News of the Force: Saturday, September 9, 2017 - Page 1

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Saturday, September 9, 2017 - Today is California Admission Day

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President Trump urges vigilance as Irma approaches southern Florida

    

    As Hurricane Irma continues to approach the coast of southern Florida today the federal government is working with state and local agencies "to help save lives, protect families, and assist those in need," President Donald J. Trump said yesterday as part of his weekly address to the nation.

    Irma, currently a Category 4 hurricane, is expected to reach the Florida Keys early tomorrow morning, according to news reports.

    Today, Trump and First Lady Melanie Trump will be hosting a weekend meeting of Cabinet officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, at Camp David in Maryland, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said yesterday during a White House press briefing. Among the topics of discussion, she said, the president will receive briefings on Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts and preparations for Hurricane Irma.

    Irma "is a storm of absolutely historic destructive potential," Trump said in his weekly address. "I ask everyone in the storm’s path to be vigilant, and to heed all recommendations from government officials and law enforcement. Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our people. We are doing everything we can to help with disaster preparations and, when the time comes, we will restore, recover, and rebuild - together, as Americans." In such challenging times, Trump said, the "strength and the resolve of the American Spirit" is demonstrated "and we see the kindness and courage of our people."

    Last month, Texas and Louisiana were lashed by Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm which flooded the city of Houston. The U.S. military and state National Guard units provided part of the national emergency response to Harvey.

    Earlier this week, Hurricane Irma pounded the Caribbean region as it’s now making its way toward Florida, skirting Cuba’s northern coast. The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp, located near the U.S. Virgin Islands, is conducting medical evacuations for critical care patients from St. Thomas to St. Croix and performing damage assessments in support of the local government. They also are transporting people and supplies to the affected areas with medium and heavy lift helicopters.

    The U.S. Northern Command is fully engaged with federal, state, territorial and international mission partners as the command continues its planning, pre-positioning and initial Defense Department response efforts for Hurricane Irma.

    "With gratitude for our first responders, and prayers for those in the storm’s path, America stands united - and I mean totally united. From Texas to Louisiana, from Florida to Puerto Rico, and always the U.S. Virgin Islands, and everywhere in between that has been affected by these terrible storms: we will endure and come back stronger than ever before," the president said.

    Meanwhile, Hurricane Irma continued its deadly sweep through the Caribbean yesterday, escalating once again to a Category 5 storm as it made landfall in Cuba during the night with sustained winds of 160 mph.

    Thousands of Irma victims across the Caribbean fought desperately to find shelter or escape their storm-blasted islands altogether yesterday as another hurricane following close behind threatened to add to their misery.

    Haiti appeared to have escaped the worst of Hurricane Irma as it barreled across its northern coastline on Thursday, but authorities cautioned that the vulnerable nation remains in a danger zone.

    The Netherlands is sending more forces to contain "serious" post-storm looting on the island of St Martin as Hurricane Irma left a trail of destruction.

    American, Delta, United and JetBlue airlines are helping get passengers to safety as Hurricane Irma heads toward the U.S. mainland.

    The five living, former U.S. presidents have created the One America Appeal to raise money for hurricane victims.

    And despite denials, U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp's executive order does authorize the National Guard to seize firearms and other property - if he deems it necessary to keep public order.

 

Florida's attorney general calls 7-Eleven's bottled water prices 'shameful'

    

    Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is calling some Tampa 7-Eleven stores shameful after reports of price gouging for cases of bottled water. 

    Brianna Johnson got sticker shock on Thursday night when shopping for bottled water at a 7-Eleven on South Dale Mabry Highway. "I dropped it immediately," said Johnson. "No thank you. I was not paying $30 for a case of water today.”

    Florida's top prosecutor doesn't believe anyone should be paying those prices. "I can't put you in jail, I wish I could but I'll be saying your name all over the news," said Bondi.

    Tampa's ABC Action News got a tour of Tampa's price gouging hotline where staff members are fielding up to 100 calls per hour. Bondi says one of the top complaints in Tampa is the price for a case of bottled water at area 7-Eleven stores. ABC Action News uncovered several locations selling packs by multiplying the price of a single bottle. "Shame on anyone, anyone, who is going to do that with bottled water, wether they are going to get away with it or not," said Bondi. "Well, maybe they can, but people, think about where you shop next time."

