A hurricane watch is in effect for New Orleans and a long stretch of Louisiana’s coast as Ida heads toward the Gulf of Mexico. The system is now a hurricane, expected to make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast on Sunday, according to forecasters.
The storm was hitting Cuba on Friday with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph. The system is likely to undergo rapid intensification as it moves across the hot Gulf of Mexico waters, and is forecast to reach Category 3 status on Sunday before it makes landfall in the United States.
The forecast cone indicates possible landfall between Port Arthur, Texas, and Biloxi, Mississippi, with an emphasis on the Louisiana coast. This could still change, but the models generally agree on this track.
“Unfortunately, all of Louisiana’s coastline is currently in the forecast cone for Tropical Storm Ida, which is strengthening and could come ashore in Louisiana as a major hurricane as Gulf conditions are conducive for rapid intensification,” said Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards.
“By Saturday evening, everyone should be in the location where they intend to ride out the storm,” he said.
CBS News
Forecasters always recommend that residents be prepared for one category above the forecast intensity. In this case, there’s very good reason for that. Besides the fact that intensity forecasting is very difficult and often off by large margins, this system is working with an extremely conducive environment for intensification. The only thing working against it is time — it’s moving fast enough that it only has about 48 hours to strengthen before it makes landfall.
Despite the fact that the system just developed, a look at a satellite view shows that banding is clearly visible, indicative of a “quickly organizing and strengthening” system.
CBS News
And Ida is already ahead of schedule. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center expected the system to form into a named storm later Friday into the weekend. Instead, Ida quickly gained a circulation, ample organization and strong enough wind speeds to be named earlier than expected.
Ida is currently experiencing some moderate upper-level wind shear, disrupting its circulation. That will lessen on Saturday once the storm reaches the Gulf.
In the tweet below, the upper level pattern is shown with the storm in the center. It illustrates the storm developing a cocoon of sorts around itself — meteorologists call it an envelope — which protects it from outside influence. The blue colors that develop around the storm in a broad circle mark the edge of the protective envelope. The storm creates a protective bubble, like an incubator, that helps it intensify.
That point may seem a bit technical — but the rest is simple: The storm will also be traveling over a few areas of very hot water, which acts like high octane to fuel to supercharge storms.
In the Caribbean, Ida will move across extremely high ocean heat content, which is hot water that extends to a great depth. Then, when the system reaches the central Gulf of Mexico, it will move over the infamous Loop Current: a curved current of some of the most energy-intensive water in the Gulf. Lastly, as it nears the northern Gulf Coast, it will move over surface waters that are like bath water — 88 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit — some of the hottest surface waters available.
A simulation of Ida moving over hot water.
CBS News
With all this in mind, there’s every reason to believe this will rapidly intensify and possibly become a major hurricane before landfall. A major hurricane is a Category 3 or above.
A strengthening storm at landfall produces much more damage than a weakening storm, assuming an apples to apples comparison with similar wind speeds — and it’s likely the storm will still be intensifying as it reaches the coast.
But the devil is in the details. Each model has a slightly different answer when it comes to track, intensity and timing. Pictured below are both the European model and American models. Both show strong storms, but the European is slower and further west. The further east track near New Orleans is problematic for two reasons: the storm would make a more direct impact on the city, and it would arrive faster, allowing less time for preparation.
CBS News
As the images above show, gusts over 100 mph are likely near the landfall location. The angle of approach will also cause onshore winds from the southeast, piling up water onto the coast. This kind of storm — approaching from this angle, in this area — often creates overachieving storm surge. While it’s too early to forecast exact numbers, there’s no reason to think that surge above 10 feet won’t be possible.
Lastly, the system is carrying lots of tropical moisture, and it will likely slow down once it moves onshore. Along and to the east of the path, rain totals over a foot will be possible. Couple this with saturated ground from well above normal rainfall over the past 90 days, and there will be serious flooding concerns.
The expected rainfall from Ida.
CBS News
Since there is limited time to prepare, anyone in the path of Ida should immediately take precautions. That means making sure your hurricane safety kit is stocked up and you have a plan laid out for your family. Time will be limited to make last minute preparations, so start as early as possible.
In media news today, President Biden says he was ‘instructed’ to call on reporters from list following Kabul attacks, MSNBC’s Malcolm Nance downplays the Kabul suicide bombing, and ESPN gets slammed for ‘wokeism’ after canceling Rachel Nichols’ show
Liberal media members and pundits reacted angrily to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the federal moratorium on evictions, despite the Biden administration’s admitting weeks ago it had no legal standing to extend the moratorium.
