DoD Says ‘Apocalyptic War’ Strengthens ISIL
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The Pentagon rejects proposals to engage in “an apocalyptic war” with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria saying such an escalation fuels the terrorist group’s recruitment abilities, reports The Hill.
DefSec Ash Carter asks Congress to pass an FY16 2016 omnibus spending bill consistent with the budget deal as Friday’s government shutdown deadline approaches, reports Inside Defense (paywall), but sources do not expect a bill to pass.
Russia launched cruise missiles against Syria this week, from a diesel-electric stealth submarine on the surface. The missiles targeted terrorist positions in the territory of Raqqa, reports The Aviationist.
Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham write in The Wall Street Journal the solution to defeating ISIS now, saying the threat is growing faster than the administration’s efforts to counter it and that US troops must perform discrete tasks to improve and accelerate the training of Iraqi forces.
As oil prices plummet, funding for refuge camps is running out, reports Bloomberg, leaving Iraq’s Kurds and the UN struggling to look after those fleeing conflict. The funding loss is fueled by a fallout with Baghdad over oil revenues and by the weak price of crude, says Bloomberg.
The unemployment rate among US veterans dropped to 3.6 percent in November, the lowest rate recorded since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking in November 2006, reports the Washington Examiner.
The Dept. of Treasury imposed more sanctions against six North Korean bankers and three shipping companies for their links to illegal arms trafficking and financing operations, reports International Business Times.
FedSmith debunks the enduring myth of Social Security suggests money collected was spent on other government programs. Nope. Today Social Security collects less in payroll taxes than it spends on benefits, hasn’t generated any excess since 2009, and even when it did the excess went to pay interest on government debt, not to other programs
Struggling Morgan Stanley slashed 1,200 jobs in recent days, reports CNN Money. The cuts were broad-based and eliminated 25 percent of the jobs in the fixed income and commodities businesses and about 730 back-office jobs like human-resources and IT positions.
UPI reports a possible merger of Dow and DuPont, two of the world’s largest chemical companies.
Staples and Office Depot shares plunged after U.S. antitrust regulators moved to squash merger efforts of the nation’s two largest office supply retailers, reports International Business Times.
A bill to ban microbeads in soap to protect the nation’s lakes and streams, passes by a voice vote, reports The Hill.
