Monday, August 16, 2021

Wake-Up Call: Debacle..Taliban Wins


After having quickly swept through Afghanistan, taking over most of the country in just over a week while facing little resistance from Afghan armed forces and police, the Taliban took over the capital of Kabul yesterday as the government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani left the country as the fighters closed in. Several Taliban members entered the abandoned presidential palace, and a spokesman told the Associated Press that the militants would hold talks in the coming days with the goal of forming a, quote, "open, inclusive Islamic government."

The U.S. Embassy was evacuated and American personnel brought to Kabul's international airport, and other Western countries also quickly closed their missions and are flying their people out of the country. The U.S. sent more forces to help and protect the evacuation, with there expected to be some 6,000 troops. At the same time, thousands of Afghan civilians, afraid of a return of the harsh form of Islamic law from when the Taliban ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, were also at the airport trying to get a flight out. More than 60 countries, including the U.S., released a joint statement last night saying that those now in power in Afghanistan, quote, "bear responsibility -- and accountability -- for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order."




The stunningly-quick Taliban takeover came two weeks before the U.S. planned date of August 31st for all American troops to be out of the country, and after a U.S. military assessment just days earlier had said Kabul wouldn't come under Taliban pressure for a month. The little resistance by Afghan forces came after the U.S. and NATO spent two decades and billions of dollars to build them up and train them. Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted the administration was surprised by the speed of collapse, saying on CNN yesterday, "The fact of the matter is we've seen that that force has been unable to defend the country. And that has happened more quickly than we anticipated."

 

Just a few weeks ago, on July 8th, President Biden downplayed the possibility of a Taliban takeover, saying, "The jury is still out, but the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely."




➤HAITI EARTHQUAKE DEATH TOLL NEARS 1,300: The death toll from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday rose to 1,297 on Sunday, with more than 5,700 injured and thousands more displaced from their homes. Thousands of buildings collapsed in the quake, which also triggered landslides after taking place some 78 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince. Meanwhile, Tropical Depression Grace is looming and is forecast to reach Haiti tonight. Even though it was downgraded from a tropical storm yesterday, it still is a threat for heavy rain, flooding and landslides. The U.S. is sending assistance, including a 65-person search and rescue team from Virginia, as well as at least two U.S. Coast Guard helicopters, as well as other aircraft and ships, according to a spokesman.



💉COVID VACCINE BOOSTERS FOR ELDERLY COULD BE DECIDED IN NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS: Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for Americans, which would likely go to health care workers, nursing home residents and the elderly first, could be decided in the next couple of weeks, Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said Sunday. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Collins again urged unvaccinated people to get their shots, calling them "sitting ducks" for the delta variant sweeping across the country. He said, "This is going very steeply upward with no signs of having peaked out." A booster hasn't yet been approved for the U.S. because Americans so far remain highly protected, including against the delta variant, if they're vaccinated. Booster shots were approved last week by the Food and Drug Administration for people who are immunocompromised.

🔫THREE KILLED, TWO WOUNDED IN SAN ANTONIO SPORTS BAR: Three people were killed and two others injured in a shooting at a San Antonio, Texas, sports bar early Sunday morning that began with an argument between two people. Police Chief William McManus said the suspect is still at large. McManus said it's believed the owner of the Boom Boom Sports Bar was trying to close at around 3:30 a.m. when the dispute began. The altercation spilled over into the parking lot, where the suspect grabbed a long gun from his car and started shooting, hitting five people. The two survivors are in critical condition.
 

🍹MOMS WITH YOUNG KIDS MORE THAN TRIPLED THEIR DRINKING DURING THE PANDEMIC: A new study suggests that moms with young kids increased their alcohol consumption by nearly 325 percent between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the end of last year. Drinking guidelines recommend that men allow for up to four drinks per day but on more than 14 drinks per week while for women it’s no more than three drinks a day or seven drinks per week. However, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that Americans exceeding those guidelines increased by 27 percent from February and April of 2020 and 39 percent between February and November. However, more women disproportionately reported exceeding the recommended drinking guidelines than men between April and November 2020, with those parenting kids under the age of 5 increasing their alcohol consumption by 323 percent.

➤FOOD STAMP BENEFITS TO BE INCREASED BY 25 PERCENT: The administration has approved a permanent increase in food stamps assistance that's the largest single increase in the program's history, the New York Times first reported yesterday. Average benefits will rise to more than 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels starting in October. An announcement is expected today by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The average monthly per-person benefit will increase from $121 to $157, according to AP.

📱T-MOBILE INVESTIGATING REPORTED LARGE DATA BREACH: T-Mobile is investigating a reported large data breach that may have exposed the information of more than 100 million people, Vice reported yesterday, saying the culprits are apparently trying to sell about one-third of the data. T-Mobile told Vice it's, quote, "aware of claims made in an underground forum," and is "actively investigating their validity." The data was reportedly taken from T-Mobile servers and includes customer information including names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, driver's license information, and IMEI numbers, which are unique to each mobile device, according to Mashable.
 