The nation’s highest court voted Thursday in a 6-3 majority to overturn the moratorium, with the court’s three liberal-leaning justices dissenting.
The Biden administration previously admitted that it lacked the legal authority to extend the federal moratorium after it expired in July. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, issued a new moratorium that was set to expire in October.
Former President Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, a regular at some liberal outlets, called for the court to be expanded to make the conservative-leaning members a “minority.” She described the six justices in favor of overturning the moratorium as “cruel” and “conscienceless.”
“This week alone, the Supreme Court has attacked Biden’s eviction moratorium while pushing for the reinstatement of Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy. At what point do Democrats wake up, smell the coffee, get spines <choose your metaphor> and rebalance this packed Supreme Court?” wrote left-wing MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, before adding that any action taken would require Congress and Democrats to have “spines.”
Other critics from the media also took to Twitter to slam the decision, with some, including former Secretary of Labor and cable regular Robert Reich, joining the call to expand the court, and others expressing outrage over the court making the decision amid a pandemic.
Some critics lamented there was still unspent money for rental relief, while others predicted chaos as “millions” could be evicted. One critic even referred to the court as committing “another evil.”
Smaller landlords had been hit hardest by the pandemic with as many as 58% having tenets behind on rent, according to the National Association of Realtors. Smaller landlords are owed more than half of all back rent.
Fox Business’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
Students sit in an algebra class at Barbara Coleman Senior High School on the first day of school on Monday in Miami Lakes, Fla. Miami-Dade County public schools require students to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Students sit in an algebra class at Barbara Coleman Senior High School on the first day of school on Monday in Miami Lakes, Fla. Miami-Dade County public schools require students to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Marta Lavandier/AP
A Florida judge has ruled that school districts in the state can require students to wear masks. At least 10 school districts — including some in many of the largest cities — had been defying state rules set by Gov. Ron DeSantis banning mask mandates.
Judge John Cooper ruled on a lawsuit brought by parents who say DeSantis overstepped his authority when his administration said school districts couldn’t order students to wear masks. DeSantis had warned that “there will be consequences” for districts that defied the ban.
Ruling from the bench at the conclusion of a five-day trial, Cooper said that face mask mandates that follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are “reasonable and consistent with the best scientific and medical opinion in this country.” He found that the DeSantis administration violated the law when it banned school districts from requiring masks.
Following an order from the governor, Florida’s Health and Education departments issued rules barring school districts from requiring students to wear face masks without allowing their parents to opt out. DeSantis said face mask mandates violate a Florida law that says parents have a right to make educational and health care decisions for their children.
Cooper said that in issuing the executive order and rules banning face mask mandates, DeSantis ignored a provision of the law that said school districts are allowed to take actions that are “reasonable and necessary to achieve a compelling state interest.”
The judge said he would issue an injunction preventing the DeSantis administration from taking any action against school districts with face mask mandates. The state Board of Education has said it plans to withhold funds from the first two school districts that adopted face mask mandates in Alachua and Broward counties.
In court this week, lawyers for the parents say DeSantis’ order violates a constitutional requirement that districts operate schools that are safe and secure. The state maintains parents have the ultimate authority to decide what’s best for their kids. The judge’s ruling allows school districts to require masks.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes his mask off as he prepares to speak during a press conference at the Hard Rock Stadium testing site in Miami Gardens, Fla., in May 2020.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes his mask off as he prepares to speak during a press conference at the Hard Rock Stadium testing site in Miami Gardens, Fla., in May 2020.
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Noting that the coronavirus — and particularly the delta variant — is highly contagious and sometimes fatal to children, Cooper urged people to take a step back, “We will not solve any issue if we can’t sit down and work together and take positions recognizing what’s going on is not some recent imposition or some attack on the country.”
The coronavirus and the delta variant have ripped across Florida in recent months (an elementary school in Vero Beach shut down on Friday until after Labor Day). More people have been infected and hospitalized of COVID-19 than at any point during the pandemic. The number of deaths, about 242 a day, is also near a record level.
Earlier groups of evacuees have flown to the U.S. on flights operated by the military, but this week, several U.S. carriers, including American, Atlas, Delta, Hawaiian, Omni and United, joined the effort as part of the Department of Defense’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet program. The little-used post-World War II program is using 18 commercial airplanes to aid the military evacuation.
