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The Jan. 6 committee was tweaking plan for tonight’s hearing up until the last minute, sources say

A large projection screen is seen before Thursday night's hearing.
A large projection screen is seen before Thursday night’s hearing. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

The Jan. 6 select committee held final rehearsals for tonight’s prime-time hearing today and sources say members and staff were making final tweaks and adjustments to their plan right up until the last minute.

While the committee had the lion’s share of their plan in place, they were still making final decisions about the order of their presentation, even deciding which videos to share tonight and which to save for later hearings.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee chair, and GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee vice chair, are expected to play a starring role, with other members of the committee not contributing much to tonight’s hearing. They instead are being tasked with running separate hearings on later dates.

The hearing will rely heavily on a multimedia presentation to set the stage for what the investigation has uncovered up until this point, and tee up more in depth hearings throughout the month of June.

2022
06/10
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‘It was just madness inside.’ Gunman kills 4 people at Tulsa hospital complex

(CNN)Four people were killed in Tulsa on Wednesday after a gunman — who was later found dead — opened fire on the second floor of a medical building, authorities in Oklahoma said.
“It was just madness inside, with hundreds of rooms and hundreds of people trying to get out of the building,” Tulsa Police Department Captain Richard Meulenberg told CNN.
The mass shooting is the latest instance nationwide of first responders and civilians coming face-to-face with the threat of gun violence, as Tulsa joins several cities mourning recent tragic attacks at public places, places of worship and educational facilities.
Law enforcement received a call just before 5 p.m. Wednesday about an individual with a firearm at the Natalie Medical Building on the campus of St. Francis Hospital, Tulsa Police Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish said at a news conference.
Responding officers who arrived within minutes “were hearing shots in the building, and that’s what directed them to the second floor,” Dalgleish said.
The gunman was found dead by police as they worked their way inside the building, Meulenberg said, and has not been publicly identified.
2022
06/02
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Pakistan’s top court rules that blocking a no-confidence vote against Imran Khan was unconstitutional

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in Islamabad, Pakistan June 4, 2021.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ruled that a decision to block a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan was unconstitutional, with legislators now set to vote on Saturday.

The Supreme Court reached the unanimous decision after special proceedings that stretched to four days while Khan and his loyalist President Arif Alvi had steamrolled a process to start early elections. The Supreme Court also red wing shoes quashed Khan’s order to dissolve parliament and call for early elections, calling it of “no legal effect.”
A vote of confidence for Khan will now be held on Saturday at 10:30am local (1:30a ET).
Khan had called the election in a dramatic attempt to cling to power after the deputy speaker of parliament blocked a vote of no-confidence against him last Sunday, which had appeared almost certain to succeed.
Supporters of Prime Minister Imran Khan chant slogans during a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, April 3, 2022.

Supporters of Prime Minister Imran Khan chant slogans during a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, April 3, 2022.
Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri said that he had acted to prevent a ‘foreign conspiracy’ to unseat Khan’s regime.
That move, and Khan’s subsequent dissolution of parliament, enraged an opposition that for months have been demanding his removal over claims of poor governance and economic mismanagement.
The opposition responded by accusing Khan of treason and asking the country’s highest court to rule on whether the prime minister had breached the constitution.
The court battle is the latest escalation in a crisis that has been smoldering for weeks, with Khan already having lost the backing of key political allies and the country’s powerful military.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan calls for early election after no-confidence vote dismissed
Military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar moved to distance the country’s military from developments in a statement Sunday, insisting it was not involved in what is “purely a political situation.”
Pakistan, a nation of 220 million, has struggled with political instability since its formation in 1947 with multiple regime changes and military coups. No prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term under the present constitution of 1973.
The country’s main opposition parties have been rallying for Khan’s dismissal since he rose to power in 2018 after an election mired in coach outlet accusations of vote rigging and foul play.
More recently, he has been dogged by claims of economic mismanagement as his government battles depleting foreign exchange reserves and double-digit inflation, with the cost of basic necessities such as food and fuel skyrocketing.
Khan’s response has been to double down on claims that opposition to him is being fueled by the United States. He has not offered any evidence to support his claims, and the State Department has denied the allegations.
2022
04/08
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A 13-year-old was behind the wheel in Texas crash that killed 9 people and left two University of the Southwest golfers critically injured

A 13-year-old boy drove the pickup truck involved in a fiery head-on collision in Texas that killed nine people, including six University of the Southwest golfers and their coach, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Thursday.

