PRES. OBAMA ACTS ODD FOR A RADICAL MUSLIM SYMPATHIZER

Far too many wingnuts believe that Pres. Obama is a diabolical radical Muslim sympathizer determined to impose Sharia Law in America, so I suppose it's natural for FAUX News to run this story:

Fox News mistakenly airs parody of Obama offering to personally fund Muslim museum

The reality is quite a bit different:

U.S. Raids in Libya and Somalia Strike Terror Targets
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, NICHOLAS KULISH and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: October 5, 2013
NY Times

CAIRO — American commandos carried out raids on Saturday in two far-flung African countries in a powerful flex of military muscle aimed at capturing fugitive terrorist suspects. Members of a Navy SEAL team emerged before dawn from the Indian Ocean to attack a seaside villa in a Somali town known as a gathering point for militants, while American troops assisted by F.B.I. and C.I.A. agents seized a suspected leader of Al Qaeda on the streets of Tripoli, Libya.

THIS IS SCARY

(h/t William Rivers Pitt)

There is no way to reason with persons like Collett.

Health care holdouts: Uninsured but resisting
Maggie Fox NBC News
Oct. 4, 2013 at 3:39 PM ET

“I don’t think that the government should be involved in health care or health insurance,” says Greg Collett, a 41-year-old software developer in Caldwell, Idaho, who would rather pay the fine for now -- $95 the first year -- than signup.

Collett, who is married and has 10 children, says the kids are covered by Medicaid, the joint state-federal health insurance plan for people with low income and children who are not covered.

SELF-ESTEEM BEFORE COUNTRY

The GOP has made a breakthrough in pathological governing:

1) "We're not going to be disrespected," Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told The Washington Examiner. "We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is." (HuffPo)

2) ...congressman Dennis Ross, another favorite of the anti-tax, pro-small-government Tea Party movement. "Pride, I think, has got to be swallowed here, probably on both sides," Ross said. (Yahoo News)

I GUESS THE SWISS ARE SOCIALISTS

According to the country's website, the Swiss aren't quite the libertarian capitalists I thought they were.  There are 5 main components to the Swiss safety net:

1) The first is a state-pension plan that consists of various insurance schemes such as the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI), Disability Insurance, and Unemployment Insurance. OASI and disability insurance are mandatory for all Swiss residents.

2)  The second pillar is based on occupational pension plans and accident insurance. Employees who earn more than SFr20,520 a year are automatically insured by a second pillar pension fund. Pension plans and accident insurance have been mandatory for all employees for more than 25 years.

3) The third pillar is a private, individual option that workers can use to help make up the remainder of their income not covered by the first two pillars. Such schemes are also protected by law and often offer tax advantages. These typically take the form of a retirement savings account (with tax breaks) or a flexible savings account (few if any tax breaks).

4) Paying into Switzerland’s unemployment scheme is compulsory for all non-self-employed employees who have not yet reached retirement age. The payments are divided between employer and employee.

5) Purchasing basic health insurance is compulsory for everyone residing in Switzerland. Since basic health insurance premiums are not tied to income, Swiss authorities subsidise those who have trouble making the payments. For more information, please see section on Daily Life, Insurance, Health.

IT'S STILL UPHILL FOR LIBERALS IN ARIZONA

State senator Al Melvin (R) is running for governor and today on Emil Franzi's Inside Track radio show Melvin said he agrees 100% with Fats Limbaugh.  In a normal political environment, that would be enough to ensure a defeat but not in Arizona.

MARCY GETS A LITTLE RESPECT

Marcy Wheeler (AKA emptywheel) gets some nice coverage in Newsweek and she deserves it.  It would be nice if more people like Marcy were covered by the news media instead of freakshows like Ann Coulter.

I DIDN'T THINK THE SWISS WERE MUCH INTO SOCIALISM

In addition to their corrupt banking system, I thought the Swiss were solidly conservative but now I learn that not all of them are. 

Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult
BERNE | Fri Oct 4, 2013 10:55am EDT

(Reuters) - Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis.

