Pence faces cash shortage, campaign viability questions

• October 20, 2023

By Jill Colvin | Associated Press

NEW YORK — With three months to go before the Iowa caucuses that he has staked his campaign on, former Vice President Mike Pence faces mounting debt and lagging poll numbers that are forcing questions about not only whether he will qualify for the next debate, but whether it makes sense for him to remain in the race until then.

Pence ended September with just $1.18 million left in his campaign account, a strikingly low number for a presidential contest and far less than his rivals, new filings show. His campaign also has $621,000 in debt — more than half the cash he had remaining — and is scrambling to meet donor thresholds for the Nov. 8 debate. While he would likely meet the debate’s polling requirements, Pence has struggled to gain traction and is polling in the low single digits nationally, with no sign of momentum.

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is leading every one of his rivals by at least 40 points in national polls and ended September with $37.5 million on hand.

People close to Pence say he now faces a choice about how long to stay in the race and whether remaining a candidate might potentially diminish his long-term standing in the party, given Trump’s dominating lead. While Pence could stick it out until the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, visiting the state’s famous Pizza Ranch restaurants and campaigning on a shoestring budget, he must now weigh how that will impact his desire to remain a leading conservative voice, according to the people, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to share their unvarnished views.

“For Pence and many of the others, you gotta start looking and saying, ‘I’m not going to go into substantial debt if I don’t see a pathway forward,’” said former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ran against Trump in 2016 but abandoned his bid after concluding “the Trump train had left the station.”

Pence, for the moment, is pressing forward. He held a Newsmax town hall in Iowa Tuesday night and fundraisers this week in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Dallas. He was to speak at the Republican National Committee’s fall retreat Friday night and at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Annual Leadership Summit in Las Vegas next week — all opportunities to pitch deep-pocketed donors to keep his campaign afloat.

The super PAC supporting Pence is also continuing its efforts, fundraising and conducting extensive voter outreach, including knocking on nearly 600,000 doors and counting.

The campaign is also working aggressively to reach the 70,000-donor threshold needed to qualify for next month’s debate and expressed confidence they could get there if they try — even as others remain skeptical he can make it.

“I know it’s an uphill climb for a lot of reasons for us, some that I understand, some that I don’t,” Pence acknowledged as he spoke to reporters in New Hampshire last week after formally registering for the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Still, some in Pence’s orbit believe he has important contributions left to make in the primary, particularly after the Hamas attack on Israel pushed foreign policy to the forefront. Pence has argued he is the most qualified candidate to deal with issues abroad, saying in the August debate that “now is not the time for on-the-job training.”

Pence, they say, feels a renewed sense of purpose given his warnings throughout the campaign against the growing tide of isolationism in the Republican Party. Pence has used the conflict to decry “voices of appeasement,” which he argues embolden groups like Hamas.

Another person cautioned that Pence, a devout Evangelical Christian who sees the campaign as a calling, may respond differently than other candidates might in his position if he feels called to stay in the race.

If he decides to exit, Pence would have a potential platform in Advancing American Freedom, the conservative think tank he founded after leaving the vice presidency.

In the meantime, the campaign has been working to cut costs, including having fewer staff members travel to events.

Regardless of what he decides, the predicament facing the former vice president underscores just how dramatically Trump has transformed the GOP.

Pence, in many ways, has been running to lead a party that no longer exists.

He has cast himself as the field’s most traditionally conservative candidate in the mold of Ronald Reagan. But many of his positions — from maintaining U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion to proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare — are out of step with much of his party’s base.

He also faces fallout from Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters — some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” — stormed the Capitol building, sending him running for his life. Trump tried to falsely convince Pence and his own followers that the vice president somehow had the power to overturn the results.

Pence has repeatedly been confronted on the campaign trail by people who accuse him of betraying Trump, who still promotes falsehoods about the 2020 election — often several times a day.

But Pence has also faced the same challenge as every candidate in the field not named Trump, a singular figure whose grip on the party has only intensified as he has been charged with dozens of crimes.

“If something big doesn’t happen on Nov. 8, the primary is over. Some would argue it is now,” said Walker, who entered the 2016 Republican primary as a front-runner only to end his campaign in September 2015, months before a single vote was cast, amid mounting debt.

An August AP-NORC poll found Republicans split on Pence: 41% held a favorable view of the candidate and 42% an unfavorable one. Nationally, a majority of U.S. adults — 57% — view him negatively, with only 28% having a positive view.

Some are hoping Pence doesn’t give up. In Iowa, Kelley Koch, chair of the Dallas County Republican Party, said she felt Pence had struggled to define himself beyond Trump and said many remained skeptical of his actions on Jan. 6.

But she said following the attack on Israel, with all eyes now on the Middle East and a new war, that Pence could have a moment to break through.

“He is such a pro on foreign policy. That’s one of his strengths. And he has that over a lot of the new rookie candidates who are in the race. He should run on that,” she said. “I would think that that would be just a major trumpet setting the stage for Mike Pence to step up and take the mic.”

Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Israel-Hamas war exposes ugliness here at home

• October 20, 2023

The brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas may be thousands of miles away from our shores, but it has unleashed considerable ugliness here at home.

The most prominent and egregious problem has been the confusion among supporters of the Palestinians who in fact reveal deep-seated anti-Semitism and apparent sympathy for Hamas rather than their victims.

Across the country, radical left-wing groups have revealed themselves as supporters of Hamas’ violent attacks on innocent people, including children. These include chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Black Lives Matter movement, which issued statements characterizing Hamas’ murder of innocent people as somehow righteous.

Our universities have also been home to such filth.

At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Professor Mika Tosca recently came to national attention for writing, “Israelis are pigs. Savages. Very very bad people. Irredeemable excrement. … May they all rot in hell.”