Preliminary information indicates the left front tire of the pickup was a spare that failed, causing the vehicle to pull hard to the left into oncoming traffic of a two-lane roadway, NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said.
Investigators were able to identify the remains of the driver by his size, Landsberg said. Both vehicles were probably moving close to the posted speed limit of 75 mph, he said.
In Texas, a minor can begin the classroom part of a driver education course at 14 but must be at least 15 to apply for a learner license, swarovski jewelry according to the public safety department website.
Henrich Siemens, 38, of Seminole, Texas, was in the truck with the boy, authorities said. He was among the nine people killed in the Tuesday evening crash.
The students are recovering and making steady progress, University of the Southwest Provost Ryan Tipton said Thursday.
“One of the students is eating chicken soup,” Tipton told reporters. “I spoke with the parents and they are there with them and they are recovering every day. It’s a game of inches and every hour leads to them one step closer to another day… There is no indication as to how long it’s going to take but they are both stable and recovering and every day making more and more progress.”
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), a Dodge 2500 pickup drove into the approaching lane of a highway just outside Andrews, Texas, and hit a Ford Transit van carrying members of the New Mexico university’s men’s and women’s golf teams.
DPS Sgt. Steven Blanco said “the Dodge pickup drove into the northbound lane and struck the Ford passenger van head on.”
Six students and a coach in the van were killed as were the driver of the pickup and a passenger. Two other golfers were initially in critical condition at University Medical Center of Lubbock, Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The NTSB dispatched a 12-member team to investigate.
A makeshift memorial was set up at the Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs, New Mexico, Wednesday.
“It was very clearly a high speed, head on collision between two heavy vehicles,” Landsberg told reporters.
Landsberg said in it’s unclear why the full-sized spare blew out before the crash.
“On the highways 100 people (are killed) a day,” he said. “Every two days we are killing the equivalent of a Boeing 737 crashing. Now just think about that. That’s what’s putting this into perspective. And it’s long overdue that we start to do something about it.”
Emergency responders heading to the crash were told by a dispatcher there were two vehicles on fire with people trapped inside, according to recordings on Broadcastify.com, which monitors radio traffic among many emergency departments.
One of the first responders to arrive said: “All units, I’ve got wrecked units on both sides of the highway, fully involved vehicles. I’m still trying to get up on scene and see what we have.”
Members of the men’s and women’s golf teams at the University of Southwest were traveling back to their Hobbs, New Mexico, campus from a tournament in Midland, Texas, school officials said.
The remainder of the red wing shoes two-day tournament, hosted by Midland College, was canceled. There were 11 schools in the competition, which included both men’s and women’s teams, Midland College Athletic Director Forrest Allen said.
The weather in the area of the crash was clear with no fog, CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers said. There were no freezing temperatures, and the wind was light at around 5 to 8 mph.
As investigators worked to determine what caused the deadly collision, the University of the Southwest is dealing with the emotional toll on its community.
“Our institution is crushed and broken but strong,” Paula Smith, the university’s vice president for financial services, said Thursday.
Many students at the small Christian university — with an enrollment of about 1,100 students, including about 300 on campus — will be returning from spring break over the weekend, and the school is planning a memorial assembly for next week, according to Tipton, the provost.
“These aren’t the kind of things that you ever even dream of happening. And they shouldn’t happen,” he said.
Tipton said officials have said they may never know what caused the pickup truck to veer into the van’s path.
“For any of you that have lost a loved one or a member of your family, it’s the same feeling here,” he said. “They’re not only students and coaches. They are loved ones to us. They are members of our family here on campus.”
One victim was Laci Stone, a freshman member of the women’s golf team who was majoring in global business management, according to a family member.
The six USW student athletes killed in a crash Tuesday were identified as (top row, left to right) Laci Stone, Jackson Zinn, Karisa Raines, (bottom row, left to right) Mauricio Sanchez, Travis Garcia and Tiago Sousa.
“Last night Laci’s golf team was involved in a crash leaving a golf tournament. Our sweet Laci didn’t make it.,” Laci’s mother, Chelsi Stone, posted on Facebook. “Our Laci is gone! She has been an absolute ray of sunshine during this short time on earth.”
Laci, 18, of Nocona, Texas, was one of three siblings.
“We will never be the same after this and we just don’t understand how this happened to our amazing, beautiful, smart, joyful girl,” her mother said.
The school identified the other students who died as Mauricio Sanchez, 19, of Mexico; Travis Garcia, 19, of Pleasanton, Texas; Jackson Zinn, 22, of Westminster, Colorado; Karisa Raines, 21, of Fort Stockton, Texas; and Tiago Sousa, 18, of Portugal.
USW President Quint Thurman confirmed the death of coach Tyler James, who was 26.
“Great coach and a wonderful man,” Thurman said in an email. “Don’t make them any better!”
Coach Tyler James.
James’ bio on the school website said he was in his first season as head coach and played golf at Ottawa University and Howard Payne University.
“He always cared for us and made sure we were always doing good on and off the golf course,” said freshman Phillip Lopez, who did not participate in the tournament.
“I just can’t believe that my teammates and my coach are gone,” Lopez told CNN.
Students Dayton Price, 19, of Mississauga, Ontario, and Hayden Underhill, 20, of Amherstview, Ontario, were hospitalized. GoFundMe fundraisers were started to help pay for victims’ funeral and medical expenses.
2022
03/18
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How dangerous was Russia’s attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant?