A grassroots committee is calling for all adults in Switzerland to receive an unconditional income of 2,500 Swiss francs ($2,800) per month from the state, with the aim of providing a financial safety net for the population.

Organizers submitted more than the 100,000 signatures needed to call a referendum on Friday and tipped a truckload of 8 million five-rappen coins outside the parliament building in Berne, one for each person living in Switzerland.

WON'T THIS PISS OFF THE BAGGERS & THEIR ENABLERS?

(h/t Atrios)

Getting paid despite not working seems to violate a core Bagger principle:

Government doors closed, but workers may get paid
ANDREW TAYLOR, The Associated Press
Last updated: Saturday, October 5, 2013, 10:33 AM
Posted: Saturday, October 5, 2013, 9:45 AM

With the partial shutdown entering its fifth day, the GOP-run House passed a bill Saturday that would make sure the furloughed workers get paid for not working. The White House backs the bill and the Senate was expected to OK it, too, but the timing was unclear.

The 407-0 vote in the House was uniquely bipartisan, even as lawmakers continued their partisan rhetoric.

THE BAGGERS ARE THE POLITICAL VERSION OF THE FUNDIES

Ezra Klein interviewed one of the authors of Change They Can't Believe In: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America and came up with this quote from a typical Bagger:

“I think he comes from a very socialist-Marxist background. I think it’s absolutely the way he leads. I think he wants to micromanages individuals as an elitist, looking down, trying to make people do what he thinks they should be doing. And I think that’s very close to tyranny and I think that’s very wrong.”

I WAS JUST READING SOME REMARKS BY PHIL BOYCE

He's now a top executive at Salem Radio Network. Before that, he was PD at WABC in NYC and he's the one who brought Sean Hannity to New York, so he has a lot to atone for.  Boyce asserts that Limbaugh has successfully replaced all the advertisers who left his show and not only is that a lie, Limbaugh's ad revenue just took another hit:

This is an update to a story we published here on Tuesday, about the way some folks boycott/protest Rush Limbaugh. Within 24 hours after the story was published, the company in question, AAA Auto Club, pulled their ads from Limbaugh’s show after they received multiple calls, tweets, emails, and posts from readers and the BoycottRush/StopRush groups. Thanks to all of you who contacted AAA, and thanks to the hard-working groups below.

ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE PUNDIT TURNS ON THE BAGGERS

I almost never read Debra Saunders' opinion pieces but today I was a bit surprised to find that she also thinks the House Baggers are suicidal...

GOP lemmings - in their suicide vests
Debra J. Saunders
Published 6:03 pm, Wednesday, October 2, 2013
SFGate

The shiny-object mongers have taken over the House GOP caucus. They think gimmicks can overcome basic math and, with the right tactic, they can win a political battle without controlling either the White House or the Senate.

There's no covering up the fact that the Tea Party already has lost. When solid conservatives like Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, say the shutdown is suicidal - he called the shutdown-crowd "lemmings with suicide vests" - it's over.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., warned that the shutdown would lead GOP acolytes into a "box canyon." Republicans know what happened and who led them into a trap.

SLOGAN FOR LIBERALS

Remember the fights over Federal Court appointments?  Well, let's turn a conservative slogan from those days to good use:

UP OR DOWN VOTE IN THE HOUSE!!!

THE RULE OF THE THIRTY

Byron York sticks by his story that 30-80 extremists in the House GOP are running the shutdown show:

"I've been trying to figure this out," says one House Republican of the current standoff over funding the government. "It seems to me that Boehner could do whatever he wants with Democrats on the floor and still get about 180 or 190 of us. So why doesn't he do that?"

The lawmaker was referring to the fact that a large majority of the House's 232 Republicans, plus a large majority of its 200 Democrats, would likely support a "clean" continuing resolution to fund the government but not defund, delay, or limit Obamacare. If House Speaker John Boehner were to bring such a bill to the floor, it would probably pass with a majority of Republican as well as Democratic votes. But Boehner doesn't do it.

