JESSE WATTERS: Thursday was by far the worst day of Joe Biden’s presidency – an avoidable tragedy, and the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan in 10 years. Biden botched the Afghan withdrawal, and now innocent people are paying the price. Biden refused to extend the August 31 deadline to get Americans out of Afghanistan, and U.S. troops have now begun withdrawing from Kabul, with 350 Americans still trying to get out. And that’s just according to the State Department, a department with a pretty bad track record.
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The Taliban’s blocking Americans from getting to the airport, and Biden’s boxed in, letting it happen. We’re working with the Taliban now, Biden saying we may have even given the Taliban a list of names to let through checkpoints, or a kill list, as most people fear.
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We’re stranding Americans behind enemy lines, plain and simple. But the administration refuses to use that word because they’re worried about messaging. Biden’s making it seem easy, like Americans can just head to the Kabul airport and get on the next flight…Joe’s not standing behind Americans. And just a few days ago, Biden wanted credit for all of this. Everything Biden and this administration have said about how this is going to go has turned out to be wrong.
The Defense Department has identified the 13 U.S. service members who died in an attack outside of the Kabul airport on Thursday. The suicide bombing also killed scores of Afghans, and left 18 U.S. service members wounded.
Here’s what we know about those who died.
Navy Corpsman Maxton “Max” W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio
Navy Corpsman Maxton “Max” W. Soviak
Max Soviak via Instagram
Corpsman Maxton “Max” W. Soviak played football at Edison High School before graduating in 2017.
“As a football player he was full tilt 100 miles an hour, fearless which leads you to understand you know where he was and what maybe happened,” Jim Hall, head football coach at Edison, told CBS Cleveland, Ohio, affiliate WOIO-TV.
“It didn’t seem real,” Hall said. “It still really doesn’t you know great kid, loved life. He was bright, bright kid, and it doesn’t seem right, it doesn’t seem fair you know I just hope the best for his family.”
Soviak joined the Navy after high school graduation.
“He just loved life,” Edison High School superintendent Thomas Roth told WOIO-TV. “He was out there and enjoyed things and he was helpful for others as I think we all can see from what happened yesterday you know he was always there to help other people. He wanted to be of service and that’s what he did.”
Army Staff Sergeant Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee
Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss
Photo provided by U.S. Army
Sergeant Ryan C. Knauss went to Gibbs High School before he enrolled in the Army, his family told CBS Knoxville, Tennessee, affiliate WVLT-TV. Knauss was a member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne division and a staff sergeant.
Knauss had only been in Afghanistan for a week before his death but had previously spent nine months in the country, his grandmother told WVLT.
No local funeral arrangements have been made at this time, family members said. Knauss will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Darin T. Hoover Jr., 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah
Staff Sergeant Darin Hoover Jr.
Photo shared by Jeremy Soto via Facebook
Sergeant Darin Hoover Jr. was on his third tour of duty, his father Darin Hoover Sr. told Salt Lake City CBS affiliate KUTV.
“He led his men, and they followed him, but I know in my heart of hearts he was out front,” Hoover Sr. said. “They [his fellow Marines] would follow him through the gates of hell if that’s what it took.”
He said the 9/11 terrorist attacks moved his son, who was a child at the time, to vow he’d serve in the military. “He decided, ‘That’s what I want to do,'” Hoover Sr. told KUTV.
Hoover Jr., 31, was based at Camp Pendleton in California.
“(He was the) best kid in the world,” his father said. “Couldn’t ask for any better.”
Marine Corps Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts
Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo
Photo provided by First Lieutenant John “Jack” Coppola
Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo was screening women and children at the Abbey gate when the attack took place, according to Marine First Lieutenant John “Jack” Coppola. He told CBS News in an email that Pichardo, a supply chief from the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, was a member of the brigade’s Female Engagement Team (FET). FETs, he said, are “volunteer teams of female Marines with the experience and maturity necessary to enable continuity of operations while respecting cultural norms.”
Coppola said Pichardo’s service “was not only crucial to evacuating thousands of women and children, but epitomizes what it means to be a Marine: putting herself in danger for the protection of American values so that others might enjoy them.”
Pichardo is a Lawrence High School graduate and former Bridgewater State University student. She is survived by her mother and sister, CBS Boston reports, and will be laid to rest in Lawrence, where her family lives.
“It was her family’s wish that Rosario is remembered and honored as a hero,” Lawrence Mayor Kendrys Vasquez said Saturday. Bridgewater State University also released a statement saying the “community is struck with profound grief upon learning of the death of one of our own” even though Rosario only attended for a semester before committing herself to the Marines.
Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California
Marine Corps Sergeant Nicole L. Gee was one of several Marines seen cradling and comforting Afghan children amid evacuations just days before her death. On August 21, Gee posted a photo of herself holding an Afghan child on Instagram. “I love my job,” the 23-year-old Sacramento native wrote.
Gee was sworn into the Marines less than a year ago and was promoted to sergeant three weeks before the Kabul attack, according to posts on her Instagram account.
Gee was married to a fellow Marine, Jarod Gee, her sister Misty Fuoco said. Nicole posted several Instagram photos of her and her husband celebrating the holidays and celebrating his own promotion to sergeant just a few months ago.
Marine Corps Corporal Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California
Corporal Hunter Lopez
Posted by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco on Facebook
Corporal Hunter Lopez joined the Marine Corps in 2017 and was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, according to a statement released by the Riverside Sheriff’s Department.
Lopez, 22, was the son of Riverside Deputy Sheriff Alicia Lopez and Riverside Sheriff’s Captain Herman Lopez. He intended to follow his parents into law enforcement after his current deployment and become a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy, the department’s statement said.
Marine Corps Corporal Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska
Marine Corporal Daegan Page
Photo released to local press by family with statement
Corporal Daegan Page joined the Marine Corps after he graduated from Millard South High School, according to a statement his family released to local news outlets.
He grew up in Red Oak, Iowa, and the metro Omaha area and was a member of the Boy Scouts. He enjoyed playing hockey and hunting and “spending time outdoors with his dad,” the statement said. He loved the Chicago Blackhawks.