Russian troops have occupied Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, after fierce fighting near the Ukrainian facility that drew international condemnation and sparked fears of a potential nuclear incident.

Those concerns were quickly downplayed by experts, who warned against comparisons with the plant at Chernobyl, where the world’s worst nuclear disaster occurred in 1986.
Modern plants are significantly safer than older ones like Chernobyl, they said. But analysts nonetheless expressed horror that Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine has spilled into nuclear facilities, a development with few recent parallels.
And the operator and regulator of the site have communicated that the situation on the ground is “extremely tense and challenging,” according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“No country besides Russia has ever fired upon an atomic power plant’s reactors. The red wing shoes first time, the first time in history,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Facebook post.
The IAEA called for fighting around the facility to end, and world leaders were swift in their criticism of Russia’s move.
Radioactive material was not released from the plant, but it was a “close call,” Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director-general, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Friday.
Following the Russian attack, “there was great alarm if the physical integrity of the nuclear power installation had been compromised, with the … possible risk that that entails,” Grossi said.
Grossi had earlier told reporters that what happens next at Zaporizhzhia is “a situation that is very difficult to sustain, very fragile” while there is an active military operation and Russian forces in control. “This is unprecedented,” he said. “Completely uncharted waters.”

What happened at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant?

Reports of an attack on the facility emerged early Friday morning, with video of the scene showing bursts of gunfire apparently directed at the Zaporizhzhia plant before dawn.
“Russian army is firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
A large number of Russian tanks and infantry “broke through the block-post” to Enerhodar, a few kilometers from the Zaporizhzhia power plant, according to Grossi.
A Russian projectile then hit a building within the site of the plant, causing a localized fire, but none of the reactors were nearby and they were unaffected, the IAEA chief said.
In a Facebook post early Friday, Zelensky accused Russian troops of committing a “terror attack” by intentionally firing at the power plant — potentially risking the lives of millions.
“Russian tanks, equipped with thermal imagery, are shooting at the atomic blocks. They know what they are shooting at. They’ve been preparing for this (attack),” Zelensky said in the post, adding “our guys are keeping the atomic power station secure.”
In a statement Friday morning local time, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate (SNRI) confirmed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine was occupied by Russian military forces, but said officials remained in contact with plant management.
The power plant’s six reactors remain intact, though the compartment auxiliary buildings for reactor unit 1 had been damaged, the SNRI said in its statement. Four of the remaining units are being cooled down while one unit is providing power, the statement said.
Separately, Ukraine’s nuclear power operator, Energoatom, said the “administrative building and the checkpoint at the station are under occupiers’ control.” It said staff are working on the power units to ensure stable operation.

How dangerous was the attack?