If the Speaker did, he would raise the ire of the group of House GOP conservatives most committed to continuing the defund battle. There are various estimates of how many there are in that group -- probably about 30 core members, but perhaps 30, or even as many as 50, others who are sympathetic to the core position. Even so, a high estimate is about 80, meaning that even in the worst case scenario for a clean continuing resolution, Boehner would still have around 150 Republican votes to end the impasse. Given Democratic support, that would be more than enough.

But he doesn't do it. "I think the issue is, he's scared that those 30 people could somehow force a speaker's election," says the House Republican. "I don't know exactly, but clearly he thinks his speakership is a stake if he screws them."

Here's how one of The Thirty feel about the shutdown:

Bachmann to Hannity: ‘This Is About the Happiest’ GOP Has Been in a While

UPDATE FOR VICTOR DAVIS HANSON & HIS FANS:

Thirty Tyrants, (404–403 bc) Spartan-imposed oligarchy that ruled Athens after the Peloponnesian War. Thirty commissioners were appointed to the oligarchy, which had an extremist conservative core, led by Critias. Their oppressive regime fostered a bloody purge, in which perhaps 1,500 residents were killed. Many moderates fled the city; gathering a force, they returned to defeat the tyrants’ forces in a battle at Piraeus in 403. The 30 fled and were killed off over the next few years.

THE DARK SIDE OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

I think the U.S. is alone among developed countries in medical care for the poorest:

Millions of Poor Are Left Uncovered by Health Law

By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ROBERT GEBELOFF
Published: October 2, 2013
NY Times

Willie Charles Carter, an unemployed 53-year-old whose most recent job was as a maintenance worker at a public school, has had problems with his leg since surgery last year.

His income is below Mississippi’s ceiling for Medicaid — which is about $3,000 a year — but he has no dependent children, so he does not qualify. And his income is too low to make him eligible for subsidies on the federal health exchange. 

“You got to be almost dead before you can get Medicaid in Mississippi,” he said.

NO SURPRISE HERE

The World Economic Forum measured 122 countries on 4 major areas that affect workers: education, health, employment and “enabling environment."  Guess how many in the top ten are social democracies?  Here's the answer:

Switzerland is first,...After Switzerland, the top ten countries were Finland, Singapore, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Canada.

FATS LIMBAUGH INTERVIEWS TAILGUNNER TED

Ted Cruz made a point that contradicts an accepted conservative meme.

CRUZ:  I think you're exactly right about the history of 1995, that there was some short-term political pain. But, at the same time, because Republicans stood together, we saw year after year of balanced budgets which never would have happened if Republicans had folded like they're trying to fold right now.

This contradicts the meme that there really weren't any balanced budgets.

THIS IS GETTING INTERESTING

The conservatives are getting slammed for the shutdown and that's led to some other truths they aren't comfortable with.  Ben "Intelligent Design" Stein decided to lay down the hammer:

Stein insisted that the demands the GOP placed on President Barack Obama and the Democrats which led to a shutdown were “nonsense.”

Rep. Peter King continues his assault on Tailgunner Ted Cruz:

Republican congressman Peter King has made no bones about how angry he is at Ted Cruz for how ardently he’s been fighting Obamacare. So when he was on Fox News Tuesday, he placed the blame for the government shutdown “disaster” on “Cruz and his acolytes” in the House.

Last, Bernie "Liberal Media Bias" Goldberg tells an uncomfortable truth about Fats Limbaugh:

Goldberg told Bill O’Reilly that the GOP civil war has “serious political consequences,” and had a question for the “pure” conservatives pushing the moderates out of their party.

“If that strategy has been such a good one, why has there only been one conservative president in the past 80 years in this country? Pat Buchanan was as conservative as you get. He couldn’t even win his own party’s nomination, let alone a general election. Rush Limbaugh––nobody articulates conservatism as clearly and as passionately as Rush Limbaugh––he’d be the first to acknowledge that he couldn’t win a national election.”

BAGGERS & THE BOND MARKET

(h/t Business Insider)

Investors are a bit worried that the Baggers may cause the U.S. to default, as you can see from this chart:

10/17 is the drop-dead date to lift the debt ceiling.  Democrats think that the shutdown strengthens their hand on the ceiling and maybe they are correct.