Closer to home, Professor Jemma Decristo at the University of California, Davis, who threateningly posted: “one group of ppl we have easy access to in the US is all these zionist journalists who spread propaganda & misinformation they have houses w addresses, kids in school they can fear their bosses, but they should fear us more.”

Decristo was a signatory of a letter, signed by hundreds of University of California students, alumni and professors blaming Israel for the actions of Hamas terrorists.

“At this time, we refuse any calls for ‘peace’ which are just calls for the quiet submission of Palestinians to an early grave,” the bizarre letter reads.

To be sure, ugliness doesn’t just come from those who side with Hamas.

In Illinois, a 6-year-old Muslim boy was senselessly stabbed to death by the landlord of the home in which he lived.

“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff’s statement said, according to the Associated Press.

It is sadly reminiscent of the sort of violence and Islamophobia seen in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Elsewhere, a professor at Washington University was reportedly fired after celebrating the Israeli bombing of Gaza, saying it was, “a much needed cleansing, yes, but not an ethnic one. Israel is not targeting humans.”

And on the policy front, we have seen the once-reputable Heritage Foundation indulge pure xenophobia by attacking any notion of resettling Palestinian refugees here in the United States by saying, “The Palestinian population has no interest in assimilating into American culture and governance or in expressing loyalty to America or our allies.”

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To be clear, though, resettlement of Palestinians is not particularly common, typically less than 100 people per year over the last decade.

But Heritage’s assertion is a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian-Americans who live here among us. Reducing whole groups of people to mere caricatures is wrong. For decades, America has successfully resettled people from all over the world and it should continue doing so.

It is understandable that there is great disagreement over the broader conflict. But people need to keep their heads in check.

All sensible people should oppose terrorism and terrorist actions. All sensible people should hope that as few innocent lives are lost are possible. And all sensible people should be able to recognize that not everything is black and white.

​ Orange County Register 

Native lands lack clean water protections, but more tribes are taking charge

• October 20, 2023

Alex Brown | (TNS) Stateline.org

Across the roughly 1,300 square miles of the White Earth Indian Reservation in northwest Minnesota, tribal members harvest wild rice in waters that have sustained them for generations. They’ve been working for decades to restore sturgeon, a culturally important fish, and they harvest minnows and leeches to supply bait for anglers across the country.

But the White Earth Band can no longer depend on the clean, abundant waters that make those activities possible. Droughts brought on by climate change and irrigation for agriculture have threatened the reservation’s rivers and lakes. Manure runoff from factory farms could poison the water that’s left.

Last year, the tribal government passed an ordinance to restrict withdrawals of water from the reservation and adjacent lands that share an aquifer. Under the statute, farms and other businesses seeking to withdraw more than 1 million gallons per year must obtain a permit from the tribe.

“White Earth firmly believes that if they did not take this action, the health and well-being of their members would be imminently harmed,” said Jamie Konopacky, the tribe’s environmental attorney. “Because of the growing concern about massive water appropriations, they passed this ordinance to give themselves independent permitting authority.”

The tribe’s action has not stopped the state from issuing water withdrawal permits on reservation land, a dispute currently being contested in tribal court. While the legal battle is with a farmer, not the state, Minnesota officials are examining the jurisdictional issues in play, and the tribe is urging them to recognize its sovereignty.

White Earth leaders are joining a growing effort by tribal nations to protect waters in Indian Country — asserting their sovereignty to target pollution that’s threatening wild rice in Minnesota, shellfish in Washington and salmon in California.

Some of the nations have passed tribal ordinances to regulate polluters on reservation lands. Others have sought authority under the federal Clean Water Act to establish their own water quality standards, giving them a legal mechanism to combat pollution coming from upstream.

“The tribe’s treaty right to harvest and consume shellfish and finfish is not a meaningful right if they’re not safe to eat,” said Hansi Hals, natural resources director for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula.

Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe approval to issue its own water quality standards under the Treatment as a State (TAS) program. That status essentially gives tribes the same regulatory power over certain water quality programs as states, once they have proven their jurisdiction on waters that run through or connect to reservation and tribal trust lands. The tribe plans to adopt standards under that authority sometime next year.

Meanwhile, the EPA is working to establish “baseline” water quality standards for tribes that have not yet adopted their own, ensuring that all Native lands receive Clean Water Act protections.

As tribes establish their own standards and permitting programs, some experts believe they could play a critical role in fighting pollution and ensuring that the resources they depend on for subsistence and cultural values are preserved.

But tribal leaders acknowledge that regulatory programs are expensive and time-consuming to establish, and some tribes can’t afford them. And many tribes that seek to assert their sovereignty risk costly legal battles with industry-friendly states, which are reluctant to give up their own permitting authority. Meanwhile, a new presidential administration could appoint EPA leaders hostile to tribal interests, undoing recent efforts.

Asserting sovereignty

In 1987, Congress passed a provision allowing tribes to set their own water quality standards in the same manner as states, recognizing that Native reservations had been left out of the powers delegated to states under the Clean Water Act.

“Clean Water Act standards don’t exist in Indian Country,” said Jim Grijalva, a professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law and a longtime advocate for tribal water programs. “The problem is a racist assumption that tribes shouldn’t have the governmental right to do anything.”

While the Treatment as a State program sought to correct that, its lengthy and complicated approval process has made it challenging for tribes to pursue that option. Only 84 of the nation’s 574 federally recognized tribes are recognized under the TAS program. And only 326 tribes have reservation land, further limiting the nations that can apply.

But momentum is growing. A 2016 EPA rule streamlined the application process, and 22 tribes — more than a quarter of those approved — have earned TAS status since 2020.

“The learning curve has been slow at times, but tribes are realizing the ability to use their sovereign authority under the Clean Water Act as part of their arsenal for protection,” said Ken Norton, chair of the National Tribal Water Council, a tribal advocacy group.

Norton also directs the Tribal Environmental Protection Agency for the Hoopa Valley Tribe in California, which was among the first tribes approved for TAS status in 1996. The tribe’s regulatory authority on the Klamath River enabled it to negotiate the extension of a state-run salmon hatchery that was slated to close under a dam-removal plan.