Ukrainian officials quickly sounded the alarm about the potential implications of the attack. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that “if (the plant) blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chernobyl,” and Zelensky said that such an incident would mean “the end of Europe.”
But experts were quick to stress that they did not believe a reactor could blow up, pointing out fundamental differences between Chernobyl and the Zaporizhzhia plant.
The IAEA said Ukrainian authorities had reported background radiation levels were normal and the fire had not affected “essential” equipment. The plant had not sustained any critical damage in the attack, Andrii Tuz, a plant spokesman, told CNN on Friday.
Ukrainian nuclear power plant fire extinguished as Russian troops 'occupy' facility
“The design is a lot different to the Chernobyl reactor, which did not have a containment building, and hence there is no real risk, in my opinion, at the plant now the reactors have been safely shut down,” Mark Wenman, a reader in nuclear materials at Imperial College London, told the Science Media Centre (SMC).
The Chernobyl disaster took place at a plant that used Soviet-era, graphite-moderated RBMK reactors. But the Zaporizhzhia facility uses a pressurized water reactor known as a VVER model.
“The design of the VVER is inherently more safe and protected than the Chernobyl RBMK systems,” explained Jon Wolfsthal, a senior adviser at Global Zero and former senior Director for Arms Control and Nonproliferation at the National Security Council, on Twitter on Friday.
A VVER reactor cannot “‘run away with itself’ as the RBMK could,” Malcolm Grimston, an honorary senior research fellow at the Imperial Centre for Energy Policy and Technology in London, told the SMC.
But even if an explosion at a reactor was most unlikely, other incidents could occur as a result of shelling or fires at the site.
“It’s really the electricity and the plumbing that you’re thorogood boots worried about,” Joseph Cirincione, a distinguished fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told CNN on Friday.
Electricity at the Fukushima plant in Japan was cut off during the nuclear disaster there in 2011, while the reactors themselves remained intact. “That meant you could no longer pump the cooling water through the reactors, or the cooling ponds,” Cirincione said.
“I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet. We have to make sure that the Russians who are taking over know what they’re doing,” he added.
Grossi, the IAEA director-general, told CNN on Friday: “What I’m telling (Russia) and everyone is that the utmost restraint is to be exercised in and around this type of facility. Because wittingly or unwittingly, you can very quickly go into a disaster, and this is why we’re so concerned.”

How safe are modern nuclear facilities?

The differences in design and safety standards mean that the possibility of a nuclear reactor at the site exploding and causing a disaster is not something concerning nuclear experts.
They noted that the threat would be somewhat higher if a nuclear reactor were to come under a targeted, sustained attack with the intention of causing a nuclear incident, which was not the case in Zaporizhzhia and would make little sense given the proximity of Russia’s major cities to all of Ukraine’s plants.
The pressure vessel of a modern reactor “is very robust and can withstand considerable damage from phenomena such as earthquakes and to an extent kinetic impacts,” Robin Grimes, a professor of materials physics at Imperial College London, told SMC.
Six power units generate 40-42 billion kWh of electricity at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Six power units generate 40-42 billion kWh of electricity at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
“It is not designed to withstand” attacks by explosive weaponry, he added. “It seems to me unlikely that such an impact would result in a Chernobyl-like nuclear event (but) this has never been tested and it is not impossible.”
“It is therefore staggering and reckless to the extreme that shells have been fired close to a nuclear plant,” he said. “Even if they were not aiming for the nuclear plant, artillery is notoriously inaccurate in a time of war.”

How many nuclear plants does Ukraine have?

Ukraine relies heavily on nuclear power. The Zaporizhzhia plant contains six of the country’s 15 nuclear energy reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the facility alone accounts for one-fifth of the average annual electricity production in Ukraine, according to Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power operator.
That makes its seizure by Russian forces hugely significant; if the plant were to stop running, it would severely affect the energy supplies to millions of Ukrainians.
In total Ukraine has four nuclear plants — two, including Zaporizhzhia, in the south of the country, and two more in the northwest, in regions Russian troops have not occupied.
Those do not include the closed Chernobyl plant, in the north of the country, which was occupied by Russian forces on the first day of their invasion of Ukraine. According to Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, control of the Chernobyl zone was lost after a “fierce battle.”
More than 90 members of the Chernobyl power plant operational personnel were held hostage by Russian forces after they took the plant, Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova said.
The Chernobyl plant was shut down after the 1986 disaster, and has sat within an exclusion zone ever since, but construction and recovery efforts have continued at the site to reduce the risk of future radiation leaks.
2022
03/05
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Police chief reveals how 6-year-old girl was found alive under staircase two years after she was reported missing

A child who was reported missing in 2019 when she was 4 years old was found hidden under a wooden staircase with her noncustodial mother, in a home officials had visited several times while investigating her disappearance, authorities said.

