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Sen. Tom Coburn: 1,000 vets may have died over VA misconduct.

Militants attacked one of Iraq's largest air bases and seized control of several small oilfields as U.S. military experts arrived to set up an operations centre to help Iraqi security forces counter a mounting Sunni insurgency.

In Iraq, former militia program eyed for new fight.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rejected calls to create a new national unity government that the Obama administration has been pushing.   

Questions rebels use to tell Sunni from Shiite.

The White House will soon send the Pentagon's 2015 war spending request to the US Congress.

Air Force generals will face off over difficult budget, job cuts.

By not letting the Air Force retire the A-10 aircraft, however, Congress is going to instead force the retirement of bigger fleets of F-16 fighter and B-1 bomber aircraft.

The Air Force's B-2 Spirit is receiving a technological upgrade to allow the service's bat-winged, nuclear capable bomber keep flying through 2058.

The proliferation of armed drones could lower the threshold for conflict.

New leaders tapped for ISAF, SOCOM and NORAD.

North Korea calls new movie The Interview, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, an act of war.

10 hidden details in your city and what they mean.

Learn how OK Go made their new video.

The Knack's "My Sharona" is 35 years old.

Quiz: Can you match the cereal milk with the cereal?

Finally: Joan Jett is starring in a Lifetime movie.

New awesome tech trend ...

More Office Workers Switching To Fetal Position Desks

LINK: Original photo by Spc. Jacob Warren

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.23.14 >>>

The militants' capture of Turabil late Sunday followed the fall of three more towns in Iraq's western Anbar province.

U.S. advisers sent to Iraq will likely find an army so lacking that it may not be able to win back significant chunks of territory from militants.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Baghdad to press Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to form a more inclusive government in response to the Sunni insurgency that is sweeping Iraq.  

Obama: Only Iraqi political leadership, and not U.S. military force, could help solve sectarian divisions threatening to plunge the country into a civil war.

Obama: Afghanistan could be gripped by Iraq-style sectarian violence after the full withdrawal of American troops by the end of 2016.

Fighting flared between Ukrainian and pro-Moscow separatist forces.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been moved to outpatient care at a Texas military base.

The U.S. missile defense system managed by Boeing Co. on Sunday hit a simulated enemy missile over the Pacific in the first successful intercept test of the program since 2008.

Military now has X-ray guns.

Special Forces conducts naval training as Army emphasizes amphibious.

The Army is evolving its current Integrated Training Environment into a single synthetic training environment that combines constructive, gaming and virtual systems.?

New horsepower for war zones: Special Forces saddle up.

5 revolutionary American weapons of war that never happened.

One handcrafted soda, please, barista. Venti. Light on the fizz. Iced, with a touch of anise.

A haunting look at some of America's abandoned shopping malls.

Slingshot is Facebook's second attempt at trying to jump onto the ephemeral messaging bandwagon.

Cool: YouTuber The Unusual Suspect has released a GotG-style trailer... for Star Wars!

Astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this Vine a few days ago from the International Space Station.

See what the women in Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video look like today.

John Landis talks about the Close Encounters trailer on the latest ep of Trailers From Hell.

Watch Pearl Jam cover Let It Go from Frozen.

Finally: Interviews the voice actors for the classic Peanuts specials.

Ouch!

LINK: Original Photo by Seaman Martin Carey

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.19.14 >>>

The Iraqi government has requested U.S. military airstrikes to help combat widespread violence in Iraq, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

While fighters for the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have taken on the most prominent role in the new insurgency, they have done so in alliance with a deep network of Saddam Hussein's former loyalists.

Today's Iraq Situation Report - Institute for the Study of War

As Americans debate assisting Iraq, including the possibility of military intervention, here are 10 things to keep in mind.

The situation in Iraq is giving Congress pause about President Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

Wednesday: A day of budgets and Baghdad for lawmakers.

President Obama believes he does not need authorization from Congress for any steps he might take to quell the al-Qaida-inspired insurgency sweeping through Iraq.

Obama's confusing Al Qaeda strategy.

Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists were locked in fierce fighting in the east of Ukraine on Thursday after rebels rejected a call to lay down their arms in line with a peace plan proposed by President Petro Poroshenko.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is backing a government watchdog's refusal to hand over documents from potential VA whistleblowers.

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James outlined new incentives and measures designed to change the culture of the service's nuclear force.

Obama will present the Medal of Honor today to a veteran who took the blow from a grenade to protect a fellow Marine in Afghanistan, sustaining major wounds, including the loss of his right eye.