Rylee McCollum, a 20-year-old Marine from Wyoming, was expecting a baby in three weeks with his wife, Jiennah Crayton. On Facebook, McCollum’s sister, Roice, wrote that Rylee “wanted to be a Marine his whole life” and was sent to Afghanistan when the evacuation began.
Rylee’s father, Jim McCollum, told the New York Times that Rylee was “guarding a checkpoint when the explosion tore through the main gate where thousands of civilians have been clamoring to escape the country’s new Taliban rulers.”
Chi McCollum, another one of Rylee’s sisters, wrote on Facebook that he was her hero.
Jill Miller Crayton, Rylee McCollum’s mother-in-law, wrote on Facebook that even though she never got to meet Rylee, she will meet her grandchild soon and she will “love and spoil that baby forever.”
A group of highly trained US military veterans has been secretly rescuing hundreds of allied operatives from Afghanistan — volunteering over fears those allies would otherwise be left for dead, according to a report.
The weeklong secret operation dubbed “Pineapple Express” has been carried out by a group of special ops veterans including retired Green Berets and SEAL Team commanders, they told ABC News.
They were driven by deep frustration “that our own government didn’t do this,” former Navy SEAL Jason Redman told ABC.
“We did what we should do, as Americans,” he said.
They initially formed to rescue an ex-Afghan commando who was getting death threats from the Taliban for having worked with US special forces and elite SEAL Team Six, ABC said.
After the Taliban’s target and his family of six were rescued, the task force continued rescuing Afghan allies — and has so far helped at least 630 get through the deadly ring of steel outside Kabul airport to safely evacuate.
They normally smuggled people into the airport in the middle of the night, either one person at a time or in pairs.
Former Lt. Jason C. Redman felt frustrated since his own government was lending out a helping hand to those who needed it.Twitter
“That is an astounding number for an organization that was only assembled days before the start of operations and most of its members had never met each other in person,” former Green Beret Capt. Zac Lois told ABC.
The group dodged heavily militarized Taliban checkpoints to smuggle people through to the airport, using images of pineapples on their phones to show those being brought in that they were on their side.
The tropical fruit was also used as a final password — since changed — that was given to US military members at the airport who were working unofficially in tandem with the heroic veterans, ABC said.
They defied deadly chaos that one member compared to scenes worthy of a Jason Bourne flick happening every 10 minutes.
“I just want to get my people out,” Maj. Jim Gant, a retired Green Beret who ABC said has been dubbed “Lawrence of Afghanistan,” told the network of the daring operation.
The operation was referred to as “Pineapple Express.”Twitter
“I have been involved in some of the most incredible missions and operations that a special forces guy could be a part of, and I have never been a part of anything more incredible than this,” Gant insisted.
“The bravery and courage and commitment of my brothers and sisters in the Pineapple community was greater than the US commitment on the battlefield,” he said.
The volunteer force was led by another retired Green Beret commander, Lt. Col. Scott Mann, who told ABC the team was proud to have helped “dozens of high-risk individuals, families with small children, orphans, and pregnant women.”
“This Herculean effort couldn’t have been done without the unofficial heroes inside the airfield who defied their orders to not help beyond the airport perimeter, by wading into sewage canals and pulling in these targeted people who were flashing pineapples on their phones,” Mann said.
Redman is a Navy SEAL veteran who was severely wounded in combat.ASSOCIATED PRESS
The rescues continued “up to just seconds before ISIS detonated a bomb into the huddled mass of Afghans seeking safety and freedom” on Thursday, Mann told ABC.
ABC said some Pineapple Express travelers were injured in the terror attack, and the group was still assessing whether any were among the more than 180 killed.
Some of those rescued said they witnessed people just inches away from them being killed, while others refused to leave unless their family members were also evacuated.
“Leaving a man behind is not in our SEAL ethos. Many Afghans have a stronger vision of our democratic values than many Americans do,” said Dan O’Shea, a retired SEAL commander and former counterinsurgency adviser in Afghanistan.
Even though they’re no longer on active duty, the veterans have been called heroes for their action.Twitter
Former deputy assistant secretary of defense Mick Mulroy said the task force felt it was their duty to save allies who “never wavered” in supporting the US.
