.

Korkinen answered, “As far as I know they did not, but they did have, as I noted, the emails, she had three months worth of emails at that time.”

Now it appears the IRS violated federal record-keeping laws. This after the IRS failed to notify the National Archives of the computer crash that reportedly wiped out the emails in question.

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard testimony from United States National Archives and Records Administration archivist David Ferriero on Tuesday, who said he did not learn of the missing emails until the IRS sent a letter about them this month to Senators Ron Wyden and Orrin Hatch.

“They are required, any agency is required, to notify us when they realize they have a problem that could be destruction or disposal, unauthorized disposal,” said Ferriero.

“They did not follow the law,” he added, after being pressed by GOP lawmakers.

The White House dismissed the charges that Koskinen erred by not informing Congress in April, when he first learned of the lost emails.

“What would Congress have done if they’d known about this in April or May, or whenever the commissioner first learned about it?” White House press secretary Josh Earnest challenged reporters.

Washoe County District Judge Lidia Stiglich has issued a preliminary injunction to stop the layoff of 32 Reno Firefighters. While it’s not a final decision, but an effort “to preserve the status quo” until a decision is reached, the Judge wrote because the labor dispute is being heard before the Nevada Employee-Management Relations Board, it is not clear how it will end.

However, Stiglich did write that if the dispute does end in the favor of the firefighters union, the firefighters will “suffer irreparable harm” because simply paying back pay owed to the then firefighters would not be full compensation because of emotional damages, stress and loss of health care. She also ordered the Fire Fighter’s Union to post a $10,000 bond that would go to the city to repay the cost of the firefighter’s salaries if the union loses the case.

The City of Reno issued the following press release:

“While we respect the judge’s decision, we are disappointed that we will be forced to continue to use the City’s limited financial resources on legal services relating to this matter, instead of using those resources to provide services to the community,” City Manager Andrew Clinger says. “We will now focus our efforts on discussing our legal, operational, and financial options with City Council.”

The loss of $11 million in federal funds from FEMA is going to affect the Reno Fire Department. More than 30 firefighters may be laid off effective July 1st.

City leaders said they had planned for this potential loss of funding as they begin a new budgeting cycle.

“We have a plan that minimizes the impact to the citizens of Reno and still supports our council’s priority of safe and livable neighborhoods,” said Clinger.

Clinger said they are looking to see if any positions can be saved. In the meantime, he said the city will do everything it can to help the firefighters who will be impacted.

The timing of the layoffs, which come just five days after a new fire station the opening of a new fire station in Damonte Ranch. The planning for the new station began around 2005.

Reno City Councilman Dwight Dortch continues to speak out against Reno Fire Fighters Association, I.A.F.F, Local 731. He said he’s worried about the city being able to move forward, due to “the unsustainability of these contracts.”

Dortch said the union should be making concessions to save jobs, but is instead asking for raises.

“They’ve come back and now they’ve asked for an eight-percent raise,” Dortch explained. “So they’ve come to the table, instead of going in the other direction saying, ‘hey, we want to save firefighters,’ they’ve come back to us and said, ‘no, I want an eight-percent raise,’ which is going to cost us another 15 firefighters.”

The Reno Fire Fighters Association responded to Dortch’s remarks by calling for a “…change at the Reno City Council.”

“In bad faith, Dortch selectively took numbers and percentages out of context from an ongoing negotiations process in an attempt to place blame on firefighters for layoffs and for the City’s financial position,” the association’s statement reads.

Meanwhile, City officials hope to negotiate alterations to a policy where Reno firefighters can work with a blood alcohol content level of .08, and can be under the influence of marijuana, amphetamines and cocaine.

Clinger said the change is a high priority.

“Myself and anybody else who looks at it will say this is crazy, we should have a zero tolerance and we don’t disagree. It is something that we have to negotiate with the unions at this point, unfortunately.”

Clinger said it is too early to know if fire officials and union representatives will cooperate with the potential changes. Regardless, the city manager does not want the public to think firefighters are working drunk and high just because the policy exists.
“We train our employees to recognize the signs of impairment, and they are empowered to see someone that is impaired and act on that,” said Clinger.

The policy was negotiated between fire unions and the city in 2002.