Page “always looked forward to coming home and hanging out with his family and many buddies in Nebraska.” Once he finished his service in the Marines, he planned to attend a local trade school and perhaps become an electrical lineman, the statement said.
Marine Corps Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana
Corporal Humberto A. Sanchez
Photo posted by Logansport Police Department on Facebook
Corporal Humberto Sanchez was a 2017 graduate of Logansport High School who played varsity soccer and was on the homecoming court in his senior year, according to the IndyStar.
The school’s principal, Matt Jones, told the IndyStar that Sanchez was one of five students in his class who enlisted in the Marines. He remembered Sanchez as “a bright, athletic young man who was popular, well-liked by his soccer teammates, classmates, coaches, and teachers.”
Logansport Mayor Chris Martin mourned Sanchez’s death in a Facebook post Friday.
“This young man had not yet even turned 30 and still had his entire life ahead of him,” Martin wrote. “Any plans he may have had for his post-military life were given in sacrifice due to the heart he exhibited in putting himself into harm’s way to safeguard the lives of others.”
Indiana Congressman Jim Baird posted his condolences on Facebook, too, saying, “He bravely answered the call to serve his nation, and I am both proud of his service and deeply saddened by his loss.”
Marine Corps Lance Corporal David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas
Lance Corporal David Espinoza, 20, was born and raised in Rio Bravo but attended high school in Laredo, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth reports.
Congressman Henry Cuellar released a statement that said, in part, “Mr. Espinoza embodied the values of America: grit, dedication, service, and valor. Mr. Espinoza is a hero.”
The city of Laredo posted its condolences on Facebook.
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri
Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz
Photo tweeted by former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens
For Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, being a Marine “was something he always wanted to do,” his father, Mark Schmitz said in an interview, “and I never seen a young man train as hard as he did to be the best soldier he could be.”
“He just went over in the last two weeks,” his father, Mark Schmitz, told radio station KMOX in an interview Friday. Schmitz had been stationed in Jordan, and when the situation deteriorated in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal, he was one of the thousands of U.S. troops deployed to Kabul.
Mark Schmitz’s voice broke as he told KMOX, “I’m very honored that I could call him my son — his life meant so much more. I’m so incredibly devastated that I won’t be able to see the man that he was very quickly growing into becoming.”
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming
Ryan McCollum, right, with wife, Gigi in photo tweeted by her uncle.
Photo tweeted by Tray Crayton III
Rylee McCollum was a native of Bondurant, Wyoming. He attended Jackson Hole High School and was a 2019 graduate of Summit Innovations School in Jackson, according to CBS Wyoming affiliate KGWN-TV.
He was a husband and expectant father, according to The Associated Press.
“He was a Marine before he knew he was allowed to be a Marine,” McCollum’s sister, Cheyenne McCollum, told AP.
An uncle of McCollum’s wife, Gigi, tweeted a picture of both of them at the dinner table: “thank you all for your prayers, outpouring love to Gigi, and recognizing our own American Hero.”
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California
Lance Corporal Dylan Merola
Photo tweeted by his brother, David Merola
Lance Corporal Dylan R. Merola had only been in Afghanistan for a little over a week, his mother told CBS Los Angeles.
“He was supposed to come home in a couple of weeks,” said a loved one.
The Los Osos High School graduate planned to go to college and study engineering. He was honored at his alma mater’s first football game of the season.
“One of the best kids ever,” his mother Cheryl Merola said. “Kind, loving… he would give anything for anybody.”
Marine Corps Lance Corporal Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California
Kareem M. Nikoui attended Norco High School in 2019 and served in JROTC, CBS Los Angeles reports.
“Just a good kid. Really had a strong energy about him and knew what he wanted to do,” Norco High School principal Robert Ibbetson said. “It was neat to see that kind of direction and drive and goal-setting.”
He is survived by his mother, father and siblings, the City of Norco confirmed Friday night.
The bombing happened at Kabul airport’s Abbey Gate hours after the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned Americans to stay away from the airport due to “security threats.” A defense official told CBS News on Friday that the suicide bomb is estimated to have contained 25 pounds of high explosives. An average suicide vest contains just 5-10 pounds. The vest also had shrapnel to increase its deadly effects. ISIS-K later claimed responsibility.
Speaking after the attack, President Biden vowed retribution, saying, “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down, and make you pay.” Soon after Mr. Biden’s address, the White House announced flags would be flown at half staff through Monday.
The U.S. announced Friday night it launched a drone strike in northern Afghanistan, killing two ISIS-K members. It was not clear whether the members were involved in the bombing.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul continues to encourage people to avoid the Kabul airport.
“Because of security threats at the Kabul airport, we continue to advise U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates,” the embassy wrote on its website Friday night. “U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey gate, East gate, North gate or the New Ministry of Interior gate now should leave immediately.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what intelligence prompted the advisory, but earlier Friday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby and Army Major General William Taylor, joint staff deputy director for regional operations, cautioned that the U.S. expects more attack attempts.
Kabul’s airport has been overrun with people desperate to flee Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of the country. Since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 105,000 people, according to the White House. The U.S. is scheduled to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan Tuesday.
The Defense Department said the bombing remains under investigation.
The legislation, which passed the House in a 219-212 party-line vote on Tuesday, faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, who represents the cradle of the civil-rights movement, is the sponsor of H.R. 4 and invoked the legacy of Lewis in calling for passage of the bill.
“Here we are, marching to do our own work. As long as a Supreme Court is hellbent on rolling back voter rights, Selma is now,” she said. “As long as we have a Senate that is so entrenched with having a procedural vote called a filibuster and not restoring our voting rights, Selma is now.”
She added: “Old battles have become new again. Modern day suppression is alive and well, and we have to do our part to roll it back.”
Activists listen to a religious service during the March On for Washington on August 28, 2021.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
‘You’re not going to filibuster away our voting protections’
Democrats control the Senate in the 50-50 chamber by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaking vote, but the party has been unable to meet the 60-vote threshold to overcome legislative filibusters on its voting-rights bills.
Progressive lawmakers have urged moderate Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to weaken or eliminate the filibuster in order to pass voting-rights legislation, but they have steadfastly chosen to keep the practice in place, pointing to a need to preserve bipartisanship.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the organizers of the march, gave a rousing speech in support of voting rights — arguing that the filibuster could not stand in the way of progress.