ANOTHER HEAD COUNT OF HOUSE EXTREMISTS & THEIR FELLOW TRAVELERS

Byron York wrote that there are 30 GOP extremists in the House and another 20-30 who will side with them because they are afraid of a primary challenge.  Robert Costa of the NRO has a different estimate: 30-40 extremists and 50-60 who want to avoid a primary.  I think Costa also got to the real cause:

The outside groups don't always move votes directly but they create an atmosphere of fear among the members. And so many of these members now live in the conservative world of talk radio and tea party conventions and Fox News invitations. And so the conservative strategy of the moment, no matter how unrealistic it might be, catches fire. The members begin to believe they can achieve things in divided government that most objective observers would believe is impossible. Leaders are dealing with these expectations that wouldn't exist in a normal environment.

MAYBE THE VETERANS WILL STOP THE SHUTDOWN

There is a program that flies WW II veterans to their memorial in DC and yesterday, some veterans "broke" into the WW II memorial.   A few Bagger politicians tried to turn this to their advantage but right now it seems that the organizers aren't biting:

The abundance of lawmakers worries Jim McLaughlin, national chair of Honor Flights Network, who said he wishes those visiting the memorials would keep politics out of it. He said the flights are planned months in advance at great expense to commercial airlines, so it wasn’t feasible for Honor Flights to shut down the trips as the government closed.

“I know some of the folks that showed up this morning are attempting to politicize it and I don’t want that to happen,” said McLaughlin.

Media Matters reports that veterans benefits will be stopped if the shutdown last 2-3 weeks so I hope they start making a big fuss NOW.

IT'S MUCH MORE THAN ARIZONA

Jordan Weissmann found this in a WSJ article:

At the National Institutes of Health, nearly three-quarters of the staff was furloughed. One result: director Francis Collins said about 200 patients who otherwise would be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center into clinical trials each week will be turned away. This includes about 30 children, most of them cancer patients, he said.

MARGINALIZATION, PERSONAL & POLITICAL

The GOP in Congress is marginalizing itself and so is George Will.  The Noise Machine is turning into an echo chamber for the fringe and that's good for America

MORE TROUBLE FOR GASBAG RADIO

The PPM ratings are down in a couple of major markets, including the two biggest, LA and New York.  WABC-NY (Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin & Savage) is in the mid-2 range and KFI-LA (Limbaugh) is tanking:

There’s been lots of chatter about L.A.’s talk KFI descending from the elite level it enjoyed for so long, and the new September Nielsen Audio PPMs continue that trend. In February, Clear Channel’s KFI scored a 4.6. But in the last three months, it’s dropped 3.7 to 3.1 to 3.2 and now a 2.8. You can’t really mix-and-match diary and PPM results, but this is the first time KFI has fallen below a 3.0-share since the diary-measured book of Summer 1992. That’s a 21-year low.

In Chicago, WLS (Limbaugh, Hannity & Levin) "dwells below a 2-share (1.8-1.7-1.9)"

SOURCE:Tom Taylor's NOW

THE BAGGERS SCREWED ARIZONA

I imagine there are a lot of other states that will also be hurt.

Shutdown will furlough more than 1,600 DM civilian workers
By Darren DaRonco Arizona Daily Star
58 minutes ago

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base will immediately furlough 1,604 civilian employees and scale back some base services as a result of the shutdown.

Women, Infants and Children Program

Director Will Humble said the Department of Health Services has enough federal funding to keep WIC clinics open through Friday and provide vouchers to enable families to buy needed food items.
After that, he said, there will be no aid for the 162,000 women and children now enrolled

Unemployment claims

The Department of Economic Security reported it can keep processing applications for unemployment benefits as well as sending out the weekly checks “for a short period of time.”

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families

DES spokeswoman Tasya Peterson said cash payments for about 16,300 families, averaging $207 a month, will cease Thursday.

THE HOUSE BAGGERS COULD REALLY HURT AMERICA

I've gathered a few reports on how badly the shut down will harm the U.S. economy.