🧼POLL ASKS HOW OFTEN SHOULD PEOPLE SHOWER:  Showering, of all things, has been in the headlines recently as several celebrities -- including Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard -- revealed that they don't shower themselves or bathe their children as often as you might think. So what do Americans believe? A new OnePoll survey found that 51 percent say it's a must to shower regularly, while 31 percent said it's not necessary to shower every day. Thirty-five percent of those who think cleanliness is vital say they shower every day, while 15 percent do so every other day. Only eight percent take showers once a week, while four percent shower more than twice a day. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was a counter-celebrity on this question, tweeting that he showers up to three times a day. When it comes to kids, Bell and Shepard said they don't bathe their children until they start to "stink," and Kutcher and Kunis wait until, quote, "you can see dirt on them." Perhaps surprisingly, 63 percent of parents agree with that approach, while 25 percent disagree.

🎢ROLLERCOASTERS ARE AMERICAN'S FAVORITE AMUSEMENT RIDE  When you go to an amusement park, what kind of ride do you like the most, maybe making a beeline for first? If you're like the respondents in a new CBS News poll, it's roller coasters. They were in first place by a lot, at 35 percent, way ahead of bumper cars in a distant second at 13 percent. Tied in third place at 10 percent were the Ferris wheel and log ride/water flume. The tilt-a-whirl/scrambler/rotor/spinning rides came in at seven percent, and the carousel was at six percent. There was a division by gender, however, with 42 percent of men saying the roller coaster is their favorite compared to 28 percent of women. More men also named bumper cars, but just by two percent, while more women named the Ferris wheel and log ride/water flume rides as their favorite than men, but only by about five percent. When asked if they're concerned about the safety of amusement park rides when they decide whether or not to go them, half were at least somewhat concerned, with 21 percent saying they're very concerned and 29 percent saying they're somewhat concerned. Twenty-five percent said they're not too concerned and 23 percent are not at all concerned.

➤TROPICAL DEPRESSION GRACE THREATENS HAITI: Tropical Depression Grace was expected to dump enough heavy rain over Haiti on Monday and early Tuesday to cause the potential for mudslides and flooding, just days after the country was struck by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, the National Hurricane Center said.

🏀CLIPPERS TRADING THREE PLAYERS FOR BLEDSOE: The L.A. Clippers are trading Patrick Beverley, Rajon Rondo and Daniel Oturu to the Memphis Grizzlies for guard Eric Bledsoe, ESPN reported yesterday. Bledsoe was originally drafted by the Clippers in 2010 and spent the first three years of his career with them. The New Orleans Pelicans traded him to the Grizzlies before the July draft, and Memphis had been working to move him to a new team, according to the report.
 

🏌KISNER WINS WYNDHAM IN RECORD-TYING SIX-MAN PLAYOFF: American Kevin Kisner won the Wyndham Championship in a record-tying six-man playoff at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, yesterday. It was his first PGA Tour win since 2019 and fourth overall. After all six players made pars on the first additional hole, Kisner beat Adam Scott, Roger Sloan, Kevin Na, Si Woo Kim and Branden Grace on the second. It was the third six-man playoff on the PGA Tour and the first since 2001.

🎾FEDERER TO HAVE SURGERY, WILL MISS U.S. OPEN: Roger Federer announced on Instagram Sunday that he needs to have a third operation on his right knee and will miss the U.S. Open and be out for months. The 40-year-old said the surgery will leave him with, quote, "a glimmer of hope" that he can return to competition." Federer last played in Wimbledon last month, where he lost in the quarterfinals, and skipped the Tokyo Olympics due to his knee. He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, sharing the men's record with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

🏈KINLEY, GIVEN NAVY EXEMPTION FOR NFL, RELEASED BY BUCCANEERS: Rookie cornerback Cameron Kinley, who played college football at Navy and was last month allowed to delay his military comission to pursue an NFL career, was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Kinley may still get an opportunity to play in the NFL in the 2021-22 season, however, since there are still three weeks left before the start of the regular season.

🥊MUHAMMAD ALI'S GRANDSON GETS EARLY WIN IN PRO BOXING DEBUT: The late Muhammad Ali's grandson, 21-year-old Nico Ali Walsh, got a early win in his professional boxing debut on Saturday, with a first-round TKO of Jordan Weeks in their middleweight bout at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Catoosa, Oklahoma. The referee ended the fight with 1:49 remaining in the first round. Weeks was wearing a pair of his famous grandfather's white trunks, saying in an Instagram post later that he did so, quote, "for the first and final time as a professional fighter." He said, "I'm blessed and honored to say that I continued history."
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