The child, Paislee Joann Shultis, now 6, was reported missing on July 13, 2019, from Cayuga Heights, a village on the outskirts of Ithaca, New York. At the time, she was believed to have been abducted by her noncustodial parents, Kimberly Cooper and Kirk Shultis Jr., police said in a news release.
Paislee and her mother were found Monday when investigators spotted “a pair of tiny feet” in a secret space under wooden steps leading to a basement.
“We should all wait until the facts come out,” said Carol K. Morgan, who represents Cooper. “Everyone should be patient before they draw their own conclusions.”
In the basement of the hoka shoes for women house, detectives searching for the girl found an apartment, including a bedroom with Paislee’s name on a wall, Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra told CNN on Wednesday. The bed appeared to have been slept in.
“Our officers asked, ‘Is she here?’ … And they denied that anybody was living in that house, in that particular room,” the chief said in an interview. “They said they had set the room up like that in the event that Paislee should ever return.”
Paislee Joann Shultis in a photo released by the Saugerties Police Department.

Paislee Joann Shultis in a photo released by the Saugerties Police Department.
Throughout the 2.5-year investigation, authorities received several tips about the Saugerties-area home where the child was eventually located — but each time, the residents denied knowing anything about the girl’s whereabouts, the release said. Saugerties is about 160 miles east of Cayuga Heights.
“The quick answer: That’s our criminal justice system,” Sinagra said of his department’s inability to find the girl earlier, adding that Monday was the first time officers were able to obtain factual information — not hearsay — and secure a search warrant.
Sinagra said the homeowners were always “adversarial” with the officers, accusing police of “harassing” and “badgering” them and “insisting we should be out looking for Paislee.”
Sinagra told CNN on Wednesday that officers previously had been in the home roughly a dozen times but were not allowed in the basement or bedroom areas.
“We’re bothered by the fact that this went on for two years,” the hoka shoes chief said. “They lied to us for two years — including the father stating that he had no idea where his daughter was.”
On several occasions, investigators were allowed into the home without a warrant, but they were given “limited access” by Kirk Shultis Jr. and Kirk Shultis Sr., police said in the news release.
That changed Monday when police received information the child was being hidden and got a warrant for the home.
Officers arrived outside the house about 4 p.m to ensure that no one left. Police then executed the warrant a little after 8 p.m., the chief said. The homeowner denied knowing the girl’s whereabouts, saying he had not seen her since she was reported missing in 2019.
Police said the secret location underneath the stairs to the basement appeared to have been built to hide the girl.

Police said the secret location underneath the stairs to the basement appeared to have been built to hide the girl.
An hour into the search, one detective noticed the steps leading to the basement were oddly constructed. The detective, Erik Thiele, pointed a flashlight through a crack in the wooden steps and saw what seemed to be a blanket, the release said.
“There was something about the staircase that bothered him,” Sinagra said of the officer who discovered the hidden compartment.
As officers began to pull the stairs apart, Sinagra said the silence was eerie.
“The child never made a sound. Kimberly never made a sound,” Sinagra said.
“The question that needs to be answered is what she was told by her parents that would keep her so still and quiet while the cops are walking up and down the steps, while they’re taking the steps apart,” Sinagra added.
Investigators removed several of the steps, the release added, and “that is when detectives saw a pair of tiny feet.”
A door in Paislee’s basement room opened onto a short hallway that led directly to the secret compartment under the stairs — about three to four feet away, Sinagra said.
“The child and her abductor, Kimberly Cooper were found hiding in the dark and wet enclosure,” the police release said. Authorities believe Cooper and the child had been staying at the home since they disappeared in 2019, Sinagra said, adding the staircase appeared to have been built to hide them both.
“It is our opinion … that, that location was used probably each and every time that we sent an officer to the residence,” Sinagra said.
Police arrested Cooper and Shultis Jr. — the girl’s biological parents — as well as Shultis Sr., the release said.
Missing Children Fast Facts
Cooper was charged with two misdemeanors: custodial interference in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child, and remains in jail because of a prior arrest warrant issued through family court, according to police.
Kirk Shultis Jr. and Kirk Shultis Sr. were each charged with custodial interference in the first degree, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. Both were arraigned and released on their own recognizance, police said. All three defendants were ordered by the court to stay away from the child.
Cooper, who made bail, and the two men appeared in court Wednesday.
The cases for the men were adjourned to later this month. Their lawyers declined comment. Cooper will be back in court March 2.
The child was found to be in good health and released to her legal guardian and reunited with her older sister, police said.
On Tuesday, “detectives met with the family that has the child, and she was in very good spirits,” the chief said.
The young girl was “upset and was concerned” when police first rescued her, Sinagra said.
“That begs the question, what olukai shoes was the child told about the police and, you know, why the police would come and take her,” Sinagra said. “That’s what I’m concerned about. … And I’m sure that when she saw several of our officers, who were heavily armed … that was somewhat traumatizing to the child.”
Before she was released to her legal guardian, detectives drove the girl to police headquarters, in part so medics could examine her. As they drove, she saw a McDonald’s and recalled having some a long time ago, the chief said.
“So, the detectives turned the car around and went to the drive-through at McDonald’s, picked her up a Happy Meal, and brought her back to headquarters. And she was fine after that,” the chief added.
An investigation is ongoing, police said.
“We don’t know what Paislee lived (through) for the past two years,” Sinagra said.
“And we don’t know what kind of damage may have been done because of the conditions that she had to live under.”
2022
02/17
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Tense moments in Situation Room as Biden oversaw raid on ISIS leader that was months in the making