“I and many of my friends are here today because of their bravery in battle. We owe them all effort to get them out and honor our word,” Mulroy said.
Tropical Storm Ida strengthened into a hurricane on Friday as it approached the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center. Damaging, hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall are expected on Sunday and Monday along the Louisiana coast.
Ida, the ninth named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, formed on Thursday in the Caribbean Sea and was heading toward western Cuba, the center said.
Forecasters said that dangerous storm surges could reach 10 feet or more along some parts of the Louisiana coastline. Officials have ordered evacuations in some areas around New Orleans.
Potential storm surge flooding
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Ida is expected to bring eight to 16 inches of rain from southeast Louisiana to coastal Mississippi and Alabama through Monday morning.
Students sit in an algebra class at Barbara Coleman Senior High School on the first day of school on Monday in Miami Lakes, Fla. Miami-Dade County public schools require students to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Students sit in an algebra class at Barbara Coleman Senior High School on the first day of school on Monday in Miami Lakes, Fla. Miami-Dade County public schools require students to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Marta Lavandier/AP
A Florida judge has ruled that school districts in the state can require students to wear masks. At least 10 school districts — including some in many of the largest cities — had been defying state rules set by Gov. Ron DeSantis banning mask mandates.
Judge John Cooper ruled on a lawsuit brought by parents who say DeSantis overstepped his authority when his administration said school districts couldn’t order students to wear masks. DeSantis had warned that “there will be consequences” for districts that defied the ban.
Ruling from the bench at the conclusion of a five-day trial, Cooper said that face mask mandates that follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are “reasonable and consistent with the best scientific and medical opinion in this country.” He found that the DeSantis administration violated the law when it banned school districts from requiring masks.
Following an order from the governor, Florida’s Health and Education departments issued rules barring school districts from requiring students to wear face masks without allowing their parents to opt out. DeSantis said face mask mandates violate a Florida law that says parents have a right to make educational and health care decisions for their children.
Cooper said that in issuing the executive order and rules banning face mask mandates, DeSantis ignored a provision of the law that said school districts are allowed to take actions that are “reasonable and necessary to achieve a compelling state interest.”
The judge said he would issue an injunction preventing the DeSantis administration from taking any action against school districts with face mask mandates. The state Board of Education has said it plans to withhold funds from the first two school districts that adopted face mask mandates in Alachua and Broward counties.
In court this week, lawyers for the parents say DeSantis’ order violates a constitutional requirement that districts operate schools that are safe and secure. The state maintains parents have the ultimate authority to decide what’s best for their kids. The judge’s ruling allows school districts to require masks.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes his mask off as he prepares to speak during a press conference at the Hard Rock Stadium testing site in Miami Gardens, Fla., in May 2020.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes his mask off as he prepares to speak during a press conference at the Hard Rock Stadium testing site in Miami Gardens, Fla., in May 2020.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Noting that the coronavirus — and particularly the delta variant — is highly contagious and sometimes fatal to children, Cooper urged people to take a step back, “We will not solve any issue if we can’t sit down and work together and take positions recognizing what’s going on is not some recent imposition or some attack on the country.”
The coronavirus and the delta variant have ripped across Florida in recent months (an elementary school in Vero Beach shut down on Friday until after Labor Day). More people have been infected and hospitalized of COVID-19 than at any point during the pandemic. The number of deaths, about 242 a day, is also near a record level.
“If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue,” the ruling said about the moratorium Biden imposed as a means of protecting renters financially affected by the coronavirus, “Congress must specifically authorize it.”
House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries claimed the “Supreme Court does not have a scintilla of credibility” after the decision.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio attacked the Supreme Court as a “group of right-wing extremists” that ruled to “throw families out of their homes during a global pandemic.”
“This is an attack on working people across our country and city,” de Blasio tweeted Thursday. “New York won’t stand for this vile, unjust decision.”
“Squad” member Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., claimed that if the Supreme Court “thinks this partisan ruling is going to stop us from fighting to keep people housed, they’re wrong.”
Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., used the ruling to push the far-left idea of packing the Supreme Court.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer — the three liberal justices on the Supreme Court — dissented with the conservative majority’s ruling.
This marks the Biden administration’s second judicial defeat in the Supreme Court this week, after the body effectively reinstated former President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy for asylum seekers awaiting their hearings.
Andrew Mark Miller contributed reporting
Houston Keene is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find him on Twitter at @HoustonKeene.
Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of assassinating Robert F Kennedy, could be granted parole at a hearing on Friday after prosecutors confirmed they would not contest his release.
Sirhan, who is now 77, has spent 53 years in prison for the first-degree murder of the late New York senator and Democrat presidential hopeful. The Palestinian has been denied parole 15 times previously.
At his most recent hearing in 2016, commissioners listened to over three hours of testimony, including that of Sirhan himself. He told them that while he felt remorse for the crime, he does not remember the shooting, so could not take responsibility for it.
Sirhan has always maintained that he does not recollect committing the killing, only the events before and after it. He has also said he had fired at Kennedy because he was enraged by his support for Israel.
On that occasion, the parole board ultimately concluded Sirhan had failed to show adequate remorse or understanding of his crime.
However, this time around the decision on whether or not to release Sirhan will rest solely with the California Parole Board.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who was appointed last year, has instituted a policy under which prosecutors play no part in parole decisions.
Gascón, who is a former police officer, told The Associated Press earlier this year that while he acknowledges the tragic nature of Kennedy’s assassination, it is important to stick to the policy.
“I can get very emotionally wrapped around my personal feelings [about] someone that killed someone that I thought could have been an incredible president for this country,” he said.
“But that has no place in this process. Just like it doesn’t for the person nobody knows about.”
Sirhan was convicted of murdering Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. Kennedy was shot three times in the hotel kitchen, just moments after delivering a speech to celebrate his victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary. He died a day later.
Sirhan stood trial for the murder in 1969 and was initially sentenced to death. However, that sentence was commuted to life in prison three years late after capital punishment was briefly outlawed by the California Supreme Court.
The decision on whether or not to release Sirhan will ultimately rest with a two-person parole panel. Once it has been announced, the parole board will have 90 days to review the decision. After this, it will be passed on to the governor, who will also have the opportunity to veto.
Newsweek has reached out to Gascón and the California Parole Board for comment.
RFK served as attorney general to his brother, President John F. Kennedy, and had been tipped to follow him into the White House in 1968 before he was killed.
His son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long maintained that Sirhan did not fire the fatal shots that killed his father and previously called for a fresh investigation into the killing.
Sirhan Sirhan is shown in this handout photo taken February 9, 2016. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/Handout via Reuters
President Biden on Friday said he and Dr. Anthony Fauci discussed requiring COVID-19 booster shots every five months rather than every eight as previously anticipated.
The shorter timeframe would increase the number of vaccine doses that the US will need to set aside for booster shots — as poorer nations clamor for more US donations.
“The question raised is should it be shorter than eight months? Should it be as little as five months? That’s being discussed. I spoke with Dr. Fauci this morning about that,” Biden said in the Oval Office during a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Biden said Friday that booster shots for Americans “will start here on Sept. 20 pending approval of the FDA and the CDC committee of outside experts.”
The president did not say what Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, recommended regarding booster shot timing.
Israel began giving booster shots to senior citizens last month — rejecting the World Health Organization’s plea for “a moratorium on boosters” so that the Third World can get vaccines and reduce the possibility of new and more contagious mutations.
Pfizer and BioNTech have requested FDA approval for a booster shot for their two-dose vaccine, which is the most widely used option in the US — saying data shows a third shot improves the body’s ability to fight the virus. Moderna’s similar two-dose vaccine was made with the same technology.
President Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci discussed requiring COVID-19 booster shots every five months rather than every eight.AP
The changing timeframe on booster shots threatens to undermine White House messaging, however, amid continued vaccine hesitancy among certain demographic groups.
Jeff Zients, Biden’s COVID-19 response coordinator, said Tuesday, “We expect the rule will be simple. Get your booster shot eight months after you got your second shot.”
According to CDC data, 73.5 percent of US adults have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot and 62.8 percent are fully vaccinated.
Vaccines dramatically lower the risk of serious symptoms, hospitalization and death, but the high rate of vaccination hasn’t stopped a surge in cases of the Delta variant of the virus — with a daily average of more than 156,000 new US COVID-19 cases over the past week, matching the case rate in late January.