“Obviously, we want to be reasonable with our employees,” said Clinger. “At the same time to have any sort of tolerance for alcohol and drugs, in my opinion, doesn’t make any sense.”

Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez says, “If a co-worker or a front line supervisor suspects that one of his employees or one of his team members may be under the influence, he picks up the phone, he initiates the process, we get that person tested and it’s either positive or negative.”

In his four and a half years as chief of Reno Fire, Hernandez said he has only utilized the policy three times. He also says if an employee is in violation of the policy, they want it reported.

And if that wasn’t enough, a new policy within the RFD could be risking lives. The new policy in question has created new criteria for whether or not Reno Fire personnel will assist REMSA or other agencies with lifting patients.

It all relates to a man found to be in medical distress in Lemmon Valley on June 17th.

A Reno Police Department incident report laid out how police had to ask a local business for help, while the fire department reused to assist. The report says officers asked a n hardware store if they had a forklift that could help, but unfortunately it wasn’t available.

It began just before four in the afternoon when RPD officers were investigating a suspicious vehicle. They found a man found in a boat attached to a nearby truck, was unable to move because of severe back pain.

When REMSA arrived it was decided because the boat’s edge was more than six feet off the ground, it was too dangerous to try and move the 6-foot tall 300-pound patient from the vessel to the ambulance without additional manpower. That additional manpower was asked for from the Reno Fire Department.

RPD also called RFD for help and nearly 30 minutes later RFD still wasn’t on scene. That’s because RFD cancelled their response, requesting REMSA’s bariatric to unit respond.

Police waited for RFD and when no one showed up, officers once again reached out to the department. Nearly 45-minutes from the initial call, a Reno Fire Battalion Chief showed up to assess the situation.

He decided his crews were not going to help and told officers that the department would not call any other fire departments to help either. So after more than an hour-and-a-half after the RPD arrived on scene and called for assistance, the patient was moved into the ambulance by REMSA and police officers.

REMSA said the Reno Fire Battalion Chief was also taking pictures of the incident because he thought it was “funny” to see police officers trying to move the man.

City officials said it is not acceptable.

“Our response to that was totally unacceptable and we’ve taken immediate action to correct that,” said Clinger. “In fact, Chief Hernandez sent out a memo last week to correct that we’ve already had meetings with REMSA, and we have another meeting with REMSA to make sure we have a clear understanding and they have a clear understanding of the protocol we’re going to use to respond. It depends on the medical need of the patient and what kind of condition the patient is in.”

Hernandez said the Lemmon Valley incident is under investigation. He also said the new lift-assist criteria were sent out in a memorandum about 45 days ago to all dispatchers in the area and directly to REMSA officials.

The patient was ultimately diagnosed with severe pulmonary edema, where fluids fill the lungs. He remained in the hospital five days after the incident.

A federal judge says putting fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border may be discriminatory. The 2006 federal law orders the construction of fencing or a wall along the most vulnerable portions of the nearly 2,000-mile southern border.

Judge Beryl Howell was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by President Barack Obama in 2010.

“Revealing the identities of landowners in the wall’s planned construction site may shed light on the impact on indigenous communities, the disparate impact on lower-income minority communities, and the practices of private contractors,” Howell wrote.

This is just the latest controversy over the border fence since Congress approved it in 2006.

Since then, the mayors of several Texas border towns have blocked federal access to the construction areas, an Indian tribe in the Arizona claimed the feds were intruding on tribal land and government scientists complained the fence would threaten the black bear population. Then last summer Mexican officials expressed outrage over the fencing effort, calling it a human rights violation.

A number of government reports over the years confirm it’s not just Mexicans crossing into the U.S. seeking a better life.

In 2010 the DHS warned law enforcement agencies along the border that Al Qaeda terrorists were planning to slip into the U.S. through Mexico. The same year a federal agent accused the administration of covering up the threat created by Middle Eastern terrorists entering the country through the Mexican border.

Violent crime in the region has also been documented with heavily armed Mexican drug cartels taking over areas serving as routes to move cargo north.

A recent State Department report exposed a “dramatic increase in violence” along the Mexican border and warned of “violent attacks and persistent security concerns” in the area. The document also lists tens of thousands of narcotics-related murders attributed to drug cartels competing with each other for trafficking routes into the U.S.