“Our voice at the table, not as a stakeholder but as a regulatory entity, was strengthened because we had these federally approved water quality standards,” Norton said.

Grijalva, the law professor, noted that tribal standards can take into account factors such as the dietary habits of Native people who harvest food from the landscape.

“Tribes have inherent rights to make value judgments that are different than their neighbors,” he said. “If you set a dioxin standard, mercury standard or selenium standard based on risk to the average white guy, you’re not accounting for the tenfold increase in exposure to an Indigenous person.”

In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community fish for lake trout, brook trout and walleye on the reservation’s lakes and rivers. The tribe earned TAS status in 2020 and is working to issue water quality standards by the end of the year.

“We’re a fishing community, so the protection of water quality is of utmost importance,” said Dione Price, the tribe’s environmental specialist and environmental health section lead. “This really does give the tribe a seat at the table in water protection.”

The Karuk Tribe in California also received TAS approval in 2020. Grant Johnson, the tribe’s water quality program manager, said that step came after years of securing funding, hiring staff and building proficiency to ensure it could craft detailed regulations, monitor its waters and enforce its standards.

The Keweenaw Bay and Karuk tribes are among the 37 nations that have received TAS authority but are still working to issue water quality standards or waiting on EPA approval of those thresholds. While many are well underway, the staffing levels and expertise required to run a water quality program remain a major hurdle for some tribes.

“It’s great to take advantage of the politically open moment, but many tribes don’t have the resources and support to make their own standards,” said Sibyl Diver, a lecturer at Stanford University’s Earth Systems Program who has published research on TAS.

Diver also noted that many reservations are within states that are hostile to tribal sovereignty and environmental regulations. Such tribes are likely to face lawsuits from state governments and conservative groups, and may not have the resources for expensive legal battles.

New authorities

While many tribes have set standards that are more stringent than their neighbors, experts say that even thresholds that only match federal minimums give tribes a major tool. Just by holding that authority, tribes can participate in permitting decisions on upstream waters.

For the Chehalis Tribe in Washington state, water quality standards allow it to protect the salmon that swim in the Chehalis River.

“The tribe having its own standards means that if there’s a project or an issue that’s happening upstream, the tribe now has a say in what’s happening rather than waiting for the federal government to act on it,” said Jeff Warnke, the tribe’s director of government and public relations.

While more tribes work toward that regulatory power, others have started by setting tribal ordinances for their own reservations. Some, like the White Earth Band in Minnesota, see the establishment of an internal program as a precursor for pursuing TAS authority. Norton, with the National Tribal Water Council, said more tribal nations have issued such regulations in recent years, although specific figures are hard to come by.

Meanwhile, more tribes may seek to create or expand water ordinances after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year to remove millions of acres of wetlands from Clean Water Act jurisdiction, leaving their protection up to states and tribes.

As more tribes work to set up their own programs, the EPA has proposed a “baseline” water quality standard for tribal lands that are not yet covered under TAS. If the rule moves forward, it would provide protection for 76,000 miles of rivers and streams and 1.9 million acres of lakes and reservoirs that currently lack standards, the agency said.

“Some states like the fact that there’s no rules in Indian Country,” said Grijalva, the law professor. “But if a significant part of the country is not protected because it doesn’t have the most basic water quality standards, EPA isn’t doing its job.”

The federal agency did not make a spokesperson available for comment.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2023 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

No. 25 UCLA looks to get back on track at Stanford

• October 20, 2023

UCLA and Stanford will compete in the 95th game of their football series that started in 1925. It may also be their last for some time.

In 2024, both teams will go their separate ways as UCLA (4-2 overall, 1-2 Pac-12) heads to the Big Ten Conference and Stanford (2-4, 1-3) will join the ACC conference.

The rivalry has always carried a level of intrigue since 2018 because of the friendship and level of respect between UCLA coach Chip Kelly and former Stanford coach David Shaw.

Shaw will not be on the opposing sideline this season after he decided to resign in late November after 12 seasons at his alma mater. What’s more, Shaw has been seen wearing blue and gold this year as his son, Carter Shaw, joined the Bruins as a preferred walk-on receiver this season.

Following Shaw’s resignation, Downey native Troy Taylor was hired away from Sacramento State, where he went 30-8 in three seasons, to oversee the Cardinal.

“I don’t know Troy very well at all,” Kelly said of the former Utah offensive coordinator (2017-18). “I’ve met him at league meetings but I don’t know him that way. … I have a lot of respect for Troy and he did an unbelievable job at Sacramento State and he’s doing a really good job now.”

Taylor and the Cardinal are coming off a 46-43 come-from-behind double-overtime victory against the Colorado Buffaloes last week.

When UCLA has the ball

Quarterback Dante Moore has thrown six of his seven interceptions throughout the first three games of conference play, including a pick-6 in the first half of each of those games.

There’s no indication Kelly will send someone other than Moore out to be the starter this week.

“The quarterback is a very talented guy,” Taylor said. “He’s young and you see him growing, but he has a lot of ability.”

The Bruins tried to get backup quarterback Collin Schlee involved on offense and did find some success with the use of his mobility in last week’s Oregon State loss before he suffered an upper-body injury and did not return.

Schlee was not seen at practice early in the week and it appears unlikely that he will play Saturday. It remains unclear if Kelly will look to deploy any other quarterbacks to complement Moore this week.

The Bruins could benefit running the ball against a Stanford defense that’s allowed 4.61 yards per carry and 138.2 rushing yards per game.

Led by Carson Steele’s 110 yards on 22 carries, UCLA rushed for 287 yards last week, but Kelly was not satisfied with the performance.

“We need to be more consistent rushing the football,” Kelly said. “There were a lot of big runs, but I think we left some meat on the bone and we need to be more consistent in all phases of what we’re doing on offense right now.”