The shorter timeframe to get a booster would increase the number of vaccine doses that the US will need to set aside.MediaNews Group via Getty Images
Students sit in an Algebra class at Barbara Coleman Senior High School on the first day of school on Monday in Miami Lakes, Fla. Miami-Dade County public schools require students to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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Students sit in an Algebra class at Barbara Coleman Senior High School on the first day of school on Monday in Miami Lakes, Fla. Miami-Dade County public schools require students to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Marta Lavandier/AP
A Florida judge has ruled school districts in the state can require students to wear masks. At least ten school districts — including those in many of the largest cities — had been defying state rules banning masks ordered by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Judge John Cooper ruled on a lawsuit brought by parents who say Governor DeSantis overstepped his authority when his administration said school districts couldn’t order students to wear masks. DeSantis had warned “there will be consequences” for districts that defied the ban.
In court this week, lawyers for the parents say DeSantis’s order violates a constitutional requirement that districts operate schools that are safe and secure. The state maintains parents have the ultimate authority to decide what’s best for their kids. The judge’s ruling allows school districts to require masks.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes his mask off as he prepares to speak during a press conference at the Hard Rock Stadium testing site on May 06, 2020 in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes his mask off as he prepares to speak during a press conference at the Hard Rock Stadium testing site on May 06, 2020 in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Noting that the coronavirus — and particularly the Delta variant — is highly contagious and sometimes fatal to children, Cooper urged people to take a step back, “We will not solve any issue if we can’t sit down and work together and take positions recognizing what’s going on is not some recent imposition or some attack on the country.”
The coronavirus and the Delta variant have ripped across Florida in recent months (an elementary school in Vero Beach shut down on Friday until after Labor Day). More people have been infected and hospitalized of COVID than at any point during the pandemic. The number of deaths, about 242 a day, is also near a record level.
Last week, OnlyFans announced that it would ban sexually explicit content, effective Oct. 1. After creators and the public reacted with anger and confusion, given that sex workers largely helped build the app to be worth over $1 billion, the company reversed the plan.
“Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard,” the company tweeted on Wednesday. “We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change.
“OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators,” the tweet concluded.
This gaffe highlights how dismissive social media companies can be to the creators on their platforms, and how pearl-clutching corporate America still is about sex and sex work.
According to initial reports, OnlyFans had been struggling to find investors because of how popular sex and nudity are on its platform.
“These changes are to comply with the requests of our banking partners and payout providers,” the company said last week.
The bureaucratic language made it clear. The company prioritized growing fiscally and did not consider the damage the move would have to its creators, monetarily and emotionally. It didn’t care, or consider, that many of its top-earning sex workers would probably flee the platform, jeopardizing the company’s reputation and, ironically, its financial future. OnlyFans also didn’t apologize for putting its creators through this stress.
“OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators” is a feeble attempt at taking accountability for how the company quickly dissolved trust between influencers, paying community members, and company executives.
“We’re sorry we didn’t consider the effect it would have on people who helped build value in our company, and we want to set an industry standard for safe and inclusive sex work online” would have been a sincere, decent response, but, hey, I’m no PR expert.
The corporate jargon was ultimately revealing. I interpreted OnlyFans’ actions and statements to mean that creators are great when we can use them to prove to investors that we’re solid as a company, but when it comes to understanding and protecting their careers and livelihoods, well, that’s on them to sort out.
I imagine sex workers on OnlyFans are ultimately pleased that the company walked back its decision, but I can also imagine how destabilizing it must now be to be running their accounts, unsure of when OnlyFans may suddenly pull the plug on their careers and incomes.
OnlyFans is in a bind. The company needs to raise a lot of capital to stay competitive and grow, but in that process, it has sidelined the people who helped get it a seat at the table with investors. Social media companies and creators are dependent on each other, and these companies must realize how much power they have over people’s lives.
I’m no economist, either, but here’s my advice for OnlyFans: If you slowly nurture the relationship you have with your creators, your company will grow more sustainably. It might be slower, the cash might have to come later, but it won’t cause this level of disruptive chaos that then tarnishes the trust of the community you built.
Max Soviak, of Berlin Heights, was a 2017 graduate of Edison High School where he was on the football, track, wrestling, and tennis teams and was in the school band, according to Thomas Roth, superintendent of Edison Local School District.
The news of Soviak’s death was “devastating for us,” Roth said Friday.
“He just enjoyed life, he was full of life. He was a good kid, a good student and people just enjoyed being around him,” the superintendent said.
“I didn’t know Max as well as many, he was in one of my son’s classes. He was very active in school,” Roth said.