Meanwhile members of MS-13, some as young as 14, are crossing the border and being set free on U.S. soil.

The underage gang members are exploiting a loop-hole in the system, crossing with large groups and using their age to their advantage. Currently, the U.S. Border Patrol has no way of checking immigrants’ criminal backgrounds in their home country.

As this happens, a remote section of the U.S.-Mexico border near the Anzalduas International Bridge is being restricted to reporters by the U.S. Border Patrol, citing safety concerns. This as about 300 illegal aliens surrendered themselves to U.S. Border Patrol agents near the bridge, easily eclipsing the daily average of about 75 who surrender every day.

Then there is an ad which ran in January: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has a continuing and mission critical responsibility for accepting custody of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) from U.S. Border Patrol and other Federal agencies and transporting these juveniles to Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelters located throughout the continental United States.”

“Transport will be required for either category of UAC or individual juveniles, to include both male and female juveniles. There will be approximately 65,000 UAC in total: 25% local ground transport, 25% via ICE charter and 50% via commercial air,” reads the ad in part.

“Escort services include, but are not limited to, assisting with: transferring physical custody of UAC from DHS to Health and Human Services (HHS) care via ground or air methods of transportation (charter or commercial carrier)…” it states.

It raises two questions: How did the Obama administration know six-months in advance that waves of UAC’s were on their way to the U.S. and why the reference to the Office of Refugee Resettlement?

First, it helps to know what their mission statement reads: “The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides new populations with opportunities to maximize their potential in the United States, linking people in need to critical resources to assist them in becoming integrated members of American society.”

It appears the administration orchestrated the incursion of UAC’s and other illegal aliens and has it no intention of sending them back to where they came from.

Senator Harry Reid is fixated with the Koch brothers. It’s hard to describe the nonstop onslaught against the billionaire brothers especially when he goes on tirades like this:

“The Koch brothers and other moneyed interests are influencing the politics in a way not seen for generations. Republican senators have come to the floor to defend the Koch brothers’ attempt to buy our democracy,” he said while on the Senate floor. “Once again, Republicans are all in to protect their billionaire friends.”

“Not only have Senate Republicans come to the floor to defend the Koch brothers personally, they have again and again defended the Koch brothers’ radical agenda – and it is radical, at least from the middle-class perspective,” he added.

To hear him talk — billionaires are some real bad guys.

“But what else should we expect?” Reid complained in yet another rant from the Senate floor. “The decisions by the Supreme Court have left the American people with a status quo in which one side’s billionaires are pitted against the other side’s billionaires. Except one side doesn’t have billionaires.”

But when you look at Senate Majority PAC and the Democrats taking their money, it’s hard to miss the billionaires on the list.

Michael Bloomberg is the largest donor to the Senate Majority PAC. The list of donors also includes billionaires Jon Stryker, Steven Spielberg, Dirk Ziff and not-quite-billionaire donors like Jeffrey Katzenberg and the Weinstein Company.

Senator Mary Landrieu, whose campaign has been blasting the Koch brothers, got money from billionaire, Eli Broad. Senator Kay Hagan’s campaign complains about the billionaire Koch brothers but she took money directly from television mogul Haim Saban.

Then there’s Senator Mark Pryor, who decries the billionaire Koch Brothers, then accepts cash from Charles Ergen. Also guilty is Senator Mark Udall, who is upset about billionaire money but has his own billionaire donors – George Soros and Leonard Lauder.

But this isn’t the only money problem Reid appears to be having trouble with.

In a blow to get Congress’ budget back on track, Reid yanked a $180 billion spending measure. The move came after Republicans protested a plan that would have denied them the chance to more easily win changes to the measure.

Reid was also a force in canceling committee consideration of a separate energy and water projects spending bill. He did this after realizing he didn’t have enough votes to win changes to government rules on carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants.

But then again, Reid has more important matters of state to deal with than budgets and campaign finances. He has to ensure the political correctness of the nations.

Reid — a vocal opponent of the Washington Redskins name — took to the floor to continue slamming the team’s owner following the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s decision to cancel the team’s trademarks.