President Joe Biden watched in real time Wednesday as US commandos landed in Syria to raid a three-story home, surrounded by olive trees, where the top leader of ISIS was living with his wife and members of his family.

From the head of the Situation Room table, Biden watched anxiously as an American helicopter suffered mechanical problems on the ground.
There was relief in the room when children emerged from the first floor of the building, running to safety.
Moments later, an explosion rocked the site: a suicide detonation that killed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, his wife and his children, blowing their bodies outside the building and onto the surrounding land.
The details of how Biden monitored the raid came from senior administration officials, red wing boots who recounted it in detail on Thursday morning. Their description was of a successful operation that took out a critical terror leader while avoiding any American casualties. The US officials insisted the only civilian casualties were those caused by the leader himself when he blew apart his residence with his family inside.
It was the highest-profile counter-terror operation of Biden’s tenure, and officials appeared intent on using it to cast the President in a decisive light. In some ways, it mirrored raids ordered by Biden’s two predecessors to take out terror leaders in their homes, each of which was monitored in real time on a secure feed.
Like after those missions, the White House has capitalized on the moment. They quickly released a photograph of a jacket-less President in the Situation Room, staring intently ahead as the raid unfolded.
Biden emerged mid-morning to deliver a brief statement about the mission from the White House Roosevelt Room.
“This operation is a testament to America’s reach and capability to take out terrorist threats no matter where they try to hide anywhere in the world,” he said, issuing a message to terrorists who are still at-large: “We will come after you and find you.”
He added that every precaution had been made to protect civilians, saying, “We do know that as our troops approached to capture the terrorist, in a final act of desperate cowardice with no regard to the life of his own family or those of others in the building, he chose to blow himself up … rather than face justice for the crimes he has committed.”
When Biden was vice president, he had opposed the risky mission to take out al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan, an ultimately successful operation that was designed to limit civilian casualties.
Biden’s mission mirrored that operation in some ways, and he similarly decided upon using American special forces to take out the ISIS leader instead of ordering an airstrike on the home, a sign his views of the risks had shifted in the more than 10 years since bin Laden’s death.
“Knowing that this terrorist had chosen to surround himself with families, including children, we made a choice to pursue a Special Forces raid at a much greater risk to our own people rather than targeting him with an airstrike. We made this choice to minimize civilian casualties,” Biden said on Thursday morning.
US descriptions of the raid were derived from accounts on the ground and the real-time feed. In the past, early US accounting has later turned out to be incomplete or wrong. Sources on the ground reported at least 13 fatalities during the raid, including six children and four women, according to the Syrian civil defense group the White Helmets.
President Biden, Vice President Harris and members of the President's national security team observe the counterterrorism operation responsible for removing from the battlefield ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.