“We will not sit by and allow you to filibuster our right to vote,” he said. “We paid too high a price. People died to give us the right to vote. People spent nights in jail to give us the right to vote. People lost their lives to give us to give us the right to vote.”
He added: “There is no filibuster that can stand in the way of a people determined to get their rights. That’s why in the blistering heat, we came to Washington to say, ‘You’re not going to filibuster away our voting protections.'”
Despite the legislative setbacks, civil rights and labor leaders have called voting rights an extension of the ideals espoused by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
On Saturday, King’s son, Martin Luther King III, spoke out forcefully for federal voting-rights legislation.
“We are a force of nature,” he said. “This is a battlefield of morals and you are armed with the truth and the truth is a flame, you cannot extinguish. People have done it before, and we’ll do it again. We will demand federal voting rights until we have them. So don’t give up. Don’t give in. Don’t give out. You are the dream, and this is our moment to make it true.”
“If we fail to act in this moment, we are on a path by which democracy dies in darkness,” he said. “Allow me to paint a future of that dark future for you. Thanks to partisan gerrymandering, the party of Donald Trump will take back control of the House next year, even as Democrats continue to win more votes nationwide.”
He added: “The party of Donald Trump would also take back the United States Senate through voter suppression in states like Georgia, and we gotta make sure that Raphael Warnock comes back to the Senate.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is warning residents to avoid trying a horse deworming drug to treat COVID-19 after a spike in poisonings.
Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued warnings to not take the drug ivermectin — a type of medication meant for livestock, not humans.
Tuesday the Florida Poison Control Center it treated 27 patients in August for ivermectin.
“The promotion of inappropriate use of this drug is irresponsible, reckless, and dangerous,” Fried said. “There is no public health or scientific support for its use to treat or prevent COVID-19, and there are serious safety concerns when it comes to self-medicating and humans using medications intended for animals. Individuals should look to their medical doctors when it comes to medical treatments – not online quacks.”
Florida does have an approved, no-cost treatment for COVID-19 through the use of monoclonal antibodies. You can find a site near you by visiting this website.
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.
The failure of the Biden administration to name the two Islamic State terrorists killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan on Friday has led some experts to conclude they were not high-value targets.
In a press conference Saturday, Major Gen. William Taylor only referred to the dead targets as a “planner” and “facilitator,” and would not say if they played specific roles in the airport suicide attack Thursday that killed 13 American soldiers and 169 Afghans. Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, was behind the attack.
“Normally if they get a high-profile guy they like to name him,” retired US Army Lt. Col Brian F. Sullivan told The Post.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor, Joint Staff Operations, speaks about the situation in Afghanistan during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Friday. (Associated Press)
“They keep talking BS about ‘eyes over the horizon’ but I think a lot of this is the administration blowing more smoke,” Sullivan added. “They’re throwing this up as if the US is reacting with strength and power. So that makes the score something like ISIS 200-US two. Who are they kidding?”
Sullivan, an officer involved in the withdrawal of US forces from Vietnamese coastal cities in the 1970s, pointed out that by rapidly droning the alleged planner of the ISIS attack, “they must have known who he was beforehand.
The Pentagon believes that “thousands” of ISIS-K fighters were set loose after the Taliban reconquered Afghanistan and released inmates from military prisons.
“I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have,” said Biden. “This strike was not the last. We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.”
Tens of thousands of Afghans who worked for the US government over the last 20 years, and are eligible for special visas, are desperate to leave.
And refugee and resettlement experts estimate that at least 300,000 Afghans are in imminent danger of being targeted by the Taliban for associating with Americans and US efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.
One congressional aide said the Biden administration had identified about 50,000 special visa applicants, and their families, to be evacuated. But the aide said far more were eligible.
With Hurricane Ida approaching the Louisiana coast and expected to make landfall on Sunday, LSU announced that the football team would be moving to Houston on Saturday for next week’s practice.
The Tigers play at UCLA on Sept. 4. The school says the team will leave from Houston for Los Angeles on Thursday.
LSU Football players and staff will head to Houston tonight. The plan is to practice there and depart Thursday for LA. Be safe, everyone! pic.twitter.com/V6w2UE6yqS
National Hurricane Center director Ken Graham said during the agency’s 5 p.m. ET update on Saturday that the storm is projected to be a Category 4 hurricane with 135 mph winds at landfall.
Tulane, which is set to play at Oklahoma, says its football team will relocate to Birmingham, Alabama, to prepare, while its volleyball team will move to Tallahassee, Florida, and will return to New Orleans when power is restored.
Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione issued a statement on Friday night saying the schools have remained in communication.
“We are praying for everyone’s safety. At this time, the game slated for Saturday, September 4, is still on as planned. However, both universities are considering contingencies should post-storm conditions warrant. It is too early to speculate, but we will continue to monitor the situation and be prepared to take necessary actions as appropriate. Again, our concern rests with our friends at Tulane and all of those who could be impacted by the hurricane.”
Louisiana spokesman Josh Brunner said on Saturday that the Ragin’ Cajuns, who are playing at Texas in Week 1, will remain in Lafayette, as Ida is projected to land to the east of them.
“We obviously wish the best for LSU and the rest of the state,” Brunner said.
Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee celebrated the joy of service just days before she was one of 13 U.S. service members killed in Thursday’s suicide bombing attack near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
A week ago, Gee, 23, posted a photo on Instagram that showed her holding a baby at that airport. She added a simple, profound comment: “I love my job.” The same photo was posted by the Department of Defense on Aug. 21.
Gee, from Sacramento, California, served as a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. On her Instagram page, she described herself as a “positive mental attitude advocate.” The locations listed on her page include California, North Carolina and “somewhere overseas.”
Another photo on Gee’s Instagram page shows her earlier in the week, on duty with her rifle next to a line of people waiting to board a transport plane. She described her assignment as “escorting evacuees onto the bird.”
Other recent Instagram photos show Gee with friends in Spain, where they shared a toast, and Greece. Other pictures show the Marine riding a camel in Saudi Arabia and receiving her promotion to sergeant.
