Month: August 2022

On Tuesday night, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the PACT Act with an 86-to-11 vote. The PACT Act is a bill to expand health care benefits for veterans who developed illnesses due to their exposure to burn pits during military service.

The vote came after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Tuesday afternoon that he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had come to an agreement.  Schumer said after the vote: “This is a wonderful moment, especially for all the people who have made this happen who are observing it. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.” The bill now heads to President Biden’s desk.

Burn pits are holes in the ground the U.S. military dug near bases in countries that had limited infrastructure where troops would dump trash and burn it to dispose of it. The legislation would expand benefits for an estimated 3.5 million veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as remove the burden of proof from veterans seeking care for conditions related to exposure from burn pits by presuming a number of conditions, including terminal cancers, are related to the exposure.

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On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei, showing support for Taiwan despite China’s threats of retaliation over the visit. Pelosi’s visit marks the first time that a House Speaker has visited Taiwan in 25 years. A Taiwanese official told CNN that Pelosi is expected to stay in Taipei overnight.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan comes at a low point regarding US-China relations, and despite warnings from China against a stop in Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory. China warned against the “egregious political impact” of Pelosi’s visit, saying that the Chinese military “won’t sit by idly” if Beijing believes its “sovereignty and territorial integrity” is being threatened.

The stop prompted not only warnings from China but from the Biden administration, which has briefed the speaker about the risks of visiting the democratic, self-governing island.  During remarks at the United Nations, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the decision to visit Taiwan was Pelosi’s: “Congress is an independent, coequal branch of government. The decision is entirely the speaker’s.”

Sources told CNN that President Biden has said publicly that the military did not believe it was a good time for Pelosi to visit Taiwan, but he stopped short of telling her directly not to go, two sources previously told CNN. Administration officials are concerned that Pelosi’s trip comes at a particularly tense moment, as Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to seek an unprecedented third term at the upcoming Chinese Communist Party congress. Chinese party officials are expected to begin laying the groundwork for that conference in the coming weeks, putting pressure on the leadership in Beijing to show strength.

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Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, was killed in an U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan over the weekend.  A senior White House official said that the U.S. conducted a successful counterterrorism operation against a “significant” al-Qaeda target in Afghanistan over the weekend, adding that there were no civilian casualties. The counterterrorism attack took place in Wazir Akbar Khan, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Kabul and literally walking distance to the main diplomatic areas, including the U.S. Embassy.

The FBI said that Al-Zawahiri, born in Cairo in 1951, trained as a physician before founding the Egyptian Islamic Jihad.  The U.N. Security Council said his organization had sought to overthrow the Egyptian government “through violent means” before merging with al-Qaeda between 1998 and 1999.

The U.S. Justice Department said that al-Zawahiri — who served as Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda deputy — helped coordinate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States. Al-Zawahiri and bin Laden appeared together the day after the attacks in a video, in which an al-Qaeda spokesperson threatened the West, saying a “great army is gathering against you.” The Justice Department named al-Zawahiri and bin Laden as unindicted co-conspirators for their roles in coordinating the attacks.

After bin Laden’s death in 2011, al-Zawahiri took over as al-Qaeda’s leader. The FBI had placed al-Zawahiri on its list of Most Wanted Terrorists, offering a $25 million reward for his capture. The strike that killed al-Zawahiri is a major success of U.S. counterterrorism efforts and the result of countless hours of intelligence collection over many years.

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On Monday sentenced the first defendant to be put on trial for involvement in the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol last year to seven years in prison.  A jury in Washington had convicted 49-year-old Guy Wesley Reffitt from Wylie, Texas on five felony counts back in March, including obstruction of justice and entering and remaining in a restricted building while armed.

District Judge Dabney Friedrich said that Reffitt’s initial reluctance to admit that his behavior was illegal “is concerning” as he handed down the sentence.  Said Friedrich: “I want to be very clear … under no legitimate definition of the term ‘patriot’ does Mr. Reffitt’s behavior on and around Jan. 6 fit the term. It is the antithesis of the word. The officers at the Capitol are the patriots, as well as those who fought and even died to protect our democracy, our rule of law … those in the mob are not. Not only are they patriots, they’re a direct threat to our democracy and will be punished as such.”

Federal prosecutors had asked Friedrich to classify Reffitt’s crimes as acts of domestic terrorism, seeking a 15-year sentence which would become the longest sentence to date related to the Capitol attack. Reffitt’s lawyers sought a sentence of two years or less, arguing that he never entered the building or assaulted any Capitol Police officers during the assault.

Cose to 900 others have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, which was carried out by radical supporters of President Donald Trump who sought to overthrow Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. More than 200 defendants have pleaded guilty to various felony and misdemeanor charges and some have begun serving their sentences.

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According to Cal Fire, the McKinney Fire in the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County had burned through 51,468 acres as of Sunday morning, and remained 0% contained. The largest wildfire in California so far this year began on Friday afternoon in the Klamath National Forest near the California- Oregon border, leading Cal Fire officials to shut down of a portion of Highway 96. Fire officials said that drought conditions in the area have led to extremely dry, receptive fuels that have aided in the wildfire’s quick spread as well as strong winds and dry lighting

On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued red-flag warnings for the area due to the threat of dry lightning and strong winds that can cause the fire to spread in any direction and is “extremely dangerous” for firefighters. Firefighters are also dealing with three additional, smaller fires in the county- the China 2 Fire, the Evans Fire and Kelsey Creek fires. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said that the McKinney and China 2 Fire became active overnight and said their priority on Sunday was lifesaving efforts and protecting the property of residents who were evacuated.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the weekend, confirming an undisclosed amount of homes had been destroyed due to the wildfire, and stating that approximately 2,000 residents in the county were being put under evacuation orders.

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At least 28 people have died following severe flooding in Kentucky.  In a series of tweets, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced the new death toll, and said the state had received trailers to provide shelter to those impacted by the floods and was working to establish more shelter options.

Beshear has said the number would likely rise significantly and it could take weeks to find all the victims. As many as 37 people were unaccounted for, according to a daily briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The governor said that it would take some time to determine how many people are missing, and additional rain could complicate rescue and recovery efforts. Said Beshear: “We’re doubling our National Guard. We’re going to work to go door to door, work to find, again, as many people as we can. We’re even going to work through the rain.”

Beshear also warned residents to be prepared for more heavy rains on Sunday night as the National Weather Service in Louisville issued a flood watch through 8 a.m. Monday morning in portions of central and Eastern Kentucky.

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