The small community about 50 miles west of Cleveland is mourning Soviak’s loss with plans to have a moment of silence at Friday night’s high school game against Bellevue, Roth said, adding that the district is still in the planning stages of honoring Soviak.
Roth said it is always special when students from Edison local schools enter military service, and the community was proud of Soviak serving as a Navy medic.
“We’re very proud of all of our students who move on to the military life as they graduate… to protect the rest of us, we’re just so proud of those kids.”
Roth said Soviak represented the school and community with great honor.
Rachel Soviak, contacted Friday morning, said the family was not ready yet to talk about the tragedy.
On Instagram, Max’s sister Marilyn Soviak posted Friday, “I’ve never been one for politics and i’m not going to start now. What I will say is that my beautiful, intelligent, beat-to-the-sound of his own drum, annoying, charming baby brother was killed yesterday helping to save lives.”
USA TODAY reports the death toll from the blasts includes 11 U.S. Marines, a Navy hospital corpsman, and another service member whose branch was not immediately identified, American officials said. At least 18 U.S. service members were injured. It was the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan since August 2011.
“WASHINGTON — One sailor was killed during the August 26 attack at the Abbey gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. We mourn the loss of this Sailor and we offer our deepest condolences to the loved ones of our fallen shipmate. The name of the Sailor will be released 24 hours after notification of next of kin.”
About 169 Afghan people died, officials told the Associated Press. CBS News was reporting that number at 170.
Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday night ordered all U.S. and Ohio flags in the state to be flown at half-staff on all public buildings and grounds until sunset Monday to honor the lives of U.S. service members and other victims killed in t he Kabul attack.
President Joe Biden said U.S. regulators are looking at administering Covid-19 booster shots five months after people finish their primary immunizations, moving up the expected timetable for a third shot by about three months.
Biden, who was speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday, said health officials were considering following that country’s lead on boosters.
“We’re considering the advice you’ve given that we should start earlier,” Biden said, adding that officials are debating whether the timeline should be shorter. “Should it be as little as five months and that’s being discussed.”
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Approval of the booster shots is expected to come sometime around Labor Day after federal health officials have time to review data from other countries and vaccine manufacturers that indicated booster dose efficacy six months after a previous dose.
In adults age 60 and older, a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine provided 4x as much protection against infection with the delta variant than the previous two-dose regimen, according to the Ministry of Health of Israel.
Distribution of the booster shots following Food and Drug Administration clearance and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation is expected to begin on September 20. The Biden administration and vaccine manufacturers have indicated that there should be enough doses for any fully vaccinated adult seeking a third dose.
Correction: This article was updated to correct the timing of when a potential third Covid dose might be administered. It’s five months after full immunization.
It will most likely take a while for the backlog of eviction cases in many states to result in the displacement of renters. But tenant groups in the South, where fast-track evictions are common, are bracing for the worst.
In recent days, Mr. Biden’s team has been mapping out strategies to deal with the likely loss of the moratorium, with a plan to focus its efforts on a handful of states — including South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio — that have large backlogs of unpaid rent and few statewide protections for tenants.
The administration had at first concluded that a Supreme Court ruling in June had effectively forbidden it from imposing a new moratorium after an earlier one expired at the end of July. While the administration had prevailed in that ruling by a 5-to-4 vote, one member of the majority, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, wrote that he believed the moratorium to be unlawful and that he had cast his vote to temporarily sustain it only to allow an orderly transition. He would not support a further extension without “clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation),” he wrote.
Congress did not act. But after political pressure from Democrats, a surge in the pandemic and new consideration of the legal issues, the administration on Aug. 3 issued the moratorium that was the subject of the new ruling.
The administration’s legal maneuvering might have failed, but it bought some time for tenants threatened with eviction. In unusually candid remarks this month, President Biden said that was part of his calculus in deciding to proceed with the new moratorium, which was set to expire Oct. 3.
Congress declared a moratorium on evictions at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, but it lapsed in July 2020. The C.D.C. then issued a series of its own moratoriums, saying that they were justified by the need to address the pandemic and authorized by a 1944 law. People unable to pay rent, the agency said, should not be forced to crowd in with relatives or seek refuge in homeless shelters, spreading the virus.
The last moratorium — which was put in place by the C.D.C. in September and expired on July 31 after being extended several times by Congress and Mr. Biden — was effective at achieving its goal, reducing by about half the number of eviction cases that normally would have been filed since last fall, according to an analysis of filings by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University.
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