A one-star general who led Marines in Fallujah and recently wrote a book about his experiences there said the U.S. military set Iraq up for success, but political leaders there have squandered those opportunities.

U.S. aims trial of Benghazi suspect held on Navy ship.

The House and Senate established conference committees to reconcile differences in legislation to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Being Bad Guy: Pentagon's cyber unit wants to get inside the bad guy's head.

Thanks to researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, soldiers can now bust through urban walls easier.

The Air Force really, really doesn't want to offer any new details about its Long Range Strike bomber.

Two senators urged Defense Secretary Hagel to end the 5 percent discount on tobacco product sales at military facilities.

The US Army is working on a real-life Iron Man suit, and the first prototypes are coming later this week.

China is building fake islands to bolster its claim to disputed waters.

Harley-Davidson is making an electric motorcycle.

Paramount lays out its next two years of sequels and remakes.

Louie: It's been the Best Thing Ever and The Worst.

Destiny's Child said "yes" to a reunion.

The very funny and adorable Garfunkle and Oates have a new show destined to debut on August 7 on IFC. Here is the opening credits ...

LINK: Original photo by Spc. Erika Montano

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The CIA and other spy agencies are scrambling to close intelligence gaps as they seek ways to support possible military or covert action against the leaders of the al-Qaida-inspired militant group that has seized parts of Iraq and threatens Baghdad's government.

ISIS hits Iraq's biggest oil refinery.

Iran's president vowed to defend Shi'ite holy sites in Iraq as Sunni fighters hold control of the main cities across the north. 

Why Delta Force waited so long to grab a Benghazi ringleader.

Former deputy CIA director Mike Morell suggested the sooner Benghazi suspect Ahmed Abu Khattala gets to the United States, the more likely he will have provided intelligence to U.S. officials. 

Iraq: Exhibit A for why Obama's new counterterrorism strategy won't work.

Iraqi premier Maliki gaining strength as Shiites rally behind him.

Opinion: US air power won't defeat ISIS.

Hillary Clinton: She warned the Obama administration against working with Iran to handle the unraveling situation in Iraq and attributes Banghazi statement to "fog of war."

The latest international crisis may be a terrorist land offensive in Iraq, but concerns about China's ambitions clearly dominate those thinking about strategies for the US Navy.

Issues await next U.S. Marine Corps commandant.

Lockheed F-35 bulkhead cracks solution proposed.

Defense giants score poorly on arms development.

Army senior leaders posit that communications technology is being developed and put into use inside the Army before its vulnerability to cyber-attacks has been fully evaluated.

Air Force C-130s land at Lielvarde Air Base for first time.

Incredible video of wild Alaskan brown bear chilling out with a camper.

Here's how to cut a cake perfectly, according to science.

Audiences are liars, and the media organizations who listen to them without measuring them are dupes.

YouTube will begin pulling indie musicians from the site blocking any artist on a label that refused the company's licensing terms for its forthcoming subscription music service.

Boardwalk Empire to jump ahead seven years for its final season.

In many ways, Season 4 of Louie felt like a call and response between Louis C.K. and the Internet.

So good ...

LINK: Original photo courtesy of 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

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The Defense Department late Saturday officially announced the names of five soldiers killed in combat June 9 while deployed to Gaza Village, Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today ordered the amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde into the Arabian Gulf.

Pakistani fighter jets pounded North Waziristan today, a day after the army announced the start of a full-scale military operation to flush Islamist insurgents out of the volatile region bordering Afghanistan.

The Pakistani army says it has launched a "comprehensive operation" against foreign and local militants in a tribal region near the Afghan border.

Sunni militants captured a key northern Iraqi town along the highway to Syria early on Monday, compounding the woes of Iraq's Shiite-led government a week after it lost a vast swath of territory to the insurgents in the country's north.

The United States is contemplating talks with Iran to support the Iraqi government in its battle with Sunni Islamist insurgents.

Two Iraq war veterans now in Congress disagree on a possible solution on Iraq's collapse.

Militants from jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have executed dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members, according to photos posted online.

In Iraq Crisis, a tangle of Alliances and enmities.

Iran is the biggest loser in Iraq.

How the Kurds seizes Kirkuk.

WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning broke her silence on Sunday, writing the US military's control of the media gave the public a distorted view of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US Navy welcomed four members of China's military aboard one of its aircraft carriers - and said it hoped to receive a return invite someday.

Exhibitors at France's Eurosatory show gave a first glimpse on Sunday of a new armored vehicle designed by General Dynamics and a new Medium Altitude Long Endurance UAV being pitched to European governments by Dassault Aviation, Airbus and Alenia Aermacchi.

