Talking Heads guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Harrison and ex-King Crimson guitarist/singer Adrian Belewhave lent their talents to “Wasteland,” the debut single by New Originals, a new collaborative project by co-founding Turkuaz member Dave Brandwein and producer Rob O’Block.
In recent years, Turkuaz — a Brooklyn, New York-based alternative funk band that broke up in late 2021 — played a number of shows with Harrison and Belew that featured full performances of the Talking Heads’ 1980 album Remain in Light. After Turkuaz split, some members of the group have continued to perform with Harrison and Belew.
Brandwein is joined on “Wasteland” by former Turkuaz singer/electronic artist Danke on lead vocals, and veteran hip-hop and rock drummer Daru Jones.
“It seemed time for a new energy that could reflect more of the edge and darkness in my lyrics, and in the state of the world,” Brandwein says of the song.
“Wasteland” is available now as a digital download and via streaming services.
As previously reported, Jerry and Adrian will be performing together at two events this fall.
The first is a special concert and Q&A event celebrating the Remain in Light album on September 29 at famed Los Angeles theater The Wiltern, while the second is the 2022 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which takes place from September 30 to October 2 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
Former Turkuaz members will be performing as part of the duo’s backing group at both events, although Brandwein isn’t among them.
(NEW YORK) — A 99-year-old Pennsylvania woman got to meet her 100th great-grandchild in person earlier this month.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime event for Marguerite “Peg” Koller — also known as “grandmom” to Christine Stokes Balster and her husband Patrick Balster — who was “absolutely ecstatic” to greet baby Koller William Balster after his birth on Aug. 4.
“We went to grandmom’s, introduced her to Koller, who was named after that family name,” Stokes Balster, of Lafayette Hill, told “Good Morning America.” “…She was absolutely ecstatic. Limited words for sure. She was just so happy and felt so blessed and lucky to be holding him.”
“You could feel the emotion and the gratitude and [she] just felt blessed again that she got to hold yet another great-grandbaby, and this one named after my grandfather,” the mom of two added.
In total, the 99-year-old matriarch has 11 children, 56 grandchildren and 100 great-grandkids. Koller was lucky number 100 and arrived a week after his due date, weighing in at 9 pounds, 6 ounces.
“It was a race to 100,” Stokes Balster explained. “My cousin Colleen and I were just a day apart [for] our due dates, and she had the 99th great-grandchild, who is absolutely healthy and beautiful. So you know, just grateful, blessed to have another few babies joining this great family.”
Koller is the second child for Stokes Balster and her husband, who are also parents to Griffin David Balster, 22 months. Griffin David was named after his uncle, Stokes Balster’s late brother David Stokes, who died of brain cancer in 1990.
The Balsters said they wanted another name that was just as meaningful for their second son.
“We wanted to do like a name that was equally significant,” Patrick Balster told “GMA.” “I’ve always loved the name Cole. And Chris one day was like, ‘Hey, how about Koller? This could be baby number 100 for great-grandmom.’ We thought about Koller and we went for Koller William … William Koller was her grandfather’s name [Peg Koller’s late husband, who died in 2008]. And then ‘William’ is also on my side of the family, I’m fourth-generation William, middle name. So we’re like, it just made sense. It felt good.”
The couple kept their baby’s name a secret until after he was born.
“I think each one of my mom’s siblings — she’s one of 11 — just felt that it was such an honor to my late grandfather and the family name,” Stokes Balster said. “[It was] so much love, so much support immediately once we revealed what his name was, and even more special that he was the 100th great-grandchild. So the timing was just right.”
Peg Koller will turn 100 this November and the Balsters are looking forward to spending more time with their family matriarch. They say among the “secrets” to her longevity is working out twice a day and the love and support of their family.
“Faith and family really get her going,” Stokes Balster said. “She is present no matter what is going on and however old she is. I mean she never misses a graduation, a baptism, a wedding, a book moment at grade school. Whatever it is, she’s always there.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department said in a new court filing Monday that it opposes an effort by multiple media organizations, including ABC News, to unseal the supporting affidavit behind the now-public search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
“There remain compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed,” the filing states.
In a footnote, department officials write that they “carefully considered” whether they could release the affidavit with redactions, but the redactions necessary to “mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest.”