When Stanford has the ball

The UCLA defense has been fairly consistent this season, but Oregon State provided its biggest challenge last week, producing 415 total yards and three receiving touchdowns.

The Bruins were also limited to just two sacks and a forced fumble last week. Linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo and safety Kamari Ramsey led the defense with eight tackles each. Oladejo also had the fumble recovery and a pass breakup. Edge rusher Laiatu Latu had four tackles and 0.5 sacks.

The defense will have to get back on track and apply pressure to rattle first-year starting quarterback Ashton Daniels.

“They have one of the best defensive lines in our conference,” Taylor said. “(Latu) is really good.”

Daniels threw for 396 yards and four touchdowns against Colorado. Both were season highs. The sophomore quarterback also served as the Cardinal’s leading rusher with 39 yards on 16 carries.

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Wide receiver Elic Ayomanor also had a breakout game with 13 receptions for 294 yards and three touchdowns. No other receiver had more than four receptions in the win.

“He played really fast (against Colorado),” Taylor said about Ayomanor. “We always knew he had the potential to do that. A lot of it is just confidence. … This is something he can build upon.”

No. 25 UCLA (4-2, 1-2 Pac-12) at Stanford (2-4, 1-3)

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Stanford Stadium

TV/radio: ESPN/570 AM

​ Orange County Register 

How climate change could affect when and where people travel

• October 20, 2023

By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet

Travelers encountered many weather surprises this summer, from wildfires in Europe to knee-deep mud at Burning Man. Indeed, it was the hottest summer on record around the globe, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

“The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in a prepared statement published Sept. 6. “Our planet has just endured a season of simmering — the hottest summer on record. Climate breakdown has begun.”

Shifting weather patterns are raising questions about where, when, how and whether tourists will travel.

For example, does it still make sense to visit Italy in July, despite high temperatures, large crowds and minimal air conditioning? Or should “peak” travel season move to the more hospitable autumn or spring months?

Tourism destinations are starting to take note — and get worried — about the toll climate change could take on this enormous industry.

Hot destinations

Escaping to the Spanish coast for the summer used to sound like a dream. This year it turned into more of a nightmare for Mediterranean travelers. The coastal city of Valencia, Spain, saw temperatures reach 116 degrees Fahrenheit in August, a record high. That came amid Spain’s limits on air conditioning use in public spaces, leaving tourists to sweat it out.

These trends are only likely to get worse, driving travelers away from hot beachside destinations in Europe, according to a July report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. Southern coastal regions such as Greece, Italy and Spain are expected to see a drop in tourism if temperatures continue to increase.

On the other hand, colder destinations in Northern Europe could actually see more vacationers. Denmark, France and the United Kingdom could receive more tourists because of higher temperatures, according to the report. Greenland, which is mostly covered with ice, is expecting to see far more tourists in the coming decades, with a new airport set to open in 2024.

Closer to home, many popular destinations have already been affected by rising temperatures. The namesake glaciers of Glacier National Park have lost an average of 40% of their size between 1966 and 2015, according to the National Park Service. Florida’s coral reefs were bleaching and dying under the stress of record ocean temperatures this summer.

Peak travel seasons

Summers are for vacations — that’s a truth so universally acknowledged as to be almost self-evident. Families travel while kids are out of school, and office workers flee to vacation in ideal weather.

Yet, as summers continue to warm, these vacations could give way to “shoulder season” alternatives in spring and autumn months. In other words, tourists could change when (rather than where) they visit.

Indeed, this change may already be taking place. Short-term rental analytics platform AirDNA reported that occupancy rates at mountain and lake destinations in October 2022 were nearly as high as 2019’s peak occupancy (in July), bucking the typical sharp downward trend after the summer.

Cherry blossoms in Japan are flowering 11 days earlier than they used to, according to a 2022 report in the journal Environmental Research Letters. This has shifted the tourist-attracting cherry blossom festival from April into March.

Changes in flexible working conditions, as well as pent-up demand from the pandemic, could also be contributing to the rise of shoulder season travel.

Yet as more travelers take stock of changing weather patterns, they will likely adjust their schedules to avoid stifling summer heat. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre estimates that southern coastal regions could lose as much as 10% of tourists during peak summer months.

A climate catch-22

A changing climate will affect how and when tourists travel. Yet this causation runs the other way, as well: Tourism is itself affecting the climate.

Tourism accounts for about 8% of global emissions, according to some estimates. A single trans-Atlantic flight would require an acre of forest to absorb its carbon emissions. Although the airline industry is racing to reduce emissions, it lags far behind other major emitters, such as passenger vehicles, in making meaningful change.

What does that mean for airline passengers? Either they must begin reducing the number of miles they fly, or governments may begin imposing restrictions in order to reduce emissions.

For example, France has already banned short-haul domestic flights for routes already serviced by rail. That is, if travelers can get there in less than two and a half hours on a train, they can no longer fly. Similar bans could appear throughout Europe as countries get more aggressive on combating climate change.

Some advocates have even proposed a frequent flyer tax that scales with the number of flights a traveler takes — an effort to curb these large carbon footprints.

Whether these or similar measures take off in coming years or not, this much is clear: The days of unfettered jet-setting could be coming to an end.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

The article How Climate Change Could Affect When and Where People Travel originally appeared on NerdWallet.

​ Orange County Register 

Sailor suicides spark effort to change Navy’s mental health culture: ‘God forbid more families have to go through this.’

• October 20, 2023

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts about suicide, please contact the national suicide and crisis lifeline by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

Kody Decker’s Navy service began in 2018 with excitement and anticipation for the future.

“Look at his smiling face,” said Kody’s father, Robert Decker, motioning to a framed photo in his Chesapeake home. “That was during boot camp. The kid was very excited.”

A tri-folded flag given to the family at Kody Decker’s funeral now sits on the mantel in the living room. Next week, Oct. 29, will be the anniversary of the 22-year-old’s death.