The global armored vehicles market is projected to reach $28.62 billion by 2019 with the primary drivers being in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

The US Navy's most important and shadowy submarine outposts is not located along the ocean, but rather in a lake in landlocked Idaho.

Ever wish you could pick a place on the planet and instantly have a drone's-eye view? Well, now you can.

Game of Thrones Season 4 Finale Recap: The Children

How Twitter killed the official move website.

Legendary radio personality Casey Kasem dead at 82.

NBC developing the Beatles series.

14 awesome Bill Murray moments.

Abraham Lincoln and painter Michelangelo as crime fighters ...

LINK: Original photo courtesy of U.S. Army

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NORAD scrambled two F-22 Raptor and two F-15 Eagle fighters against a fleet of Russian bombers.

Al-Qaida-inspired militants who seized large swaths of Iraq's Sunni heartland this week have pushed into an ethnically mixed province northeast of Baghdad, capturing two towns there.

The Iraq government reportedly requested U.S. air strikes to target some regions housing extremists last month, but the Obama administration has so far declined.

Welcome to the New Iraq War: A few good options for the US.

The Big Burn: The Sunni-Shiite conflict explodes in Iraq.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl touched down in the United States this morning in San Antonio, Texas, five years after being captured by Taliban forces. 

From Afghan sell-off to Pacific build-up: The strategy of logistics.

A new bill has been introduced in Congress that aims to offer relief to veterans that have had to pay for emergency health services.

Should the GOP win control of the US Senate, a window will open for lawmakers and the Obama White House to take one more shot at a sequester-killing fiscal deal.

The real five best fighter aircraft of all time.

The 600,000 asteroids we've discovered so far in one scary view.

Scientists have discovered evidence that all Earth may be hiding huge amounts of water - three times the volume of all our oceans combined.

In very bad news, a superbug resistant to last-resort antibiotics was found in imported squid.

Amazon has launched a streaming music service.

Harrison Ford was injured on the set of Star Wars.

Watch the trailer for the new Seth Rogen/James Franco movie, The Interview.

Really? A Cameron Crowe TV series?

Genius!

LINK: Original photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Billy Ho

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U.S. drones fired missiles at Taliban hideouts in Pakistan killing at least 10 militants in response to a deadly attack on Karachi airport in the first such raids by unmanned CIA aircraft in six months.

On brink of disintegration: Another city falls in Iraq.

The al-Qaida-inspired group that led the charge in capturing two key Sunni-dominated cities in Iraq this week vowed to march on to Baghdad.

The return of al-Qaeda.

The Senate passed a bill Wednesday night that would allow appropriators to begin work on the 2015 Intelligence Appropriations bill.

The Veterans Affairs Department is, by many accounts, broken, and Congress has a lot of ideas to fix it.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed emergency legislation on Veterans Affairs Department health visits and administrator accountability, paving the way for the reforms to become law in a matter of days.

The House adopted an amendment to allow veterans to apply for food stamps while their disability claims are pending with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

After two overwhelming votes in two days, members of Congress say they are confident they can agree on a bill to improve veterans' health care and send it to the president's desk by the end of the month.

US House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor's stunning primary defeat is a huge blow to the US defense sector, and could allow an up-and-coming GOP deficit hawk to replace Cantor, or even become House speaker.

Hagel testified before lawmakers, answering anger-laced questions about the negotiated release of Bowe Bergdahl.

The House Appropriations Committee approved funding for 38 of the fifth-generation fighters - four more than the Defense Department requested.

How the Army should pivot to Asia.

The Air Force just copped to its secret stealth drone.

Program offers partially paid break from Army.

Army develops first-of-its-kind phase-coherent fiber laser array system.

Networking brings international training to JBLM.

A 3,000 gallons per minute reverse osmosis water purification unit and two 3,000 gallon water bags were used in support of the Quartermaster Liquid Logistic Exercise at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

NASA's real life Enterprise may take us to other star systems one day.

How a 3,000-car race would look if the Earth was the Moon.

The world's biggest TV can be yours for $1.7 million.

A new documentary tells the story of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Finally: Puff Daddy/Diddy/Sean Combs released a music video inspired by Game of Thrones.

Be careful when you fry a drone over a beach in Connecticut. ...

LINK: Original photo courtesy of the New York National Guard

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Pakistani Taliban Attacks Karachi Airport: Militants armed with grenades and assault weapons dressed as security guards, killing 18 people in a retaliatory siege that lasted more than five hours.

