Saturday, September 9, 2017 - Today
is California Admission Day
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.
Couzin Gym's Thought for the
Day: I changed my car horn to gunshot sounds. People get out of the way
much faster now.
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.