A wave of suicides among sailors has brought the tides of change to the Navy. The service is undertaking a massive effort to change the way it treats sailors experiencing mental health crises.

“I am often asked what keeps me up at night,” said Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces. “The answer is the health and welfare of our sailors. There is nothing more impactful to the Navy than to lose one of our own through suicide.”

Fleet Forces, at Naval Station Norfolk, has taken the lead of the Navy’s cultural shift following another year of elevated sailor suicides, which came in at 79 across the service last year, according to Defense Department data. The count represents a 14.5% increase from 69 suicides in 2021. The highest tally in recent previous years was 80 suicides in 2019, and the lowest was 62 in 2016. This includes active and reserve members.

“There’s a difference seeking help for a broken leg and seeking mental health — let’s face it,” Caudle said.

The stigma of seeking help for mental health is not unique to the Navy. It is a reality of society.

Around 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness, according to a 2021 study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But less than half receive treatment. The stigma of seeking help is often a barrier to care. This can include public perceptions, discriminatory behavior, labeling and fear of reprisal in the workplace.

It is a barrier, Caudle said, the Navy is working to lower.

“I know it’s hard to ask for help when you are struggling, but suffering in silence is certainly not the answer,” Caudle said in a message to sailors during a recent suicide prevention event. “Seeking help is an act of strength, not weakness.”

Suicide, the Department of Defense and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found, is more common among men aged 18-25 — the primary demographic starting a Navy career.

While the Navy’s suicide rates are comparable to those in the general male population, suicide clusters among sailors linked to the same command have brought the service under scrutiny in recent years.

At least seven of the sailors who died by suicide in 2022 were assigned to two Hampton Roads-based installations — the USS George Washington and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center.

Kody Decker, an electronics technician, served aboard the USS Bataan based out of Naval Station Norfolk from December 2019 to August 2022. He was subsequently diagnosed with adjustment disorder and reported to the Norfolk maintenance center on limited duty.

He died by suicide two months later on Oct. 29.

___

‘Getting help was frowned upon’

Decker’s family and a sailor who knew him said he was targeted by leadership for requesting time off. The bullying worsened, they said, when he sought mental health treatment on Aug. 1, 2022.

“First, it was public and indirect — kind of like throwing shade — but it was in the air,” said a former sailor, who agreed to be interviewed by The Virginian-Pilot on the condition of anonymity because he fears reprisal.

The former sailor, who was assigned to the Bataan from 2020 to 2022, said leadership eventually became comfortable speaking more directly about Kody Decker, even talking about him around other junior sailors.

“They thought he was using what he was going through and all the appointments as a way out of work,” the former sailor said.

A portrait of Kody Decker, a 22-year-old sailor who died by suicide in 2022, sits on the mantel in the Decker’s Chesapeake family home on April 12. (Stephen Katz / The Virginian-Pilot)

A Navy investigation into Decker’s death reported the climate in his department on the Bataan was a contributing factor to his mental health stressors. According to the investigation report released in May, sailors described the command as “high operational tempo” even when the ship was in port with no time off.

The suicide investigation did not look into whether Decker was the target of hazing or unfair treatment while he was assigned to the Bataan, said Lt. Cmdr. David Carter, public affairs officer for Naval Surface Force Atlantic.

But the investigation did explore if Decker was targeted while at the Norfolk maintenance center where he was assigned when he died. No evidence of hazing was found. The investigation did not define hazing or unfair treatment.

Both expectant parents in late 2021, the former sailor and Decker had grown close at work and in their personal lives.

“We quickly became close friends, brothers even,” the former sailor said.

Working in the same department, the former sailor witnessed many of Decker’s interactions with leadership aboard the Bataan. And given their personal relationship, the two often vented to one another.

“We never had leadership. We had a chain of command. It’s like having a boss and a leader — two totally different things,” the friend said.

The former sailor said Decker was stressed about missing the birth of his son in January 2022. As the due date approached, Decker asked a chief about beginning paternity leave. The chief’s response, the friend said, was that Decker would not begin leave until his wife “was on the table with her legs open, giving birth.”

The remark, the former sailor said, was sickening.

“Kody was furious. But mentally you succumb to the realization that you have to take it,” his friend said. “It is frustrating, but it is our reality.”

Snap, emotional responses to harsh leaders were kept in check by a 45-day restriction that could prevent junior sailors under disciplinary action from leaving the ship, the former sailor said. He also said crew members under disciplinary action could have their common access cards confiscated by the department chief. This prevented sailors from accessing email while underway and meant they were unable to contact family unless the chief gave them permission to do so.

The sailor’s allegation, Naval Surface Force Atlantic said, is not consistent with the Bataan’s official policy. From 2020 to 2022, only the commanding officer, via nonjudicial punishment or for pretrial restraint, could impose restrictions on crew members in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice and Manual for Courts-Martial. At the time, the security department was authorized to confiscate the common access cards of crew members on restriction, as ordered by the commanding officer. But in August 2022, the command’s restriction policy was updated in accordance with Department of Defense policy to remove any and all authority to confiscate the access cards of crew members on restriction.

The former sailor said Decker expressed he was “beyond stressed” due to leadership aboard the Bataan during conversations spanning about eight months. And on Aug. 1, Decker requested mental health treatment from the ship’s medical team. Decker told the medical team he was not experiencing suicidal thoughts at the time, the Navy’s investigation reports.

“Getting help was frowned upon, to say the least. If you needed signatures to take time off for an appointment, the higher ranking chiefs or officers in charge have a condescending attitude, like a personal grudge against you,” the former sailor said.

Decker turned to his dad, Robert Decker, for guidance on how to work with difficult leaders. 

“I told him, if you have got bad leadership, you just keep your head down, you keep grinding. You do your job and you go home,” Robert Decker said.

But his father was unaware of how bad things were.