“Never would have imagined having my Sergeant promotion meritoriously in Kuwait,” she wrote of the promotion in a post shared three weeks ago.
A Facebook post by the city of Roseville, California, which calls Gee “a hometown hero,” says she graduated in 2016 from the city’s Oakmont High School and enlisted in the Marines a year later. It says her husband, Jarod Gee, also is an Oakmont graduate and a Marine.
Gee was remembered by Sgt. Mallory Harrison, a fellow Marine who roomed with her for more than three years, in a Facebook post accompanied by more than a dozen photos.
“Her car is parked in our lot. It’s so mundane. Simple. But it’s there,” she began the post. “My very best friend, my person, my sister forever. My other half. We were boots together, Corporals together, & then Sergeants together. Roommates for over 3 years now, from the barracks at MOS school to our house here. We’ve been attached at the hip from the beginning.
“I can’t quite describe the feeling I get when I force myself to come back to reality & think about how I’m never going to see her again. How her last breath was taken doing what she loved — helping people — at HKIA in Afghanistan. Then there was an explosion. And just like that, she’s gone.”
She said the war stories told by older Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are “not so distant anymore.”
Harrison concluded sadly: “My best friend. 23 years old. Gone. I find peace knowing that she left this world doing what she loved. She was a Marine’s Marine. She cared about people. She loved fiercely. She was a light in this dark world. She was my person. … Til Valhalla, Sergeant Nicole Gee. I can’t wait to see you & your Momma up there. I love you forever & ever.”
Thousands came to Washington for the March On For Voting Rights. Martin Luther King III, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee are among those pictured.
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Thousands came to Washington for the March On For Voting Rights. Martin Luther King III, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee are among those pictured.
Tyrone Turner for NPR
Thousands of people gathered in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the country on Saturday to protest a recent slew of legislation that critics say suppresses voter rights, particularly for voters of color and young voters, in many Republican-led states.
The event, called the March On For Voting Rights, took place on the 58th anniversary of the 1963 March On Washington when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech. Sunday’s event was organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and partner organizations. Other events also took place in Atlanta, Miami and Phoenix.
Members of the Atlanta NAACP cheer in McPherson Square during the march pre-rally.
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Kayden Hern, 7, from New York City, was one of the speakers at the march pre-rally in McPherson Square. He read a poem entitled “Who Am I.”
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In D.C., participants gathered early Saturday in McPherson square, and marched to the National Mall for a rally with the U.S. Capitol as a backdrop. Organizers say the event drew thousands to Washington.
What brought people out this time around
William Birdo, 82, traveled to D.C. from Los Angeles to participate in Saturday’s march, and said he’d been protesting for civil rights for a half-century.
“Ever since time, we’ve been fighting,” he said. “I’m from back there in the ’60s, when we really protested the wars, and voting rights and civil rights, and everything else. And we won, and we made progress.”
Birdo wasn’t in Washington for the historic march in 1963, but says that he believes today’s protests are part of the same fight.
“We must stand up, speak out and fight back. That’s what we have always done to win or to get rights, for democracy here in America. You can’t be quiet. You can’t be afraid.”
The event also drew out some participants who described themselves as new to politics.
Bill Wood, of Rockville. Md., said he was “never very political,” but had been drawn into attending protests and events like this one after former President Donald Trump was sworn into office.
Drag queen Brita Filter, who is from New York and with the organization Drag Out the Vote, came to D.C. on Saturday.
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Wood wore a gold cape with the words, “I Vote” written in capital letters, and carried a sign that described the act of voting as a “superpower.”
“Kill the filibuster, or make a carve-out. Pass voting rights laws. Put back in place the ones that they mistakenly took away with the Supreme Court so that you can get out to vote,” he said.
Marchers pass near the White House.
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Tamara Vance of D.C. watches the march go by.
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Frank Smith was a civil rights activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who attended the 1963 march.
While the nearly six decades since that day have undoubtedly brought racial progress, he says some things have not changed.
“What has not changed is that there’s been a just a drumbeat, a steady drumbeat of effort on the part of these Republican politicians to repress the Black vote, to take away Black voting rights,” he said in a phone interview ahead of the march. “So we’re still in a fight to maintain our voting rights that should be taken for granted because we are citizens of the United States.”
What prompted the marches this weekend
Two years after the original March On Washington, the Voting Rights Act Of 1965 was signed into law, but two Supreme Court rulings in the last decade have weakened its enforcement powers. The latest ruling came in July and prompted the call for this weekend’s national marches.
Organizers of the march say that the state-level legislation and the weakening of the Voting Rights Act “signal a return to the Jim Crow era.”
Shirley Thompson of D.C. with her great grandchildren, Laloni Thompson, 7, left, and Harley Thompson, 8.
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New voting laws in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana and Wyoming each differ but overall have the effect of restricting voter access, according to the Voting Rights Lab. Texas is set to pass its own new restrictions.
Some of the measures include tougher ID requirements for mail-in voting, curtailing drop boxes, reducing early voting hours and creating new crimes related to voting.
Protesters called on elected officials to protect democracy, including the passage of federal legislation that would ensure fair and easy access to voting across the country.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named for the late Georgia congressman and civil rights leader, aims to restore the Voting Rights Act and was passed by the House earlier this week. It passed on party lines and is headed to the evenly divided Senate, where Democrats do not have the votes to overcome strong opposition from Republicans.
Ronald Haynie with the National Action Network speaks during the rally after the march.
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Protesters on Saturday also showed support for the For The People Act, which focuses on ending the gerrymandering of congressional districts, setting mandates for early and mail-in voting and increasing transparency in campaign financing.
Who spoke at the march in Washington, D.C.
Among those who addressed the crowd on the National Mall were Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser; Alicia Garza, a co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement; Martin Luther King III, his wife Arndrea Waters King, and their daughter Yolanda Rene King.
On left, Philonise Floyd, left in blue gloves, who is the younger brother of George Floyd, holds hands during the prayer at the end of the rally.
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Martin Luther King III was one of the speakers Saturday in Washington.
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The Rev. Sharpton said the group decided not to go to the Lincoln Memorial this year because they wanted to focus on the Capitol, because it’s there where “senators will decide whether to continue the segregationist legislative strategy of filibuster or whether they’re going to give the people of this country the right to vote with no prohibition.”