“The Redskins no longer have trademarks. They are gone,” the Nevada Democrat said. “Daniel Snyder may be the last person in the world to realize this, but it’s just a matter of time until he is forced to do the right thing and change the name.”

“And so, as I understand the law, if the presiding officer wants to use the name Redskins to sell some shirts, you can do that,” he added.

Reid, again calling the team’s name racist noted there are 27 Native American tribes in his state and added that the issue was “extremely important” to the Native American population across the country.

He stated, “The name will change and justice will be done for the tribes in Nevada and across the nation.”

So it shouldn’t be any surprise when one discovers what else is going one besides Reid’s ‘anti-Redskin’ harangue.

Two bills submitted by Reid would transfer almost 93,000 acres of federal land into trust for seven northern Nevada tribes stretching from Elko to the Reno area. One of those bills would also expand the Moapa Paiute reservation in Nevada’s Clark County by 26,000 acres.

The additional land would mean a great deal to the tribe’s 320 members, including many who live on the reservation about 30 miles north of Las Vegas. In recent years, the tribe has pursued development of renewable energy on its land, aiding an ambition Reid has had to make Nevada a major player in solar and wind energy generation.

In March, the tribe broke ground on a 250-megawatt plant billed as the first utility-scale solar project approved on tribal land. The project, it’s claimed can generate electricity to feed 93,000 homes by the end of 2015.

In May, federal officials cleared the way for a new 200-megawatt photo-voltaic array to be built on those same tribal lands with the backing of NV Energy. The facility is expected to generate enough electricity for about 60,000 homes.

Incidentally, the solar project is about 35 miles from Cliven Bundy’s Nevada homestead in Bunkerville. Reid caught flak earlier this after it was learned the land Bundy has been grazing his cattle on for years, was also same on which Reid sought to have ENN Energy Group, a Chinese energy company, build a $5 billion solar panel plant.

For Reid – it’s all about the money.

Just this week, Reid sold the rights to a number of Nevada mines he holds interest in, pulling in $1.7 million. The rights he sold were worth between $200,000 and $415,000 in 1995 and by 2012; those rights were worth between $315,000 and $900,000.

While there is nothing wrong with Reid sale of mineral rights, it should be noted that all four of Reid’s sons, Rory, Leif, Josh, and Key, have worked for Lionel Sawyer & Collins, which represents a number of the Nevada’s mining companies. Furthermore, Reid’s daughter Lana is married to Washington, D.C., lobbyist Steven Barringer, who has represented the National Mining Association as well as nine other mining companies.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Melinda Mier of the 152nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs in Reno, Nevada released a picture taken Saturday, June 21, 2014, marking the first mission flown by the 192nd Airlift Squadron, with an all-female flight crew. From left to right are Lieutenant Stephenson, Staff Sergeant Morales, Major Moynihan, Captain Magee, Master Sergeant Backlund, Technical Sergeant Cronin.

Johnny Jones passed away peacefully in his sleep June 15, 2014. He was born September 20, 1938 and raised in Chico, California, the oldest son of Albert and Marie (Palmer) Jones.

Johnny went to work for the California Division of Forestry (now Cal Fire) after high school in 1956. He met and married Corliss Purse in April of 1958, moving to El Dorado County where they lived in Auburn and Coloma and started a family.

The family then moved to Amador County, where they lived in Jackson and River Pines. In 1966, Johnny quit the CDF and partnered with a friend in a trucking partnership, working in the woods before applying for the CHP Academy.

He graduated from the Academy in April of 1967 and was assigned to the Crescent City office, so he moved his young family to Del Norte County.  Johnny retired from the CHP in September of 1993.

He tried commercial fishing for a couple of years and was the morning bartender at the Turf Club for several years.  A bout with cancer in 2003 slowed him down but didn’t stop him from spending time as a volunteer at the VFW canteen and in the kitchen on dinner nights.

Johnny’s survived by his wife Corliss, daughter Cori Renfro; Connie Ricks; sons John, Jim, Brian and Darin. He was preceded in death by his parents, granddaughters Sarah Jones and Tawny Renfro, and sister Joy Williams.

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly confronted former Vice President Dick Cheney after he and his daughter, Liz, published an op-ed blasting President Barack Obama over his handling of Iraq. The pair wrote in The Wall Street Journal that “rarely” has a president ever been “so wrong about so much at the expense of so many.”