“But I didn’t know. I did not fully understand,” Robert Decker quietly said. His gaze lingered on his son’s smiling portrait from boot camp atop the mantel.

The ship’s medical officer planned to enter a referral for a mental health appointment for Kody Decker, according to the Navy’s investigation. The report does not say if that referral was ever put in the system. On Aug. 10, Kody Decker drove himself to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. He was admitted for an inpatient mental health evaluation because he was suicidal.

Kody Decker completed five days of inpatient treatment and on Aug. 31, he reported to the Mid-Atlantic maintenance center on limited duty. Two months later, the Decker family was planning Kody’s funeral.

“I had lunch with him, his wife and my grandson that day. There were no signs,” Robert Decker said, his words trailing off as he wiped tears from his eyes.

Following Kody Decker’s death, Robert Decker said he has witnessed the very culture and the deep-seated stigma the Navy is trying to break down.

“I see the comments and the stories published online. People saying, ‘This generation — what’s wrong with them? They are not tough.’ And I am thinking to myself, they are tough. They are just different,” Robert Decker said.

Robert Decker, a high school football coach, has learned to approach each kid as an individual, finding out “what makes them tick.” He said the Navy should follow suit.

“The way I coached in ’91, I cannot coach today. It was hardcore. It was in-your-face intense. You do that to these kids today and they are shutting down,” Robert Decker said. “I understand the Navy — and the military — is a war machine. But you cannot take a blanket way of doing things and think that you are going to get the best out of them.”

___

Moving away from ‘do as I say or else’

In April 2022, three sailors connected to the USS George Washington died by suicide within a week while the carrier was undergoing an extended overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding. Less than eight months later, the Norfolk-based Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center reported four suicides within 28 days.

In May 2022, the Department of Defense established the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee. The committee was comprised of 10 subject matter experts and military veterans, who explored how to prevent suicide among service members.

The committee found that the younger generation, ages 18-25, have different motivations to work and expectations of their employers. They prefer open communication and continuous feedback, quick responses to questions, have an urgent sense of immediacy and are “unlikely to readily accept organizational policies that limit the sharing of information.”

This is true of the incoming workforce for the military, the committee’s report says.

Improving communication across generations is key for the Department of Defense to prevent suicide, the report says. It suggests Navy leaders move away from the “do as I say or else” style of leadership.

Younger personnel display more openness toward help-seeking and self-disclosure of their struggles. Older personnel, by comparison, were more likely to view help-seeking and self-disclosure of struggles as indicators of low resilience, the report says.

Fleet Master Chief John Perryman, who enlisted in the Navy in 1994, said he doesn’t think the qualities of a good leader have changed.

“What has changed is sailors’ willingness to put up with bad leaders,” Perryman said during a recent Fleet Forces meeting with reporters to discuss the Navy’s cultural shift.

Perryman — alongside Caudle — outlined the Navy’s efforts to tackle the stigma of seeking mental health care and how the service is reinforcing that message to leaders at all levels.

“The ability to make those decisions on an individual sailor or Marine basis rests on that leader’s ability to really know their sailors and to demonstrate that they really genuinely care about them,” Perryman said.

But, Perryman said, the Navy has run into senior leaders who “are not comfortable operating in that space.” Those leaders will default to sending that person to medical for mental health treatment or will haphazardly attempt to handle it themselves.

“If I don’t have a pre-existing relationship with you, why would you trust me to try to help you through whatever difficulties you have?” Perryman said.

___

Playbook implores leaders to get personal

Guiding sailors from the deck plate to the most senior positions are two newly implemented programs: the Brandon Act in May and the Navy’s Mental Health Playbook in February.

The Brandon Act allows service members to seek help confidentially for any reason at any time and in any environment — in the hope that would prevent the stigma associated with seeking such treatment.

Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, speaks regarding mental health in the Navy during a press conference at U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk on Sept. 25. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)

“The Brandon Act legislated what good leadership looks like,” Caudle said. “I think good commands were already doing this.”

The Mental Health Playbook is meant to educate leaders within any size chain of command by detailing scenarios and outlining possible paths forward. It requires leaders to set conditions by creating a climate of trust and respect with open, two-way communication and encourages them to use empathy and have conversations that go beyond professional performance.

“But a playbook is not worth the paper it’s written on if we don’t put it into practice,” Caudle said. “And that’s a responsibility throughout the chain of command.”

Leaders can’t take a hands-off approach where they are more comfortable interacting via emails and text messages, Caudle said.

“When it comes to the subject we are talking about — mental health — I don’t think that is good enough. That is not even close to being good enough,” Caudle said.

He wants to see a more personal leadership style become the standard for the Navy, from petty officers to the most senior military officials.

“They have to actually know their sailors. They need to know where they live, their family members, their kids’ names, their financial situation,” Caudle said, in order to pick up on day-to-day differences a sailor is exhibiting.

On. Sept. 28, the secretary of defense approved a “5 Lines of Effort” campaign based on the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee’s recommendations that is meant to strengthen the department’s suicide prevention strategy.

The first line of the effort is to foster a supportive environment by investing in taking care of “people priorities,” improving morale through facilities to enhance quality of life and empowering leaders to improve schedule predictability. The second line is to improve the delivery of mental health care by expanding programs to recruit and retain more mental health professionals and increasing appointment availability. The third line is to address stigma and other barriers to care by expanding nonmedical counseling for suicide prevention, mental health services in primary care and telehealth services for mental health.

The department plans to fully implement the campaign by the end of fiscal year 2030.

___

‘Talking to me didn’t hurt their career’

In the meantime, nonmedical resources are available to sailors who are struggling with a mental health crisis, clashing with a leader or just need someone to talk to. These resources are bound by confidentiality and are not logged in a sailor’s file.

Aboard the USS George Washington, just down the corridor from the aft mess deck where junior enlisted personnel eat and have access to Wi-Fi, is Terrance Levine’s office.