    ABC Action News reporter Ryan Smith bought a case of 15 Aquafina bottles of water for $26. The TV station went inside the store to get answers. "Do you personally feel $26 is a bit much for folks to pay for a case?," asked Smith. "It is absolutely, absolutely you're right, what you're saying," said the 7-Eleven employee. "It’s too much, but my boss says it so I have to follow him."

    Bondi says that's not illegal, but is taking advantage of Floridians in need. "If anyone’s going to shop at a 7-Eleven, think very closely before you do if they're selling water like that to people," said Bondi. "Go Somewhere else." 

    Bondi tells ABC Action News they have received 39 complaints already regarding Tampa Bay 7-Eleven stores. "It’s insane to me and people should try to be a little more giving, I guess, when it’s a little bit of a state of crisis right now," said Johnson.

    You can file a report with the state's price gouging hotline here, or call (866) 9NO-SCAM.

 

Death toll rises in Mexico

    The number of people killed by a powerful earthquake off the southern coast of Mexico has risen to at least 61, officials say. A huge rescue operation is underway in the worst-hit states of Tabasco, Oaxaca and Chiapas where people are feared trapped.

    Mexico's state oil company Pemex is reassuring the country that fuel supplies will not be interrupted despite the earthquake.

    Meanwhile, The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Katia has weakened into a tropical storm as it moves further into Mexico, with wind speeds of up to 45 mph.

 

Coalition strikes target ISIS terrorists in Iraq

    

    In Iraq yesterday, Coalition military forces conducted three strikes consisting of seven engagements against ISIS targets: Near Bashir, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a command-and-control node; Near Qaim, a strike destroyed a vehicle-borne bomb facility; and near Rawah, a strike destroyed a vehicle-borne bomb.

 

Terror suspects arrested in France

    On Wednesday and Thursday, police in a Paris suburb arrested three men who were in possession of explosives. A construction worker raised the alarm after seeing suspicious materials through the window of an apartment belonging to one of the suspects.

 

North Korea's nuclear efforts preventing education

    

    Foreign-funded education institutions are scaling back their activities in Pyongyang as more and more governments issue travel warnings on North Korea after its nuclear and missile threats.

    If North Korea fires a missile at the U.S., there may not be much time to react, officials say.

    And the U.S. said it would seek a vote on Monday on a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on North Korea as it pushes for fresh sanctions against the regime after its recent nuclear test.

 

Washington begins to sour on Myanmar's leader

    

    Washington lawmakers who once enthusiastically supported Aung San Suu Kyi's rise to power in Myanmar have shifted this week to criticism of her silence in the face of a bloody military crackdown on ethnic minorities.

 

Leaders of Qatar and Saudi Arabia speak by telephone

    Leaders in Qatar and Saudi Arabia spoke by telephone early today in their first high-level contact since an Arab diplomatic crisis engulfed Doha three months ago, but now even terms of what they discussed have created a new dispute.

 

Netanyahu remains standing

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

    

    The public might not have known the names of Prime Minister Netanyahu's chiefs of staff when they were among the most powerful people in the country, but thanks to the investigations, they are now household names.

    U.S.-backed Syrian fighters are preparing an offensive against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria along the border with Iraq in a race with government forces marching in the same direction against the extremists in their last major offensive.

    At approximately 7 a.m., Greenwich Mean Time, yesterday, the front line of Syrian pro-regime forces advanced past the convoy carrying Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terrorists and noncombatants in the eastern Syrian desert. The pro-regime forces were mounting an assault on Dayr Az Zawr, an ISIS-controlled city in eastern Syria. Eleven buses from the original convoy of 17 remain in the desert after several vehicles returned to ISIS-held territory when Coalition airstrikes blocked the highway on Aug. 29th. The convoy was attempting to reach ISIS-held territory near the Iraqi border as part of an agreement with the Lebanese Hizbollah and the Syrian regime. Media reports indicated that about 670 ISIS terrorists and their families, surrounded by Lebanese and Syrian pro-regime forces, attempted to secure their safe passage across Syria by offering to trade the bodies of nine Lebanese soldiers  captured in 2014. The Coalition was not party to the deal, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials said. "ISIS is a global threat; relocating terrorists from one place to another for someone else to deal with is not a lasting solution," the officials said. To avoid conflicting efforts to defeat ISIS, Coalition surveillance aircraft departed the adjacent airspace at the request of Russian officials during their assault on Dayr Az Zawr, officials said. The Coalition will continue to employ available assets to support Syrian Democratic Forces and Iraqi partners in the mission to defeat ISIS, OIR officials said. "From the start of this situation on Aug. 29th, we have placed responsibility for the buses and passengers on the Syrian regime, who in conjunction with Lebanese Hizbollah brokered a deal with ISIS to move its terrorists into Iraq," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jon Braga, director of operations for the Coalition. "The regime’s advance past the convoy under-lines continued Syrian responsibility for the buses and terrorists. As always, we will do our utmost to ensure that the ISIS terrorists do not move toward the border of our Iraqi partners," Braga added.