Kelly proceeded to list some of Cheney’s claims and pronouncements from his time at the White House that included: Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, U.S. soldiers would be “greeted as liberators,” the insurgency was “in its last throes” in 2005, and extremists would have to “rethink their strategy of jihad” after the U.S. intervention.

Kelly said, “But time and time again, history has proven that you got it wrong as well, sir.”

“Now, with almost 1 trillion dollars spent there, with 4,500 American lives lost there, what do you say to those who say you were so wrong about so much at the expense of so many?” Kelly questioned.

Cheney defended the Bush administration’s actions in Iraq.

“Well, I just fundamentally disagree…,” Cheney said. “You’ve got to go back and look at the track record. We inherited a situation where there was no doubt in anybody’s mind about the extent of Saddam’s involvement in weapons of mass destruction. We had a situation where, after 9/11, we were concerned about a follow-up attack. It would involve not just airline tickets and box cutters as the weapons but rather something far deadlier, perhaps even a nuclear weapon.”

Kelly pointed to a response to the op-ed from The Washington Post’s Paul Waldman, who wrote there hasn’t been a “single person” who has been “more wrong and shamelessly dishonest” on Iraq than Cheney.

“The suggestion, then, is that you caused this mess, Mr. Vice President,” Kelly said. “What say you?”

“Well, obviously I disagree,” Cheney said. “I think we went into Iraq for very good reasons.”

Their op-ed also sparked a dismissal from the White House.

“Which president was he talking about?” the outgoing WH Spokesman Jay Carney deadpanned during his final White House briefing.

“Look, it’s obviously always good to hear from former Vice President Cheney,” Carney added. “It’s pretty clear that President Obama and our team here have distinctly different views on Iraq from the team that led the United States to invade Iraq back in 2003.”

Now the UK’s Telegraph reports that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria extremists in Iraq have taken control of what was once Saddam Hussein’s chemical-weapons production facility, which still has a stockpile of old weapons. The weapons at the Al Muthanna complex are contaminated and hard to move, a U.S. official said.

Nonetheless, the capture of the stockpile by the forces of the ISIS has grabbed the attention of the U.S.

“We remain concerned about the seizure of any military site…,” Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman, wrote in a statement. “We do not believe that the complex contains CW materials of military value and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to safely move the materials.”

During the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Hussein used the Muthanna complex to make chemical weapons, including sarin, mustard gas, and the nerve agent VX, according the Iraq Study Group, which conducted the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in the aftermath of the war.

“Two wars, sanctions and Unscom oversight reduced Iraqi’s premier production facility to a stockpile of old damaged and contaminated chemical munitions (sealed in bunkers), a wasteland full of destroyed chemical munitions, razed structures, and unusable war-ravaged facilities,” the ISG’s 2004 report concluded.

U.S. officials repeatedly emphasized the takeover of the chemical weapons stocks do not mean a significant military gain by ISIS.

“The only people who would likely be harmed by these chemical materials would be the people who tried to use or move them,” said a military official.

As CBS News’ Rebecca Kaplan’s most recent articles’ headline opines: “Who got it wrong on Iraq? Depends on who you ask.”

Jules Legier passed away June 14, 2014.  He was my civics teacher in high school in 1977.

He had lived in Del Norte County from 1959 to 2012 before moving to Eureka. His family roots were in Humboldt County, where he was born December 20, 1930, especially the community of Pepperwood.

After serving four years in the U.S. Air Force, Jules attended Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. His teaching career led him to Del Norte High School, where he taught history, civics and economics.

From a March 1971 article in the Eureka Times-Standard, by Andrew Genzoli:

“At Del Norte High School, I met Jules Legier, civics and social studies teacher, who has adopted Indian studies as a lively thing in his classes.  Jules has roots which go back to the Mattole Indian tribe.  He is a handsome, quick-witted individual, with a full measure of good humor. He is deeply steeped in the ways of education and in Indian history.  In his educational pioneering, he finds all phases of Indian lore compatible to the school’s programming.”

He’s survived by his wife, Evelyn, son Tyge, daughter Tressa, and grandson Travis.