A sailor holds a sign advertising the hotline number for the suicide and crisis lifeline during a press conference regarding mental health in the Navy at Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk on Sept. 25. (Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot)

“Hey, how you doing?” Levine says to a sailor in passing during a recent underway.

Affectionately dubbed Talk Boss, Levine is a deployed resiliency counselor. He reported to the Washington in May after it left Newport News Shipbuilding. Deployed resiliency counselors are civilian licensed clinicians assigned to aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious assault ships. They offer confidential, short-term, nonmedical counseling for all sailors attached to the ship.

The resiliency counselor program supports two counselors on every carrier and amphibious ship in the fleet. On the East Coast, 10 of 22 positions were vacant as of Oct. 17, according to Navy Installations Command, which oversees the Fleet and Family Support Program that provides nonmedical mental health counseling for sailors and family members.

“I see sailors that maybe are having work-related problems, family issues, maybe an email they received from home while deployed saying, ‘I don’t want the marriage or the relationship.’ So, they are coming to me for that engagement. My job is to patch them up, get them to work through it and return them back to the mission,” Levine said.

But, a lot of sailors, he said, still have concerns that talking to him will impact their work life.

Around 35% of service members believe receiving mental health care would negatively impact their careers, according to the Defense Health Agency’s Psychological Health Center of Excellence. Fears include being perceived as weak or less competent or receiving blame or different treatment from leaders for seeking mental health care.

Levine relies on word of mouth to break down that stigma.

“From what I have been told by these same sailors is that talking to me didn’t hurt their career. And they are talking to other sailors, saying that if you have a problem, go to the Talk Boss, go to psych, seek out the resources,” Levine said. “I see more people really taking control of their mental health and seeking the help that they need.”

Another resource available to sailors is the Command Religious Ministries Department.

The Navy is working to increase the presence of chaplains on ships based in Norfolk from 37 to 47, the Associated Press reported in March. Previously, chaplains were routinely deployed only on the largest aircraft carriers, which have up to 5,000 personnel.

“In my opinion, from my experience, I don’t think that we’re seeing an increase of issue. I think we are seeing an increase in education, an increase of resources being developed and implemented and pushed into our sailors’ lives in a good way,” said Marlin Williams, a chaplain aboard the USS George Washington.

Chaplain Marlin Williams sits for a portrait in the faith center aboard the USS George Washington (CVN-73) off the coast of Florida on Sept. 15. “It ripples into the leadership, the whole command , and the whole fleet when people hear of the death,” Williams said of the suicides on board. (Billy Schuerman / The Virginian-Pilot)

The ministries departments are diverse groups of religious clergy who are also naval officers and of various denominations. The chaplains provide pastoral counseling — not mental health counseling — but they often have advanced degrees in counseling.

“What we bring to the table, whether someone has a faith community or not, is that sense of greater purpose bigger than oneself,” Williams said.

The chaplains are able to offer sailors absolute confidentiality. He said this applies when sailors express suicidal thoughts.

“The ability to come in and talk to someone knowing that whatever you say is going to be held in confidence opens up an amazing door to healing for someone,” Williams said.

Williams checked in aboard the Washington at the start of January. By the end of the month, another Washington sailor died by suicide.

“That was tragic,” Williams said. “It ripples through the whole command and, quite honestly, it ripples into the fleet.”

For Williams, suicide is personal. Two of his brothers have died by suicide.

“There is a sense of hopelessness. Making sure I articulate there is hope — that is not a 5-minute conversation. That is not a 10-minute conversation. That is a journey,” Williams said.

Williams seeks a personal connection that lets sailors know they’re heard and cared for, he said. That’s the same leadership style Caudle, with Fleet Forces, wants to become standard across the Navy.

___

‘God forbid more families have to go through this’

After Kody Decker’s death, his friend and fellow sailor separated from the Navy a year before his contract was scheduled to end. He cited his own mental health struggles.

“The Navy can either be really good — amazing enough that you want to retire with them. But if you get dealt a bad hand, which comes down to the leadership that runs the show, it can lead to things like this: depression, anxiety, suicide,” the former sailor said.

Since the start of October, Robert Decker has been bracing himself.

“It’s like I’m standing on the shore and I’m looking at the ocean and I can see the storm coming,” Robert Decker said. “The winds are picking up now. Oct. 29 is coming, and it’s going to be hell.”

Over the past 12 months, the family has experienced their first holiday, his child’s first birthday and major milestones without Kody Decker.

“This will be the last big first,” Robert Decker said, slowly exhaling a deep, shaking breath.

Robert Decker wipes tears from his eyes on April 12 while talking about his son Kody, a 22-year-old sailor who died by suicide in 2022. (Stephen Katz / The Virginian-Pilot)

In the midst of the grief, Decker said this year has also brought much-needed change and an improved awareness of mental health struggles to the service and the general public.

“Being angry at the world, being angry at an institution is not the answer. I am not happy with them, but I am happy that they are willing to address their problems,” Robert Decker said, quietly adding, “It cost me a son, unfortunately.”

Moving forward, Robert Decker said he would like to see a more personal leadership style standardized across the service. For the leaders who are unwilling to change, he hopes the Navy will weed them out, beginning with those who work closest with junior sailors.

“Leaders have got to be willing to adjust,” Robert Decker said. “I pray they do. God forbid more families have to go through this.”

Caitlyn Burchett, [email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Biden’s influence turns Israel’s ground war plans into ‘something different’

• October 20, 2023

Ethan Bronner and Henry Meyer | Bloomberg News (TNS)

Last Saturday, with Israel still in shock from the deadly attack by Hamas a week earlier, the military said it was preparing “coordinated strikes from the air, sea and land” to eradicate the group in Gaza.

But by midweek, military spokesmen were suggesting that a ground offensive “might be something different from what you think.” It could start later and last longer, unfolding in unexpected ways, they said.

