[guest post by Dana]

We made it! The weekend. Sigh.

Feel free to share any interesting news items, and make sure to include links. Here we go!

First news item

Judging by his inflammatory jibber-jabber, he doesn’t realize that there are a whole lot of Californians who are not Trump supporters, nor Republicans, yet are in the Recall Newsom camp:

Governor’s Answer to the Statement

WARNING: THIS UNWARRANTED RECALL EFFORT WILL COST CALIFORNIA TAXPAYERS 81 MILLION DOLLARS! IT IS BEING PUSHED BY POLITICAL EXTREMISTS SUPPORTING PRESIDENT TRUMP’S HATEFUL ATTACKS ON CALIFORNIA.

In 2018 California voters elected Governor Gavin Newsom by historic margins. As Governor, Newsom is working to 1) increase funding for public education, 2) protect and secure Californians’ health and health care, 3) improve water, roads, and bridges, 4) address the challenges of housing affordability and homelessness, and 5) prepare for the threats of wildfires.

Our budget is balanced. Our fiscal reserves are unprecedented. Our economy and employment are historically strong.

Yet a handful of partisan activists supporting President Trump and his dangerous agenda to divide America are trying to overturn the definitive will of California voters and bring Washington’s broken government to California with this recall effort.

The last thing California needs is another wasteful special election, supported by those who demonize California’s people and attack California’s values.

Do not be fooled—California’s police officers, firefighters, first responders, public school teachers, health providers, and business leaders all STRONGLY OPPOSE this costly recall.

DO NOT HAND OVER YOUR SIGNATURE, YOUR SUPPORT OR YOUR PERSONAL, PRIVATE INFORMATION TO THIS DESTRUCTIVE RECALL SCHEME.

The governor would be foolish to rest on his laurels…

Second news item

He peddles this crap knowing that it’s cable gold and because he’s just an awful person:

Fox News host Tucker Carlson went after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) over her fears about being raped during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, saying “get a therapist.”

[T]he top-rated cable news host mocked Cortez…for telling CNN’s Dana Bash earlier this week that she feared both assault and death during the pro-Trump insurrection.

Carlson was discussing Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as she was attempting to breach the doors of the Speaker’s Lobby…

“Occasionally, [Alexandria Ocasio] Cortez tells us about her lived experience on January 6. During a recent special on CNN, Cortez…explained she wasn’t simply afraid of being murdered by Ashli Babbitt. She was also worried about being raped”.

During the interview with Bash, Ocasio-Cortez recounted people banging on her office doors while she hid, saying, “I didn’t think that I was just going to be killed.”

Ocasio-Cortez said “white supremacy and patriarchy are very linked in a lot of ways” and spoke about the sexualization of violence. When asked if she meant that she feared being raped, the New York Democrat said, “Yeah, yeah, I thought I was.”

“Sexualizing? Get a therapist, honey! This is crazy,” Carlson said.

“These people are mad because they thought the election was unfair,” he added of the rioters. “Now you may disagree with that, but it wasn’t about you, surprise surprise. Sexualized violence — I was going to be raped by Ashli Babbitt.”

Third news item

SMDH:

Fourth news item

This isn’t an isolated event. Similar decisions are happening across the nation:

The Talbot County School District held a county-wide threat committee meeting on August 9, 2021 to discuss the level of threat with COVID-19 cases they are facing. It was decided that the school district is facing a high level threat. After shutting down on Friday, August 6, 2021 the school should remain closed until at least Thursday, August 12, 2021.

Superintendent of the Talbot County School District, Dr. James Catrett, describes this has been the most challenging part of his career.

“At this stage of the game, first week of school, we hated that it shut down but again, safety is our number one issue,” said Catrett.

Related:

Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging and in Dallas County, Texas, there are “zero ICU beds left for children,” county judge Clay Jenkins said in a news conference Friday morning.

“That means if your child’s in a car wreck, if your child has a congenital heart defect or something and needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have Covid and need an ICU bed, we don’t have one. Your child will wait for another child to die,” Jenkins said. “Your child will just not get on the ventilator, your child will be CareFlighted to Temple or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won’t be getting one here unless one clears.”

The judge added no ICU beds have been available for children for at least 24 hours. The Texas Department of State Health Services told CNN the shortage of pediatric ICU beds is related to a shortage in medical staff.

Fifth news item

Justice Amy Coney Barrett says “no”:

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Thursday refused to block a plan by Indiana University to require students and employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Barrett’s action came in response to an emergency request from eight students, and it marked the first time the high court has weighed in on a vaccine mandate. Some corporations, states and cities have adopted vaccine requirements for workers or even to dine indoors, and others are considering doing so.