Top 10 conclusions about the VA crisis.

U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has told people treating him at an American military medical facility in Germany that he was tortured, beaten and held in a cage by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan after he tried to escape.

Hillary Clinton says she gave "very direct instructions" to security experts during the 2012 Benghazi attack in an effort to secure the U.S. mission.

U.S. sends stealth bombers to Europe.

House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson is "doing a great job."

Supporting the troops does not start when they return from war.

Army continues the rapid development of the cutting-edge boost-glide Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) missile program.

The Chinese engineer who helped Tehran develop its ballistic missiles is one of America's most wanted, with a $5 million reward on his head.

Why no female Blue Angels pilots?

Unmanned intel app could keep small units informed.

A computer has successfully managed to fool a bunch of researchers into thinking that it was a 13-year-old boy named Eugene Goostman.

Amazon has a new best-selling author list that's updated hourly.

Another day, another Ant-Man director ...

List: Best '90s soundtrack albums

List: Twenty-one Things You Might Not Know About Gremlins

Watch Sir Mix-A-Lot perform Baby Got Back with the Seattle symphony.

George Strait has broken the Rolling Stones' record for concert attendance.

Nice: The drummer for Weezercaught a Frisbee during a show - and never stopped playing!

Teen invents footwear that will charge your phone as you walk.

In our thoughts ...

Astronaut Jones by djgreenuts

LINK: Original photo by Spc. Ryan DeBooy

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.7.14 >>>

GOP to Obama: Fix VA.

Ukraine's new president Petro Poroshenko said his country would never give up Crimea and would not compromise on its path towards closer ties with Europe, using his inaugural speech to send a defiant message to Russia.

Gunmen take hundreds of students hostage on Iraq university campus.

The Bergdahl boomerang: GOP lawmakers who long urged a rescue now sour on the idea.

Bergdahl's father said one of his son's Taliban captors lost his son in a U.S. drone strike.

Vet unemployment drops, beating nation's unemployment rate.

A handy guide to the potential candidates to be the next VA secretary.

Inside the liberal take-over of U.S. national security.

The five most powerful navies on the planet.

The most important disruptive technology systems and ideas that DARPA is working on.

Scientists at University of Akron claim they've cracked the code, so to speak, by creating a super-tough screen out of transparent electrodes.

A cocktail glass designed to work in zero gravity.

Mystery solved: This is the monster that ate a great white shark.

The definitive reason why you should delete your Facebook account.

The game has really stood the test of time: Tetris' 30th anniversary.

The BoJack Horseman trailer for the animated Netflix series, which debuts in August.

Orange in the New Cat ...

LINK: Original photo by Petty officer 2nd Class Jacob Dillon

GRAB A CUP AND READ THE MORNING REPORT FOR 6.3.14 >>>

President Obama said he will ask Congress for $1 billion to bolster security for Poland and other nations in Europe in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Report: Chinese cruise missiles could pose biggest threat to U.S. carriers.

The Department of Veterans Affairs official internal data show it failed to treat three out of five veterans within its 14-day target period for care.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey said today that the Army may pursue an investigation that could lead to desertion charges against Bergdahl.

The White House defended the release of five Guantanamo detainees in exchange for a US soldier held by the Taliban, as many ordinary Afghans criticized the deal for emboldening the militants.

When throngs of people converge along the beaches of Normandy, France, to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, U.S. soldiers will be there, in dozens of ceremonies and many of them in the most dramatic spectacle on the calendar.

The Air Force announced two major awards, awarding Lockheed Martin the contract for its Space Fence program and Raytheon the winner of its Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) system.

The Pentagon has ambitious plans to develop a prosthetic for the brain that would restore memory functions.

Computer security experts from academia, industry and the larger security community have organized themselves into more than 30 teams to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Cyber Grand Challenge.

Military fast food fans will benefit from the easing of new Labor Department wage rules that threatened to cause the closure of many such eateries on installations.

Solar roadways will not happen anytime soon.

Roller coaster ride looks like a trip out of this planet.

Nice one, nature!

The brand new OS X Yosemite is perhaps the most dramatic redesign of Apple's operating system to date.

List: Bands that make more than $50,000 a show.

What?: Pamela Anderson appears in Morrissey's new spoken-word video.

College radio is dying - and we need to save it.

Preview Dave Grohl's new HBO series, which coincides with a new Foo Fighters album.

Spin names the best albums of the year so far.

IFC's Garfunkel and Oates series premieres in August.

Gangnam Style broke two billion views on YouTube ...

LINK: Original photo by Army Sgt. Dayan Neely