In between was a series of unprecedented visits by top U.S. officials, including the secretaries of state and defense and President Joe Biden. Wrapped in their embrace of Israel’s pain after the deadliest attack in decades and promises to send warships and weapons was a message of caution about how to respond.

The U.S. shares Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas’s military infrastructure in Gaza. That’s only possible with a ground invasion, since the group, designated by the U.S. and EU as a terrorist organization, has spent decades building networks of tunnels and other emplacements.

But the U.S. influence is already shaping the way that assault will be conducted – particularly how to limit casualties among the 2 million civilians who live in Gaza – and the government’s planning for what happens when it’s over, according to Israeli officials and people close to the government.

Three senior Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the role and influence of the U.S. in this war against Hamas are deeper and more intense than any exerted by Washington in the past.

The U.S. has grown increasingly concerned that Israel’s invasion could draw in Iran-backed Hezbollah. That could open a second front in the war and sparking a broader conflict that would draw the U.S. in further and demolish the Biden administration’s efforts to stabilize the region by making peace between Israel and key Arab countries.

“President Biden is focused on reducing the chance of this war spreading to another front,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in an interview. “This is his main goal.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after Biden’s visit that an agreement had been reached on “cooperation that will change the equation in all theaters.” On Air Force One on the way back to Washington, Biden said he’d spoken with the Israelis about various “alternatives” regarding the ground war because of concern over civilian casualties and an expansion of the conflict.

In an Oval Office address Thursday night, Biden appealed to Americans to support Israel and Ukraine, arguing that Hamas and Russia “both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.”

Israelis teared up watching Biden’s statements and warm hugs of survivors. But his sympathy was paired with a warning.

“Justice must be done,” Biden said. “But I caution that, while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”

In a first, Biden and Blinken sat in on Israel’s war cabinet meetings, helping Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and opposition leader Benny Gantz assess and plan.

The night before Biden’s visit, there was a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital. Arab governments quickly embraced Hamas’s claim that Israel was behind the attack and protesters took to the streets across the Mideast. But Biden endorsed the Israeli account which blamed a failed rocket launch by a militant group.

Even as the U.S. has sent two aircraft-carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean and put troops on alert, Biden and other officials have underlined the importance of limiting civilian casualties. In Tel Aviv, the U.S. president pushed Netanyahu’s government to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, where civilians are trapped with dwindling supplies of food and water and subject to regular Israeli airstrikes. The first shipments from Egypt could come as early as Friday, according to U.S. officials.

“Biden is determined that there is a need to defeat Hamas, but he also wants to keep the strategic alliances and peace treaties between Israel and Arab countries and widen them, to deepen the American leadership in the Middle East,” said Major General (Reserve) Amos Gilead, a former top Defense Ministry official. “That’s why the humanitarian dimension is so important.”

U.S. officials have said they hope to continue efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, though the war with Hamas threatens to derail them. That deal would include U.S. security guarantees for both countries. What has emerged this week with the U.S. is a de facto version of such a pact, a top Israeli official indicated.

Michael Oren, a former ambassador to Washington for Netanyahu, said Biden is pushing Israel to use more caution both when it goes into Gaza on the ground and as it responds to increasing attacks from Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“This puts Bibi in a difficult position,” Oren said. “The bill for this one will come due the day after the war,” he said. The U.S. will likely press Netanyahu to bring Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas into Gaza and restore efforts for a two-state solution, he said.

On Wednesday, Cohen suggested that Israel is likely to seek to create a buffer zone around Gaza, rather than occupying the territory completely.

The plan for the war is closely held and still in formation but the initial goal is reflected in the fact that Israel ordered 1.1 million Palestinians to evacuate the northern part of the strip, which includes Gaza City.

“It’s an impossible situation. Israel wants to provide security to its citizens and restore deterrence and in order to do so, it seems for Israel unavoidable that it will continue to kill a lot of civilians,” said Mairav Zonszein, senior analyst on Israel at the International Crisis Group.

Still, Netanyahu’s government is receptive to the U.S. message, according to Manuel Trajtenberg, executive director of the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank. Israeli troops will stage a ground operation into the north where Hamas is headquartered and where they will likely hold the ground, with a more surgical approach in the southern part, he said.

“Israel needs legitimacy for a long time because this is not going to be a short operation,” he said.

Israel is likely to send in specialized forces trained in urban warfare, backed by regular troops and with close air support, to go from door to door to door and try to eliminate or capture Hamas leaders, according to Bilal Saab, a former Pentagon official responsible for military cooperation in the region.

“Israel’s generals are under no illusion that they can ‘wipe out Hamas,’” said Bilal, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

—With assistance from Tony Capaccio.

©2023 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

Israel’s defense minister gives more details on plans for Gaza

• October 20, 2023

By Alisa Odenheimer, Bloomberg News

Israel’s defense minister gave more details about the country’s military plans for Gaza on Friday, implying it has no intention of running the territory after its operations wind down.

Israel aims to disentangle itself from Gaza and to create a “new security reality” in the region, Yoav Gallant said to the parliamentary foreign affairs and defense committee in Tel Aviv.

It’s unclear from his comments who Israel expects to run Gaza if and when the military achieves its aim of wiping out Hamas, the Iran-backed terrorist group that killed around 1,400 Israelis during an attack on Oct. 7. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israel has launched mass airstrikes on Gaza, which is now ruled by Hamas, since then and is widely expected to launch a ground invasion. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

The objectives of the campaign include destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, Gallant said, as well as the complete removal of Israeli responsibility for the Gaza Strip.

“There will be three stages,” the defense minister said. “We are now in the first stage – a military campaign that currently includes strikes, and will later include maneuvering, with the objective of neutralizing terrorists and destroying Hamas infrastructure.”

The second phase will involve operations at a lower intensity, with the objective of eliminating “pockets of resistance,” he said. The final stage will “require the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza strip.”

©2023 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register