“That building is the target of our social justice movement. Not 58 years ago, but today,” Sharpton said.
Marvette St. Clair from Stonecrest, Ga., puts her hands up as a prayer is led at the end of the rally.
In the giddy early hours of his landslide victory, California’s governor-elect struck a tone that signaled the grandiosity of his ambitions. “The sun is rising in the west, and the arc of history is bending in our direction,” Gavin Newsom told jubilant supporters on election night in November 2018.
There was some basis for a progressive Democrat’s fizzy confidence. Newsom had trounced his Republican rival with 62% of the vote. He would enter office with a massive budget surplus in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1, with supermajorities in both legislative houses.
He had survived a sex scandal as mayor of San Francisco, served eight years in the unglamorous job of lieutenant governor, and weathered claims that he was too ambitious, too slickly handsome, and too patrician-seeming — a supposed son of privilege whose bid for power was greased by his father’s big-money connections.
He had campaigned as a leader of resistance to the Republican White House, and promised that America’s most populous state would serve as an anti-Trump bulwark, as well as a continued engine of industry and innovation. “The future,” he told the election-night crowd, “belongs to California.”
Whether the future belongs to Gavin Newsom, 53, is now an open question. Voters on Sept. 14 will decide whether to cashier the governor before he has even completed his first term, in the second gubernatorial recall election in the state’s history.
A primer on how voting by mail works, what the deadlines are, and how to track your ballot from the time it’s mailed to you to the time your vote is counted.
Among likely voters, 47% favor recall, while 50% want to keep him, according to a recent poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies that was cosponsored by The Times. To hold onto his job, Newsom needs one vote more than 50%.
The story of a Democratic governor who finds himself fighting for political survival in a deep-blue state is hard to imagine without COVID-19, which has unleashed fury at leaders around the country.
“This is truly the pandemic recall — there’s no other way to describe it,” said Mark Baldassare, president of the Public Policy Institute of California. He said how governors have responded to the pandemic will define their legacies: “For governors elected in 2018, it’s not what they signed up for, but it’s what they’re going to be known for in history.”
But by last month it had dropped to 50%. COVID fatigue was pervasive, the Delta variant was spreading, and Newsom — with regular, sometimes confusingly jargon-laden briefings — had made himself the public face of the state’s inconsistent pandemic response.
Apart from high taxes, homelessness and crime spikes, recall ads cite the pandemic-related shutdown of public schools, and billions of tax dollars lost under Newsom to unemployment fraud.
“The person in charge always gets too much credit when things are good, and too much blame when things are bad,” said Dan Schnur, a professor at UC Berkeley and USC and former Republican political consultant. “Most Californians know that Newsom didn’t cause the coronavirus, but he’s taking the lion’s share of the blame for how they feel it’s been handled.”
Newsom’s plight also owes in part to a Sacramento Superior Court Judge’s decision in November. Recall organizers claimed that Newsom’s pandemic shutdowns were hampering their effort to gather the necessary 1.5 million signatures, and the judge gave them four extra months to do so, a ruling Newsom did not challenge.
The same month, Newsom blundered into the French Laundry, a three-star Michelin restaurant in California’s wine country. Photos showed the governor celebrating a lobbyist friend’s birthday at the temple of haute cuisine, unmasked, at a time when he had been urging 40 million fellow Californians to avoid multifamily gatherings.
Caught, Newsom expressed contrition, but the struggling recall effort gained impetus, allowing free-floating misgivings about Newsom to find a focus. An out-of-touch elitist, a hypocrite, a multimillionaire who mingled with lobbyists when he thought people weren’t looking — it seemed an amalgam of his enemies’ caricatures of him.
The incident made “Saturday Night Live,” where an actor playing Newsom was introduced like this: “He’s hated by every single person in California except those 10 people he had dinner with in Napa that one time.”
Newsom had always struggled to combat perceptions that he was born into privilege. His late father, William Newsom, was a state appellate court justice who after retiring became a legal fixer to his friend Gordon Getty,scion of the Getty oil fortune. Getty invested in Newsom’s first business, the PlumpJack Wine and Spirits store, which opened in San Francisco in 1992, and Newsom’s businesses have since blossomed into a hospitality powerhouse of restaurants, hotels and bars.
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed Newsom to the Parking and Traffic Commission in 1996, and gave him a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors a year later.
Newsom later ran for mayor and won. Soon after taking office in 2004, the 36-year-old Newsom became a national figure by ordering the city clerk to issue same-sex wedding licenses, long before it was legal.
Thousands of people married before the state Supreme Court blocked it. Newsom suffered political blowback for years — including from Democrats who claimed he had handed Republicans a culture-war wedge issue — though his supporters portrayed his gesture as one of prescient moral boldness.
“Newsom is clearly somebody who wants to make history,” said Garry South, a longtime political consultant who advised Newsom on his brief 2010 campaign for governor. “This is not somebody who is going to nibble around the edges, and do something 3% better than his predecessor did.”
The telegenic mayor, with the bearing of an ex-jock and hair gelled straight back from a high forehead, provided gossip-page fodder after the collapse of his marriage to his first wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle. He appeared at a gala with a 19-year-old date, a model, who was seen holding a glass of wine. But San Franciscans did not seem especially troubled by headlines like “Mayor McHottie’s New Girlfriend — Half His Age.”
His reputation suffered, however, when he acknowledged that he had had an affair with his appointments secretary, who was married to his deputy chief of staff. He apologized and said he would get counseling for alcohol abuse.
When he ran for governor, his rivals derided him as a “Davos Democrat” and “Prince Gavin,” and Republican opponent John Cox’s campaign put up a website called “Fortunate $on.”
His supporters pushed an alternative narrative — the underdog story of a man with severe dyslexia whose parents split up when he was young, and who was raised by a mother who worked multiple jobs and took in foster kids to pay the bills.
His persona makes him “come off as somebody who is upper crust,” but “he earned the money,” South said. “He gets hit with all of this criticism about high-society, hoity-toity wine bars and all that stuff. But here’s somebody who came from a broken home, lived in basically a roadside motel in Marin County, and through hard work became a multimillionaire. This is not someone who’s inherited his wealth, and that’s one of the misconceptions about him.”
