Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

President Joe Biden urges states to vaccinate teachers, school staff this month

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Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, hailed the president’s remarks as a concrete step toward reopening schools for in-person learning.

Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Leader and Power Broker, Dead at 85 — 3CHICSPOLITICO

I loved his deep booming voice. His sharp wit. Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Leader and D.C. Power Broker, Dies at 85 Mr. Jordan, who was selected to head the National Urban League while still in his 30s, counseled presidents and business leaders. By Neil A. Lewis March 2, 2021Updated 2:34 p.m. ET Vernon E. Jordan […]

Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Leader and Power Broker, Dead at 85 — 3CHICSPOLITICO

Saudi Twitter campaign targeted U.S. findings about MBS role in Khashoggi killing – The Washington Post

The day of the U.S. report’s publication on Friday, thousands of accounts used two different misspellings of Khashoggi’s name to push pro-Saudi messages critical of the United States, getting the misspellings to trend on Twitter within the kingdom, according to Marc Owen Jones. He said the misspellings likely were an attempt to evade attempts by Twitter to block disinformation on the subjec  Source: Saudi Twitter campaign targeted U.S. findings about MBS role in Khashoggi killing – The Washington Post

FBI chief Wray: Capitol attack was ‘domestic terrorism’

“We did communicate that information in a timely fashion to the Capitol Police and (Metropolitan Police Department) in not one, not two, but three different ways,” Wray said, though he added that the outcome was “unacceptable” and the FBI was looking into what if anything it could have done differently ahead of the insurrection.

Though the information was raw, unverified and appeared aspirational in nature, Wray said, it was specific and concerning enough that “the smartest thing to do, the most prudent thing to do, was just push it to the people who needed to get it.”

In characterizing the events of Jan. 6 as an act of domestic terrorism, Wray highlighted the FBI’s growing concern about an increase in extremist violence in the U.S., including from militia groups, white supremacists and anarchists. The threat they pose is being treated with the same urgency as that from international terror groups like the Islamic State or al-Qaida.

“Jan. 6 was not an isolated event. The problem of

By Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick | Associated Press

WASHINGTON — FBI Director Chris Wray condemned the January riot at the U.S. Capitol as “domestic terrorism” Tuesday as he defended the bureau’s handling of intelligence indicating the prospect for violence. He told lawmakers the information was properly shared with other law enforcement agencies even though it was raw and unverified.

Wray’s comments before Congress, in a rare public appearance since the deadly Capitol attack two months ago, was the FBI’s most vigorous defense against the suggestion that it had not adequately communicated the distinct possibility of violence as lawmakers certified the results of the presidential election. He also described in stark terms the threat from domestic violent extremists and said that, contrary to some Republicans, there is no evidence that anti-Trump groups were involved in the riot.

Many of the senators’ questions Tuesday centered on the FBI’s handling of a Jan. 5 report from the Norfolk, Virginia, field office that warned of online posts foreshadowing a “war” in Washington the following day. Capitol Police leaders have said they were unaware of that report and had received no intelligence from the FBI that would have led them to expect the sort of violence that besieged them on the 6th. Five people died as a result of the riot, including a Capitol Police officer and a woman who was shot as she tried to enter the House chamber with lawmakers still inside.

Asked about the handling of the report, Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that it was disseminated though the FBI’s joint terrorism task force, discussed at a command post and posted on an internet portal available to other law enforcement agencies.

“We did communicate that information in a timely fashion to the Capitol Police and (Metropolitan Police Department) in not one, not two, but three different ways,” Wray said, though he added that the outcome was “unacceptable” and the FBI was looking into what if anything it could have done differently ahead of the insurrection.

Though the information was raw, unverified and appeared aspirational in nature, Wray said, it was specific and concerning enough that “the smartest thing to do, the most prudent thing to do, was just push it to the people who needed to get it.”

In characterizing the events of Jan. 6 as an act of domestic terrorism, Wray highlighted the FBI’s growing concern about an increase in extremist violence in the U.S., including from militia groups, white supremacists and anarchists. The threat they pose is being treated with the same urgency as that from international terror groups like the Islamic State or al-Qaida.

“Jan. 6 was not an isolated event. The problem of domestic terrorism has been metastasizing across the country for a long time now and it’s not going away anytime soon,” Wray said.

The violence at the Capitol made clear that a law enforcement agency that remade itself after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to deal with international terrorism is now scrambling to address homegrown violence from white Americans. President Joe Biden’s administration has tasked his national intelligence director to work with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to assess the threat.

Wray said the number of domestic terrorism investigations has increased from around 1,000 since he became FBI director in 2017 to about 2,000 now. The number of white supremacist arrests has almost tripled, he said.

Wray has kept a notably low profile since the Capitol attack. Though he has briefed lawmakers privately and shared information with local law enforcement, Tuesday’s oversight hearing marked his first public appearance before Congress since before November’s presidential election.

First-hand account: Okinawa

What an experience! Well done just to survive…

Pacific Paratrooper

Louis Meehl, WWII

It wasn’t always the enemy they had to contend with…

Louis Meehl

After the war started, I decided I had to get into the service, this didn’t make my folks very happy, especially my dad, but I just had to go.  So, I enlisted in the Army Air Corps.  They made me a gunner and sent me to the Pacific.  I flew on A-20’s in the 417th Bomb Group, B-24’s in the 90th and B-25’s in the 38th.  I was on the islands all through the western Pacific, New Guinea, the Philippines, the Ryukyus, and even up to Japan later on.

It was after the war had ended and we’d moved up to an airstrip on a little island called Ie Shima, right next to Okinawa.  It was the island where Ernie Pyle was killed.  We were living there in the usual primitive conditions that we’d put…

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Texas becomes biggest US state to lift COVID-19 mask mandate – (Politics before life, health, sanity – pray for Texans; their government is throwing them under the Covid-19 bus)

The Republican governor has faced sharp criticism from his party over the mandate, which was imposed eight months ago, as well as other COVID-19 restrictions on businesses that Texas will also scuttle starting next week. The mask order was only ever lightly enforced, even during the worst outbreaks of the pandemic. The repealed rules include doing away with limits on the number of diners or customers allowed indoors, said Abbott, who made the announcement at a restaurant in Lubbock. He said the new rules would take effect March 10, although leaders in Houston and other big Texas cities were already reacting with alarm. “Removing statewide mandates does not end personal responsibility,” said Abbott, speaking from the crowded dining room where many of those surrounding him were not wearing masks. “It’s just that now state mandates are no longer needed,” he said.

Source: Texas becomes biggest US state to lift COVID-19 mask mandate