    In Syria yesterday, Coalition military forces conducted 40 strikes consisting of 40 engagements against ISIS targets. Near Raqqa, 40 strikes engaged 11 ISIS tactical units and destroyed 24 fighting positions, four logistics nodes, two vehicles, an ISIS communication line, a mortar system, a command-and-control node and suppressed four fighting positions.

 

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    Couzin Gym's Thought for the Day: I changed my car horn to gunshot sounds. People get out of the way much faster now.

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Homeland insecurity

    

    The labor practices at several ICE immigrant detention centers, mostly run by private prison companies, violate the Constitution’s ban on slavery and minimum wage laws, according to a growing number of federal lawsuits and some experts.

    The White House says there are no "credible" terrorist threats leading up to the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

    The University of California announced yesterday morning that it will sue the Department of Homeland Security for its "unlawful" repeal of the DACA.

    The Trump administration has waived the Jones Act to get more fuel to Florida gas stations.

    The House Homeland Security Committee has unanimously approved four bills related to cyber, supply chain, border and aviation security.

    It could just be just a matter of time before Islamic State fighters take drone usage from the battlefield in Syria and Iraq to urban areas of the West, DHS officials say.

    And a postal worker was injured when a pipe bomb exploded at a post office in northwestern Indiana, the FBI said.

 

U.S. Air Force

    

    There's a real possibility that the new KC-46 Pegasus aerial-refueling tanker Boeing is building for the Air Force will still be flying a century from now.

    Air Force officials recently activated the Air Force Personnel Accountability and Reporting System in response to Hurricane Irma.

    KC-135R Stratotankers based at MacDill AFB in Tampa, Fla., have been "repositioned" to protect them from Hurricane Irma.

    The U.S. Air Force is pursuing an effort designated the Algorithm Warfare Initiative (AWI) to improve the service's ability to consume intelligence.

    In Oklahoma, the 2017 Airpower Over Altus Airshow started today. It's free to the public and features nearly 50 aircraft.

    Now, it appears that the U.S. Air Force is slashing key requirements, including mid-air refueling, for its new presidential aircraft.

    Thousands of runners from around the world are scheduled to participate in the upcoming Air Force Marathon at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio.

    The mayor of Chambersburg, Pa., Darren Brown, has resigned. "I have decided to transition from the Pennsylvania Air National Guard to the United States Air Force, which means I must resign as mayor," he said.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Air Force Reserve have flown several missions into Irma's eye.

    Fifteen Oregon Air National Guard members have departed Oregon for Florida aboard a large transport plane.

    The North Carolina Air National Guard is helping to transfer medical patients from Florida to Alabama.

    Air National Guard members from the San Francisco Bay Area headed to Florida yesterday so they will be there to help the victims of Hurricane Irma.

    The New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing is now in the Caribbean where it will be helping people pummeled by Hurricane Irma.

    About 100 men and women of the Indiana Army and Air National Guard are prepared to deploy beginning as early as tomorrow to assist in Florida. 

    An Alaska Air National Guard helicopter crew rescued a man who cut himself badly while hunting on Thursday northwest of Fairbanks.

    As Hurricane Irma bore down on Florida yesterday, the Civil Air Patrol's Southeast Region commanders are focused on readiness for disaster relief response.

    Civil Air Patrol Col. Steve Kuddes says the Nebraska Wing of the Civil Air Patrol says they're deploying to Texas.

    Two flight crews from the North Dakota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol are now part the response to Hurricane Harvey.

    The FAA has begun its investigation into the plane crash in West Virginia. In a statement, Civil Air Patrol West Virginia Wing officials said there were two people on the airplane, and there were no survivors.

    The National Park Service, the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit, the California Highway Patrol and the Civil Air Patrol are searching for a possible downed aircraft near Bolinas, Calif.

    And Dr. Adam B. Lowther, the civilian director of the U.S. Air Force's School for Nuclear Deterrence Studies at Kirtland AFB, N.M., has been charged in the rape of a four-year-old girl. He was arrested on Aug. 30th and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque, N.M.

 

 

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