The early ballot return totals look good for Newsom and Democrats. But Republicans are betting on a late-breaking wave of pro-recall votes.
Still, for voters who don’t know much else about Newsom, the French Laundry incident seems to have special staying power.
“The average voter is not going to remember hospitalization rates and viral caseloads, but the impression of their governor going to a fancy restaurant with lobbyists during a shutdown is much easier to process, and much more likely to linger,” Schnur said.
“The most damaging gaffes in politics don’t create new impressions, they reinforce existing ones,” Schnur added. “A lot of voters already felt that he was someone of great privilege who didn’t understand what their daily lives were like. Going to the restaurant reinforced the idea that he could play by a different set of rules than they were permitted.”
As governor, Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions. As a leader of the anti-Trump resistance, he supported a measure requiring Donald Trump to release his tax returns and pulled California National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Newsom lost a useful political foil when voters turned Donald Trump out of the White House, but has worked to frame the recall as the work of Trump-friendly Republicans. His opposition gained a targetable face with the emergence of Larry Elder, a conservative talk-show host, as a front-runner.
“Newsom was having trouble running against Trump because Trump was no longer in office,” Schnur said. “He was having trouble running against the multi-candidate amorphous Republican blob. But Larry Elder is a living, breathing human being who says very controversial things. Newsom couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
If voters choose to recall Newsom, they will pick among 46 candidates. Voters will find no prominent Democrats on the list, because Newsom urged them not to run. It is a risky all-or-nothing strategy.
The last time California held a gubernatorial recall, in 2003, it cost Democratic Gov. Gray Davis his job. Voters were fueled by anger over a car tax and power outages. His replacement, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was the last Republican governor to hold office in the state.
“When you run for office, you ought to be aware that the recall law and initiatives have been law for 111 years,” Davis said in a recent interview. “I don’t join the whiners and the moaners and the complainers. That’s just the way California is. That being said, Gavin Newsom had nothing to do with the arrival of the pandemic.”
He added, “I think he’s done a very good job given the hand he’s been dealt.”
Times staff writers Taryn Luna and Phil Willon, in Sacramento, contributed to this report.
After Biden earlier this month said he wanted governors who were not helping in the battle against COVID-19 to “get out of the way” — an apparent reference to DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), though Biden named neither man — DeSantis hit back hard.
He said that he did not want to “hear a blip about COVID” from Biden. “If you are trying to lock people down, I am standing in your way and I’m standing for the people of Florida,” he added.
DeSantis faced his latest setback on Friday when a Florida judge ruled that the state could not punish school districts for imposing mask mandates in defiance of the governor’s executive orders.
DeSantis had earlier warned of “consequences” for breaking his ban. According to The Washington Post, more than half of all students in Florida are enrolled in public school districts that have imposed such mandates.
The Miami Herald calculated on Friday that Florida had averaged 242 COVID-19 related deaths and 22,556 new infections each day over the past week.
Both figures have risen higher during the current spike than they did last winter, before vaccinations were available.
The situation appalls Democrats in the state, who are eager to see DeSantis beaten when he runs for reelection next year.
“It is damaging to Florida that he has taken these positions, because unfortunately people are dying and kids are getting sick and our hospitals are at capacity,” Walker told this column. “In terms of his positions on mask mandates and vaccine passports, I think those are positions consistent with his right-leaning Republican base. So while I think his positions are hurtful and harmful to everyday Floridians, I also think he is making a political calculation.”
The problem, from a Democratic perspective, is that those political calculations might be working — despite the jaw-dropping COVID-19 numbers.
Last month, a survey from GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio showed DeSantis to be the clear favorite for 2024 among Republican voters if Trump did not run.
The new COVID-19 surge appears to have hurt DeSantis to some extent in Florida, but the decline is not catastrophic by any stretch.
A new Quinnipiac University poll released this week showed DeSantis in positive territory — albeit by a thin margin — in terms of his overall job approval.
The governor scored 47 percent approval among Florida voters with 45 percent disapproving. His handling of COVID-19 was a weak spot — though again, not a devastating one: 51 percent disapproved and 46 percent approved on the issue.
In next year’s gubernatorial race, 48 percent of voters said he deserved to be elected and 45 percent said he did not.
Independent experts say those numbers speak to Florida’s almost-even partisan split, and are also emblematic of the polarization around the pandemic.
“They are still showing him in a divided Florida, where people forget he won by the narrowest margin in forever,” said Susan MacManus, a professor emerita at the University of South Florida.
MacManus added that the relative strength of Florida’s economy continues to shore up DeSantis’s standing. The biggest question, she said, was how parents react over the medium term to the fiery debate over masks in schools.
DeSantis is not backing down — on masks in schools, or on anything else.
Asked whether he would stick with his current position on mandates, DeSantis’s press secretary Christina Pushaw told this column: “Your question contains the implicit assumption that mask mandates work, but the empirical data says otherwise. There is no conclusive evidence that mask mandates anywhere in the USA have a statistically significant impact on the spread or prevalence of COVID-19.”
Pushaw cited California as one example, given that a statewide mask mandate did not prevent the Golden State from being ravaged by COVID-19.
More broadly, Pushaw added: “The governor is not changing his position on lockdowns, masks, or vaccine mandates. Floridians are free to wear masks if they choose to do so. But the state will not force this unscientific policy on anyone. Governor DeSantis respects his constituents’ rights; if not for his strong stance for freedom, most of the USA might still be subject to draconian lockdowns.”
The governor’s administration also pushed back hard on the Friday court ruling.
DeSantis’s communications director Taryn Fenske said the ruling was “made with incoherent justifications, not based in science and facts — frankly not even remotely focused on the merits of the case presented.”
The Florida Department of Education said, through communications director Jared Ochs, that it was “immensely disappointed” by the ruling, and argued that it “conflicts with basic and established rights of parents to make private health care and education decisions for children.”
However the court ruling shakes out, Florida’s startling COVID figures virtually guarantee there is a lot of suffering still to come.
