One If By Land, Two If By Sequestration

One If By Land, Two If By Sequestration: The Budget Cuts Are Coming The Budget Cuts Are Coming

The Pentagon’s No. 2 official has issued marching orders telling the U.S. military how to deal with its most intractable foe: looming budget cuts.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter told the military services in Thursday’s memo that they’ll be free to freeze civilian hiring, end temporary hires, and scale back funds used to keep lawns mowed and barracks painted on military posts. Beyond that, they’ll be able to hack away at travel, training and administrative accounts.

The memo says the double-barreled threat of $600 billion in cuts to the Pentagon budget over the coming decade — roughly 10% — combined with plans to fund the military’s 2013 operations at 2012′s level for at least awhile, means that cuts are inevitable:

The Obama-Karzai Meeting: But Who Really Gets to Decide Afghanistan’s Future?

The Obama-Karzai Meeting: But Who Really Gets to Decide Afghanistan’s Future?

Presidents Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai meet at the White House on Jan. 11 to discuss the future of Afghanistan beyond the 2014 U.S. troop withdrawal. But neither man will have the last word over the fate of that beleaguered country beyond next year.

Karzai, for his part, is constitutionally forbidden to seek re-election when his term expires in 2014. And even if he were to manipulate the political system in order to elevate a proxy figure to rule on his behalf — which his critics suspect he plans to do — his power, limited as it is, has always depended on the presence of tens of thousands of Western troops to fight off his Taliban foes. Those troops are leaving too; the U.S. and its NATO allies have set a hard deadline for ending what had threatened to become an open-ended commitment if withdrawal remained tied to security conditions on the ground. Still, the prospect of their departure is prompting fears that the entire edifice created by the Western alliance over 11 years could collapse — and it obviously further diminishes Washington’s leverage over Afghan political choices.

Destiny's Child, 'Love Songs': Beyonce Announces New Music With Kelly Rowland Michelle Williams

Destiny's Child, 'Love Songs': Beyonce Announces New Music With Kelly Rowland & Michelle Williams


Beyonce announced that beloved girl-group Destiny's Child will release "Love Songs" in late January, the band's first album since 2004's "Destiny Fulfilled."

The Amazon pre-order page for the album describes the project as a collection of previously recorded "romantic gems" -- with the addition of "Nuclear," a new song produced by Pharrell Williams. That song was written by Pharrell, Michelle Williams, James Fauntleroy and Lonny Bereal. Beyonce and Bereal provided vocal production.

"I am so proud to announce the first original Destiny's Child music in eight years!" she wrote.

The group split in 2005 following their successful "Destiny Fulfilled and Lovin' It Tour" to focus on their solo careers. Their last live performance was at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game, where the group sang "The Star Spangled Banner."

Last August, Rowland shot rumors of a new album, telling Jam there were no plans for a new project or tour.

"We don't want to scratch each other's eyes out; we love each other too much," said Rowland. If [reuniting is] something that we would want to do, you know, [we would do it] but in the meantime we're just enjoying each other's friendship. That's the greatest gift of Destiny's Child."

Tech Prodigy and Internet Activist Aaron Swartz Commits Suicide

Tech Prodigy and Internet Activist Aaron Swartz Commits Suicide


Aaron Swartz, the brilliant young software programmer and Internet activist who inspired awe and reverence from some of the leading figures in the technology world, died in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday, his family said in a statement. New York City’s chief medical examiner ruled the death a suicide by hanging. Swartz was 26 years old.

A computer prodigy, Swartz co-authored an early version of the popular Internet RSS software at age 14 and would later become an early leader of Reddit, the social website that has become a locus of Internet activism. A passionate advocate for social justice, Swartz founded the group Demand Progress, which played a crucial role in convincing the U.S. Congress to back down from controversial anti-piracy legislation last year.

“Aaron’s insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable—these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter,” his family said in a statement. “Aaron’s commitment to social justice was profound, and defined his life. He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a fairer, better place.”

Mallory Hagan Miss New York Wins Miss America 2013 Title (PHOTOS)

Mallory Hagan Miss New York Wins Miss America 2013 Title (PHOTOS)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A 23-year-old contestant from Brooklyn, N.Y., has won the title of Miss America.

Mallory Hagan won the Las Vegas beauty pageant Saturday night after tap dancing to James Brown's "Get Up Off of That Thing" and answering a question about whether armed guards belong in grade schools by saying we should not fight violence with violence.

Hagan defeated Miss South Carolina Ali Rogers, who took second, and Miss Oklahoma Alicia Clifton, who finished third.

Hagan wins a $50,000 college scholarship and gets the crown for one year. Her platform was stopping child sexual abuse.

She is expected to spend her title reign on a nationwide speaking tour and raising money for the Children's Miracle Network, the organization's official charity.

POLITICAL ISSUES and DEBATES

POLITICAL ISSUES and DEBATES

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