The LA Times reports that "most analysts predict that a two-week partial government shutdown would shave 0.3 to 0.4 of a percentage point from economic growth in the fourth quarter" and POLITICO reports that if the shutdown lasts 3 or 4 weeks, then "you do serious damage to the economy, triggering a recession and destroying consumer confidence in a way that could take years to rebuild.”

The WaPo echoes the POLITICO: "Economists estimate that the cumulative effect of a prolonged shutdown could trim economic growth in the final three months of the year by up to 1.4 percentage points."

Bloomberg reports on the effects of different lengths of the shutdown:

Lexington, Massachusetts-based IHS estimates that its forecast for 2.2 percent annualized growth in the fourth quarter will be reduced 0.2 percentage point in a weeklong shutdown. A 21-day closing like the one in 1995-96 could cut growth by 0.9 to 1.4 percentage point, according to Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia.

The Christian Science Monitor sums it up in its headline:

Short government shutdown? Small hit to economy. Long one? A recession.

SEAN HANNITY IS A FUCKING LIAR

In the intro monologue to his radio show today, he claimed that Bob Woodward was taking sides against Pres. Obama on the CR issue.  In fact, Woodward did just the opposite:

Bob Woodward hits GOP over 'blackmail'
By TAL KOPAN | 9/30/13 7:37 AM EDT
POLITICO

Bob Woodward said Monday that one word describes what’s happening over the federal budget: “Blackmail.”

“Let’s call it what it is, they are trying to blackmail the president and say, ‘Look, we’re going to shut down the government or default on our debt unless you — we go back, rewind the clock, on Obamacare and delay it or somehow cut off the funding,’” the longtime Washington Post journalist said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “You can’t govern that way. It will not work. It will be exposed.”

OVER A WEEK AGO...

I heard Sean Hannity say the House should pass piecemeal CRs and now Ted Cruz is pushing that idea:

Government shutdown update: Ted Cruz pushes ‘narrowly focused’ CRs
By BURGESS EVERETT and JOSE DELREAL | 9/30/13 7:18 PM EDT
Updated: 9/30/13 8:28 PM EDT
POLITICO
The Texas senator proposed on Monday night that the House should begin passing small appropriations bills to keep specific portions of the government running after midnight...“There’s no rule that a CR has to fund every bit of the fed government at the same time. We should pick the top, the critical priorities,” he said. “The areas where if the democrats force a shutdown, the areas where there will be the most pain. Let’s take them off the table. I think the House tonight ought to pass several continuing resolutions.”

THE TYRANNY OF THE MINORITY

Byron York is a conservative "journalist" so it makes sense to take his words about the House Baggers seriously:

How 30 House Republicans are forcing the Obamacare fight
By BYRON YORK | SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 AT 5:34 PM
Washington Examiner

There are 233 Republicans in the House. Insiders estimate that three-quarters of them, or about 175 GOP lawmakers, are willing, and perhaps even eager, to vote for a continuing resolution that funds the government without pressing the Republican goal of defunding or delaying Obamacare.

On the other side, insiders estimate about 30 House Republicans believe strongly that Obamacare is such a far-reaching and harmful law that the GOP should do everything it can --- everything --- to stop it or slow it down.

Another 20 to 30 GOP members sympathize with that position but might be willing to compromise, except for the fact that they fear a primary challenge from the Right.

REP. PETER KING (R-NY) IS PRETTY MUCH AN ASSHOLE

but I am glad he's attacking an even bigger asshole:

GOP Rep. Peter King: ‘Ted Cruz should be blamed’ if government shuts down

FOR OVER A DECADE, I'VE HEARD/READ THE NOISE MACHINE

describe liberals as the "far left," so it's nice to see that POLITICO has the gumption to accurately describe the Baggers:

There’s a new public enemy No. 1 in Senate GOP circles, and it’s not Ted Cruz.
It’s the Senate Conservatives Fund, an organization that used to prop up underdog conservative candidates but now is training its fire mainly on Republican incumbents — rather than Democrats. The group has ginned up anger on the far-right towards Republican senators for refusing to use a government shutdown threat as leverage to defund Obamacare — a campaign that has been good for its bottom line.