President Biden, Vice President Harris and members of the President’s national security team observe the counterterrorism operation responsible for removing from the battlefield ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.
‘Tremendous tension’
In Washington, officials described an operation months in the making meant to incapacitate a shadowy leader of a terror group that some feared was regrouping.
“We think the impact of (the killing of Qurayshi) is going to be a blow to ISIS,” a senior administration official said, saying the terrorist “was heavily involved in running many of the operations.”
Officials said he oversaw ISIS branches abroad — including the one in Afghanistan responsible for the deaths of US Marines last year — and played a key role in the genocide of the Yazidi ethnic minority.
At one point in December, top Pentagon officials hoka shoes for women brought a tabletop model of the location to the Situation Room to walk the President through their plans.
The target, Qurayshi, never left his compound. Living on the third floor with his family, he emerged only occasionally to bathe on the roof. Families with no connection to ISIS lived on the first floor, apparently without knowledge of the terrorist two stories above them.
It was months ago the US learned the leader of ISIS was living there, running his terror operation through a network of couriers. When Biden was briefed by operational commanders in December, he ordered the Pentagon to take precautions to minimize civilian deaths — a difficult proposition for a target who appeared to intentionally surround himself with children and families as protection.
US forces who carried out the mission rehearsed the operation, including the safeguards to protect innocents. When the American team landed, they announced their presence loudly, asking those inside the building to leave and for others in the surrounding residential area to stay away.
Biden gave final approval of the operation on Tuesday in the Oval Office, where he was briefed by the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
There was “tremendous tension” in the Situation Room a day later as the President, Vice President Kamala Harris and members of Biden’s military and national security teams monitored the situation in “real time.”
Months in the making
Biden had been “very steeped in the operational details” after months of planning, a senior administration official said, which included the model of the building housing the top ISIS leader, brought by military leaders into the Situation Room in December. He engaged in a “constant give and take” with his military commanders.
By early December, US intelligence officials were certain Qurayshi was living in the residence.
Planning was incredibly complex, the official said. Qurayshi was living in a residential neighborhood on the third floor of a building housing families, including children.
Qurayshi himself rarely left the building and his “human shields,” officials said, save for occasional baths on the roof.
US officials “of course” considered the prospect he might detonate himself during the operation, in the same way ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi did during the raid that killed him in 2019.
That is precisely what happened. Inside the Situation Room, Biden received a report of a “significant explosion,” which officials say ultimately killed Qurayshi and his family.
“That happened fairly early in the operation” the official explained. From there, things ran in a “linear fashion,” and all deaths and casualties were a result of actions of members of ISIS, the White House alleged.
The blast occurred before any US forces entered the building, destroying the third floor and sending bodies into the surrounding area.
Military engineers had determined ahead of time the blast would not cause the building to collapse.
“I doubt he knew that when he set off that detonation,” the official said. “It was probably his intent to kill everyone in that building.”
Still, the operation was not complete. A top ISIS lieutenant was on the floor beneath Qurayshi, hoka shoes facilitating day-to-day operations of the terrorist organization. When US forces entered the building, he barricaded himself in his quarters with his wife on the second floor and engaged American forces. The ISIS lieutenant was killed.
After his death, a number of children emerged from the second floor. They were removed to safety.
A US helicopter had “mechanical issues” during the raid and was “properly disposed of at some distance from the site,” an official said. Those issues had nothing to do with “any kind of hostile action.”
“Ultimately, that helicopter was able to extract itself from the immediate target area and, under control, able to land in another location where the decision was made to disable it and destroy it,” the official said.
Tension in the Situation Room turned to “relief” when the first reports came in from the raid. A family on the first floor, including a man, a woman, and several children, who officials believed were unaware of the ISIS members living around them, were “led to safety” away from the building.
When the operation had concluded, Biden offered only a few words.
“The President was obviously pleased with the reports from his commanders,” officials said. Biden had “tremendous praise” for our team.
The officials said that as he left the Situation Room, Biden said, “God bless our troops.”
2022
02/04
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A Minnesota surgeon was fired after he told a local school board only parents should make decisions on whether or not their kids wear masks

school kids elementary school children
Elementary kids wearing masks. 
  • A Minnesota surgeon told a school board parents should decide whether or not their kids wear masks.
  • “It’s still their responsibility. It’s not yours,” Dr. Jeffrey Horak said, opposing a mask mandate.
  • Horak said he was fired from his job nine days later without an explanation.

A Minnesota surgeon was fired bluetooth headphones after he spoke at a school board meeting and said parents should be the ones to decide whether or not their kids wear masks, KOMO News reported.

At an October 11 meeting in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Dr. Jeffrey Horak spoke out against the district’s mask mandate.

“Who does God put in charge of these kids? Their parents,” Horak said at the meeting, KOMO News reported. “God gave each one of these kids to their parents and they speak for them. They may be wrong, they may be dumb, they may be perfect in their decisions. But it’s still their responsibility. It’s not yours, God gave it to them, honor their wishes – either side of the fence.”

In a statement on his Facebook page, Horak said nine days after he made those comments his employer, Lake Region Healthcare, told him his views were “no longer congruent” with theirs and asked him to either resign or be fired.

“I wasn’t given a reason nor was I aware of any issues or complaints about me,” Horak said in his statement.

He added: “We live in America where freedoms are held close. I am a man who believes individuals have the right to do their research and decide what is best for them and their children when it comes to their health. I don’t believe governments or institutions should dictate that. It’s a position I’ve always have taken. And when skechers outlet the science doesn’t make sense it’s hard for me to go along.”