But it’s by no means certain that DeSantis will pay a political price.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said in a statement Saturday that his national security team warned an attack at the airport in Kabul is “highly likely in the next 24-36 hours.”
“The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high,” Biden said, adding that he directed U.S. commanders to “take every possible measure to prioritize force protection.”
“I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have,” Biden said of the drone strike. “This strike was not the last,” he added. “We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay,” the president said.
The City of New Orleans holds a press conference ahead of incoming Hurricane Ida
The top environmental oversight agency in the U.S. activated its hurricane response team Saturday and is monitoring all offshore oil and gas operations as the Gulf States prepare for Hurricane Ida.
The team will work with offshore operators in coordination with state and federal agencies until “operations return to normal and the storm is no longer a threat,” announced the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).
Workers have reportedly been evacuated from half of all offshore oil and gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, with 279 of the 560 platforms now sitting unmanned.
BSEE noted that production platforms are separate from oil rigs in that they do not move from location to location, but remain stationary throughout a project’s duration. Oil rigs throughout the Gulf have also been evacuated.
Precautions have further been taken to “shut in” oil and gas from the wells located at the ocean floor in an effort to protect marine and coastal environments.
“This involves closing the sub-surface safety valves located below the surface of the ocean floor to prevent the release of oil or gas,” BSEE said in a statement. “Shutting in oil and gas production is a standard procedure conducted by industry for safety and environmental reasons.”
More than 90 percent of oil production and nearly 85 percent of gas production in the Gulf are estimated to have been “shut it” in preparation for the storm.
Hurricane Ida is expected to become a category four storm in the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale and is anticipated to generate winds up to 140 miles per hour.
Residents in New Orleans and surrounding coastal area have been advised to evacuate or make preparations ahead of the storm.
LanceCorporal Schmitz, who lived in a suburb of St. Louis, had been stationed in Jordan on his first deployment before being transferred to Afghanistan for the evacuation mission about two weeks ago, his father, Mark Schmitz, told KMOX radio in St. Louis. “It’s something he always wanted to do and I’ve never seen a young man train as hard as he did to be the best soldier he could be,” Mr. Schmitz said, adding that the family was both devastated and furious. “Somebody just came along and took the easy way out and ended everything for him and for us — and for those others that were killed,” he said.
Understand the Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan
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Who are the Taliban? The Taliban arose in 1994 amid the turmoil that came after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. They used brutal public punishments, including floggings, amputations and mass executions, to enforce their rules. Here’s more on their origin story and their record as rulers.
Who are the Taliban leaders? These are the top leaders of the Taliban, men who have spent years on the run, in hiding, in jail and dodging American drones. Little is known about them or how they plan to govern, including whether they will be as tolerant as they claim to be.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo.
Lance Corporal McCollum had dreamed of becoming a Marine ever since he was 3 years old, his father, Jim, said in an interview. He, too, was recently transferred from Jordan to Afghanistan, and Mr. McCollum began checking his phone for a little green dot on a messaging app that showed that his son was online — and OK. When news came that 13 Americans had died in the attack, he again checked for the dot and sent him a message with no response. “In my heart yesterday afternoon, I knew,” Mr. McCollum said, adding that his son was “a beautiful soul.”
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Pictures on the city website show clear blue skies and emerald waters surrounded by a forested and rocky landscape.
Now, the skies are filled with ash from the approaching Caldor Fire.
The Caldor Fire, which started earlier this month in the Sierra Nevada, has grown to 145,463 acres.
Fire crews carry a hose down a hill as the Caldor Fire burns on both sides of Highway 50 about 10 miles east of Kyburz, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021, as the fire pushes east prompting evacuation orders all the way to Echo Summit. The Caldor Fir (Sara Nevis/The Sacramento Bee via AP)
The fire has been so difficult for personnel to fight and fire managers pushed back the projected date for full containment from early next week to Sept. 8.
While evacuations have been ordered for nearby Christmas Valley and other parts of El Dorado County, residents of South Lake Tahoe are on alert.
With an unhealthy air quality index measuring at 173, according to the government’s AirNow, the message from the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority is clear: stay out of the area until further notice.
“Currently we are recommending that visitors postpone any immediate travel plans to the area until firefighters are able to get the Caldor Fire under control,” the authority wrote in a Twitter post.
“When and as appropriate, the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority will provide return visitation information and updates pending safety and health conditions. The current priority is the health and safety for our community and assisting firefighting efforts,” the agency said on its website.
The area’s tourist economy is normally in full swing this time of year.
Visitation began to drop when Highway 50 closed and a Dierks Bentley country music concert was canceled.
Now, numerous parks in the area have also been closed and the Lake Tahoe Unified School District in South Lake Tahoe postponed the opening of the school year to Sept. 7.
President and CEO of the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority Carol Chaplin said she believes occupancy is currently below 30%.
The Caldor Fire burns on both sides of Highway 50 about 10 miles east of Kyburz, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021, as the fire pushes east prompting evacuation orders all the way to Echo Summit. The Caldor Fire, the nation’s top priority for firefi (Sara Nevis/The Sacramento Bee via AP)
Local businesses are reducing hours or days and even temporarily closing.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a report on the fire that “social, political, and economic concerns will increase as the fire progresses toward the Lake Tahoe Basin.”
The city last declared a wildfire emergency during the 2007 Angora Fire.
In Lawrence, the city mourned Rosario Pichardo, who spent 6 1/2 years in the military and served as a supply chief for the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade based in the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain.
“We are all devastated by this tragedy,” Lawrence Mayor Kendrys Vasquez said Saturday. “It’s been difficult.”
Rosario Pichardowas among 13 US service members killed in the attack, including 11 Marines.
Vasquez said in a statement that he has been in touch with Rosario Pichardo’s family and extended his condolences. Her relatives, the statement said, asked for privacy. And also that “their loved one be recognized as the hero that she was.”
Vasquez said Lawrence will fly the US Marine Corps flag at City Hall in honor of Rosario Pichardo. Saturday afternoon, he plans to deliver a statement about Rosario Pichardo from the steps of Lawrence City Hall.
Flags have been flying at half-staff on public buildings in Lawrence since Thursday under a proclamation from President Biden to honor the victims of the Kabul attacks.