SMALL BUSINESSES AND TAXES

The US Chamber of Commerce commissioned Harris to do an online survey of small business (a company with fewer than 500 employees and annual revenue less than $25 M) executives and one result stood out for me:

And, the priority of small business owners is to create a less complicated system – 56% say the priority should be making the tax code less complex. That is more than twice the number who say tax rates should be lowered (22%).

FAUX News and the conservative radio gasbags always tell us that taxes are killing the small businessmen but that doesn't show up in this poll.

BIRTH CONTROL & THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

(h/t Matt Yglesias, twice)

The House Baggers represent a minority of the American people on the "issue" of birth control, so that's why they bray about "principle" instead of "democracy," except for Tailgunner Ted.

The NY Times reports that a March 2012 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that " 63 percent of Americans said they supported the new federal requirement that private health insurance plans cover the cost of birth control" and a May 2012 Gallup poll found that "Eighty-two percent of U.S. Catholics say birth control is morally acceptable, nearing the 89% of all Americans and 90% of non-Catholics who agree"

TAILGUNNER TED CRUZ

I was expecting that he'd show off some of his famed debating skills in this interview with Dancing Dave Gregory (AKA FluffY0 but all I got was the usual talk radio bullshit:

GREGORY:“You make this argument as if there’s no broader context here,” Gregory said, noting the law had been passed through every branch of government, and that Mitt Romney had run in 2012 on a platform to repeal it and lost. “There are not protests in the streets arguing to do away with this law in the way that you’d like. 56% in one poll said let’s uphold the law. I’m focusing on results. Where have you moved anything?”

TAILGUNNER: “The American people overwhelmingly reject ObamaCare,” Cruz said.

TED CRUZ MAY BE A REALLY SMART GUY BUT...

some people on his staff aren't.  The first to come to my attention was the student Cruz used during his blatherthon to illustrate how bad Obamacare is turns out to be grateful for Obamacare.  Now, DKOs finds that someone in Cruz's office doesn't know how to set up a chess board.  This is just a little more evidence for my suspicion that the drones wingnuts attract are mediocre.

ANOTHER AMERICAN ICON SHATTERED

:-)  I buy lots of skim milk and until now I thought the "sell-by" date was a guarantee that you could drink it safely until then, ceteris paribus.  It turns out that the meaning of this label varies by state and by product.

The ‘sell-by’ dates on your groceries are useless. Here’s why.

By Brad Plumer, Published: September 28 at 10:30 am
WaPO

THIS NEEDS A LOT MORE COVERAGE

(h/t Atrios)

The Taliban/Bagger wing of the GOP is being thrown a bone in the newest House CR because it includes a so-called "conscience clause" that will allow businesses and insurers to deny coverage for contraception if it violates their fee-fees.

THIS STORY IS A LITTLE PUZZLING

Here are the excerpts:

No. 2 US nuke commander suspended amid probe
Associated Press
ROBERT BURNS 12 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The No. 2 officer at the military command in charge of all U.S. nuclear war-fighting forces has been suspended and is under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for issues related to gambling, officials said Saturday.

Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, who heads Strategic Command, suspended the deputy commander, Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, from his duties on Sept. 3, according to the command's top spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze. Giardina is still assigned to the command but is prohibited from performing duties related to nuclear weapons and other issues requiring a security clearance, she said.

Kehler has recommended to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Giardina be reassigned, Kunze said. Giardina has been the deputy commander of Strategic Command since December 2011. He is a career submarine officer and prior to starting his assignment there was the deputy commander and chief of staff at U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Two senior U.S. officials familiar with the investigation said it is related to gambling issues.

I don't know the etiology of a gambling addiction so maybe I'm off base here, but I thought this habit was developed over years and that leads me to ask "Why now?" As the AP points out, our nuclear forces have been having some real problems recently:

Last spring the nuclear missile unit at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., pulled 17 launch control officers off duty after a problematic inspection and later relieved of duty the officer in charge of training and proficiency. In August a nuclear missile unit at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., failed a nuclear safety and security inspection; nine days later an officer in charge of the unit's security forces was relieved of duty.