The students said in court papers that they have “a constitutional right to bodily integrity, autonomy, and of medical treatment choice in the context of a vaccination mandate.” They wanted the high court to issue an order barring the university from enforcing the mandate. Seven of the students qualify for a religious exemption.

…

Students who don’t comply will have their registration canceled and workers who don’t will lose their jobs. The policy does have religious and medical exemptions, but exempt students must be tested twice a week for the disease. The school recently announced that for now, everyone, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a mask indoors while on campus.

Sixth news item

Yikes!

The first sighting of a living “murder hornet” of 2021 was reported by a person in Washington state this week, the state’s Department of Agriculture said Thursday. It marks the second sighting this year of the insect but the first one found in June was dead.

The Asian giant hornet was reported by a Whatcom County resident on Wednesday. Entomologists confirmed the sighting Thursday. The resident’s report included a photograph of the hornet attacking a paper wasp nest in a rural area east of the town of Blaine, about two miles from where state workers eradicated the first Asian giant hornet nest in the United States last October.

Seventh news item

What a bust:

Predictions that former President Donald Trump will be reinstated continue to fall flat, but about 1 in 10 registered voters continue to believe the former president will be back in the Oval Office before the year’s end.

Religious leaders and Trump’s supporters have thrown out a number of dates that the former president was expected to return to power and the failure for the prediction to come true prompted some to double down, throwing out new expectations. The most recent theory, peddled by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, was that Trump would be back in office “by the morning” of August 13, a date that came to be referred to as Trump’s “reinstatement day.”

Eighth news item

Gettin’ it done:

Today, the Texas Supreme Court granted our stay, enabling #Texas police to arrest scofflaw Democrats trying to avoid showing up for work.

We will seek stays of any more orders House Democrats seek. The law is on our side.

— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) August 13, 2021

MISCELLANEOUS

Hiking in local mountains:

Have a great weekend!

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

A dire situation in Afghanistan. It’s reportedly worse than what the administration has told us:

Three major cities in western and southern Afghanistan were confirmed on Friday to have fallen to the Taliban, as the insurgents’ race to take control of the country accelerated.

The Taliban seized Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, on Friday morning after a weekslong battle that left parts of the city in ruins, hospitals filled with the wounded and dying, and residents asking what would come next under their new rulers. Hours earlier, the insurgents had captured Herat, a cultural hub in the west, and Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city, where the Taliban first proclaimed their so-called emirate in the 1990s.

The speed of the cities’ collapse, combined with American officials’ announcement Thursday that they would evacuate most of the United States Embassy, has deepened the sense of panic across the country as thousands try to flee from the Taliban advance.

Only three major Afghan cities — the capital, Kabul, Jalalabad and Mazar-i-Sharif — remain under government control, and one is under siege by the Taliban. With the collapse of both Lashkar Gah and Kandahar, the Taliban now effectively control southern Afghanistan, a powerful symbol of their resurgence, just weeks before the United States is set to completely withdraw from the country.

Because of the urgency of the situation, the US is moving troops immediately to help with evacuation of Americans:

As the Taliban capture provincial capitals with alarming speed, the Pentagon is moving 3,000 Marines and soldiers to Afghanistan and another 4,000 troops to the region to evacuate most of the American Embassy and U.S. citizens in Kabul.

Unfortunately, because Afghan security forces haven’t risen to the occasion at the level needed, it is estimated that Kabul could fall in 30 days.

Despite the administration saying that our high level of intelligence will help deter any future terrorist plots against the US, others aren’t so so sure :

Senior Afghan intelligence officials told CNN that al Qaeda could be ready to attack the West by the end of 2022, as the group’s presence in Afghanistan is thriving with support from the Taliban.

And there are the inevitable humanitarian concerns as well:

“No one should pretend they’re surprised the Taliban is winning now that we abandoned our Afghan partners,” Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said in a statement. “No one should pretend to be surprised when girls and women are brutalized. And no one should pretend to be surprised when the Taliban yet again provides safe harbor to terrorists plotting international attacks.”

President Biden, meanwhile, remains resolute about his decision to withdraw US troops:

“I do not regret my decision,” Biden told reporters Tuesday, after pointing out that the U.S. has spent more than a trillion dollars and lost thousands of its own troops to train and equip Afghanistan’s military.

“Afghan leaders have to come together,” he said. “They’ve got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation.”

–Dana