Jaime Melendez Jr., director of veterans’ services in Lawrence, said he spoke briefly to the leader of the high school’s Junior ROTC program who remembered Rosario Pichardo as an “absolute warrior.”
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“She is a daughter of Lawrence. She is a treasure to us,” said Melendez. “Her sacrifice, trust me, will not be in vain and we will not allow her to be forgotten.”
US Senator Elizabeth Warren said Rosario Pichardo is a hero whose courage “saved thousands of lives and her selfless service represents the best of our country.”
“My heart aches for her loved ones,” the Massachusetts senator said in a statement. “We will not forget her sacrifice and we will fulfill our sacred obligation to them forever.”
After Lawrence High, Rosario Pichardo attended Bridgewater State University for a semester in the fall of 2014.
Frederick W. Clark Jr., the university’s president, issued a statement Saturday expressing condolences.
“While we knew her only briefly, it’s clear that Johanny lived the BSU motto “Not To Be Ministered Unto, but To Minister” in her service to our country,” Clark said. “Indeed, as a criminal justice major at BSU, Johanny, even at an early age, had a commitment to justice and public service.”
The university plans to honor Rosario Pichardo at an upcoming ceremony marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Clark said.
On Friday night, the Dominican Republic’s embassy in the United States tweeted that she was originally from that Caribbean nation.
“We share in the pain of her family and friends, also the entire Dominican Community of Lawrence,” Guzmán wrote in Spanish witha photograph of a smiling Rosario Pichardo standing in front of an American flag. “Peace to your soul!”
“As a woman and as a proud Dominican American, I share in the grief of Sgt. Rosario Pichardo’s family here in the United States and in the Dominican Republic,” she wrote Saturday. “We are indebted to these brave men and women, and it’s my sincere hope that their families find peace in the days to come.”
The Marines released a list of honors awarded to Rosario Pichardo, including two Navy and Marine Corps achievement medal, two Marine Corps good conduct medals, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and two letters of appreciation.
On May 29, her brigade named her “Gator of the Week.” In a Facebook post, the brigade said Rosario Pichardo handled the supply section’s daily administrative functions and noted her“attention to detail and expertise” in handling financial matters.
“Congratulations on your hard work and valuable contributions to the mission,” the brigade wrote.
Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, an organization founded by combat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, released a statement about Rosario Pichardo’s death.
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Rosario Pichardo “will never be forgotten, and her family will never be without Support,” the statement said. “The debt of gratitude from our nation for your sacrifice is immeasurable. No words or actions could convey our deepest condolences. Rest easy, Marine.”
The organization is hosting a vigil Saturday afternoon at its memorial in the Seaport District to show its support for bringing Americans home from Afghanistan, resettling refugees, and supporting veterans.
Lawrence, Massachusetts native Sgt. Johanny Rosario was among the thirteen United States service members killed outside the Kabul airport assisting in the evacuations of United States citizens, allies, and their families.
“What hurts” about the attack, said Jackson, the DeKalb County Democratic chairman, is that Biden justified his withdrawal from Afghanistan in large measure “because he doesn’t want American lives lost,” which is precisely what happened. With all his experience, Jackson said, “Biden should have known better.”
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby (right) speaks as Army Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor, looks on during a briefing at the Pentagon on Saturday.
Susan Walsh/AP
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Pentagon press secretary John Kirby (right) speaks as Army Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor, looks on during a briefing at the Pentagon on Saturday.
Susan Walsh/AP
Two targets were killed and another person was injured in a drone strike against the Islamic State affiliate ISIS-K in retaliation for the Kabul airport attack, the Pentagon now says. And the Department of Defense has released the names of the U.S. troops killed in Thursday’s attack.
Department officials announced Friday evening that a drone strike killed an ISIS-K target in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. On Saturday, officials updated that to say that two “high-profile” targets — described as “a planner and a facilitator” — were killed and one other person from the terrorist group was injured in the retaliatory strike.
Pentagon officials offered more information Saturday about continued operations in Afghanistan, including evacuation efforts and the drone strike.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the names of the drone strike targets would not be released.
“The fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the earth, that’s a good thing,” Kirby said of the drone strike. “It’s a good thing for the people of Afghanistan and it’s a good thing for our troops and our forces at that airfield.”
U.S. officials have said that threats continue at the Kabul airport following Thursday’s bombing, which killed nearly 200 people, including 13 U.S. service members. That incident has intensified already frantic operations aimed at evacuating Afghans and withdrawing U.S. troops ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline imposed by President Biden.
“We are going to complete this mission by the end of the month and we’ve said that,” Kirby said. “Nothing has changed about the timeline for us and we will do this in as safe and orderly a way as possible — and that includes being able to continue to evacuate up until the very end.”
Kirby also said threats at the Kabul airport remain “active and dynamic” and that the U.S. is prepared to respond in the event of another attack.
“We will maintain the ability to defend ourselves and our operations all the way through,” he said.
Gen. William “Hank” Taylor said that more than 117,000 people — including about 5,400 American citizens — have been flown out of Afghanistan as part of the evacuation effort thus far. He said 6,800 evacuees were flown out of Afghanistan Friday and 1,400 people have been “screened and manifested for flights” Saturday.
“This is a massive military, diplomatic, security and humanitarian undertaking for the United States and our allies,” Taylor said.
He said the U.S. is currently hosting about 8,000 “Afghan applicants” at military bases, including Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort Lee in Virginia and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. While capacity at those military installations currently stands at more than 21,000, Taylor said officials are working to increase that number to 50,000 by Sept. 15.
Shortly after the Pentagon’s Saturday briefing, 11 Marines, one Army soldier and one member of the Navy were identified as those killed in Thursday’s attack.
The Department of Defense released the slain Marine Corps members’ names and ranks as: Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City; Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.; Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, Calif.; Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, Calif.; Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Neb.; Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Ind.; Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas; Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Mo.; Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyo.; Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, Calif.
Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio, and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tenn., were also listed as among those killed Thursday.
“We grieve with the Gold Star families, friends and loved ones of the fallen. They will be remembered and revered among Americans who have served in Afghanistan in operations Freedom, Sentinel and Enduring Freedom,” Taylor said.
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