In a statement to Insider, Lake Region Healthcare said they did not make the decision to terminate Dr. Horak.

“Lake Region Healthcare is not Dr. Horak’s employer. Dr. Horak is part of Lake Region Medical Group, the partnership of providers that Lake Region Healthcare contracts with,” a spokesperson for Lake Region Healthcare told Insider.

Dr. Greg Smith, President, of Lake Region Medical Group Board told Insider in a statement that the board, made up of nine of Horak’s partners, decided to discontinue his contract after “a thorough review process,” but said the reasons for his separation were a “confidential matter.”

“To be clear, this was a decision that was made by Dr. Horak’s peers who serve on the Medical Group Board, not by Lake Region Healthcare, the community-based hospital where Dr. Horak practiced General Surgery,” the statement said.

2021
11/01
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Missing teenage girl who left Fort Worth home was perhaps persuaded to go, mother says

A teenage girl was likely persuaded by another person to leave her Fort Worth home last week and has not returned or been in touch with her relatives, her mother said on Wednesday.

Dashayla Wolfe, 14, has been missing since Oct. 20. She nike sneakers left between 11:30 p.m. and 4:30 a.m., her mother, Cynthia Wolfe, said at a news conference outside the Walls of Jericho Deliverance Church in the Stop Six section of the city.

The Baptist Ministers Union of Greater Fort Worth and the Ministers of Justice Coalition of Texas called the conference on the missing teenager.

A 14-year-old Fort Worth girl has been missing since Oct. 20, officials said. Dashayla Wolfe was last seen in her home.
A 14-year-old Fort Worth girl has been missing since Oct. 20, officials said. Dashayla Wolfe was last seen in her home.

Cynthia Wolfe and others offered a plea to her daughter to return home or for someone with information about her location to share it. Walls of Jericho Deliverance Church is offering a $5,000 reward in the case, its pastor, the Rev. John Reed, said.

Dashayla teaches Sunday school at the church and sings in its choir.

Her mother, who is a asics shoes minister at the church, said she believed that Dashayla had been “persuaded to leave in some kind of way.”

“Just come home or let someone know that you are OK,” she said.

A Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson did not answer questions from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about the case.

Dashayla Wolfe was described as biracial with brown hair and hazel eyes. She is about 5-foot-2 and weighs about 190 pounds.

Anyone with information should call Fort Worth police at 817-392-4222.

2021
10/29
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A California Construction Worker Asked a Speeding Motorist to Slow Down. He Was Shot Seven Times In Response.

The family of a California Black construction worker wants answers after their loved one was shot several times in what is now being looked at as a potential hate crime.

Bobby Gayle is still recovering, KCRA reported this week, after being shot seven times asics shoes this month in the town in California’s Central Valley. The incident took place on Oct. 8 while the 45-year-old man was on the job at a north Stockton restaurant.

Bobby Gayle (left), Michael Hayes (right) Credit: Family photo/Stockton Police Department
Bobby Gayle (left), Michael Hayes (right) Credit.

Bobby’s brother, Marlon Gayle, told the outlet that his brother had just finished the job when the shooting occurred. Marlon claims that Bobby saw a man driving at high speed through the parking lot and yelled for him to slow down.

The brother said the man, identified as Michael Hayes, 31, stopped his truck, got out and started shooting and spouting racial slurs. Marlon told the outlet he believes “it was a hate crime.”

He added, “The guy doesn’t know my brother. My brother doesn’t know him. Out of nowhere, he started calling him the N-word and started shooting him.”

On Friday, Hayes was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

Marlon Gayle said he learned of his brother’s nike sneakers shooting through several voicemails the father of five left on his phone. The shooter missed several major arteries, but Bobby was ultimately hit in his throat, upper arm, shoulder and two times in the face.

The brother says they “don’t know if he’ll be able to work at the same capacity.” He added, “The doctors are letting us know. Our first thing … is being able to see that he is breathing right. He’s talking right.”

Prior to Hayes’ arrest, Stockton Police shared photos of the man and his truck on Facebook. There was also a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect’s arrest.

Stockton Police Assistant Chief Jim Chraska said that the department was “working with reporting to the California Department of Justice as well as the FBI. We have an officer on the FBI task force. So it’s important to us to make sure we get the community’s help.”

After the arrest, Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones thanked the “anonymous tipster and the hard work of our detectives for bringing a quick resolution to this case for the victim and his family.”

2021
10/19
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