However, if the magistrate judge were to order the partial unsealing of the affidavit, “the government respectfully requests an opportunity to provide the Court with proposed redactions.”
The department also says that it does not object to the unsealing of other materials filed in connection with the search warrant, “whose unsealing would not jeopardize the integrity of this national security investigation,” but with minor redactions to protect government personnel. This would consist of “cover sheets associated with the search warrant application, the government’s motion to seal, and the Court’s sealing order.
The government has filed those under seal and is asking the court to unseal them.
Further explaining their request to keep the underlying affidavit sealed, prosecutors note it “would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps.”
They briefly detail some of the information in the affidavit that has been reviewed by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, noting that, “it contains, among other critically important and detailed investigative facts: highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government; specific investigative techniques; and information required by law to be kept under seal” under grand jury rules.
“In addition, information about witnesses is particularly sensitive given the high-profile nature of this matter and the risk that the revelation of witness identities would impact their willingness to cooperate with the investigation,” prosecutors note — highlighting stories regarding an increase in threats to law enforcement that has followed the search of Mar-a-Lago.
“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,” the filing states. “The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly.”
The unsealing could also impact the civil liberties of those whose actions are detailed in the underlying affidavit, prosecutors said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON and CAIRO) — Since 1989, when the Iranian supreme leader of the time, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued an apostasy fatwa against the Indian-British Salman Rushdie, it has not been just the “The Satanic Verses” author who has been threatened and attacked.
Multiple writers, translators and publishers have been targeted around the world by extremists with links to this fatwa, which included a religious death warrant for “all the editors and publishers” of the novel who were “aware of its contents.”
Rushdie was hospitalized after being stabbed multiple times in New York on Friday, about 33 years after the fatwa was issued.
Rushie’s agent and family released statements Sunday saying he has a long road ahead but is improving and is off a ventilator. The stabbing marked the latest violent attack on people who were targeted around the world with direct and indirect links to the fatwa.
Ettore Capriolo
Ettore Capriolo, an English literature expert who had translated “The Satanic Verses” into Italian, was stabbed multiple times on July 4, 1991, in Milan, Italy. He survived the attack.
Talking to the local press, Capriolo said he had forgotten about “The Satanic Verses” translation and had moved on to other works when received a message from a young man saying he was from the Iranian embassy with a translation proposal.
A few days later, the man showed up at Capriolo’s house. As they sat for a chat about the proposal, the guest asked him for Rushdie’s address. The translator said he didn’t know it. As the young man was leaving, he turned and punched Capriolo in the face before stabbing him several times, local media reported.
The attacker was never arrested, and the only comment from the Iranian embassy at the time was that they did not know anyone named Capriolo and they had never searched for him, local media reported.
Hitoshi Igarashi
Eight days later, a 44-year-old Japanese scholar, Hitoshi Igarashi, was found stabbed to death at his office on July 12, 1991, at Tsukuba University in Tokyo.
A year and a half earlier, Igarashi and his publisher Gianni Palma held a press conference in Tokyo to announce their translation of Rushdie’s work. Midway through the session, a Pakistani Muslim took over the stage and attempted to assault Palma. The attacker was arrested and reportedly deported afterward.
Aziz Nesin
Turkish writer and humorist Aziz Nesin started translating “The Satanic Verses” in the early 1990s. In May 1993, Nesin published excerpts from the controversial novel in the newspaper Aydinlik.
The move, along with some of his speeches led to riots in Istanbul by Islamic fundamentalists who denounced Nesin for “spreading atheism.”
A few months later, on July 2, 1993, a mob reportedly organized by Islamists gathered around the Madimak Hotel in the Anatolian city of Sivas, where a cultural festival was taking place, to protest the presence of Nesin, according to The New York Times. They reportedly set the hotel on fire. Nesin and many other guests escaped, but at least 37 people were killed, according to multiple reports.
William Nygaard
Publisher William Nygaard, who had put out a Norwegian translation of Rushdie’s novel, was shot three times outside his home on Oct. 11, 1993, in Holmenkollen, Norway. He survived the attack, but was hospitalized for months.
Both Nygaard and the translator of the novel, Kari Risvik, had received death threats before the attack, according to local reports.
Twenty-five years later, in October 2018, Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service said two people were charged with attempted murder; one from Iran and one connected to Lebanon.
Naguib Mahfouz
Egyptian writer and Nobel Prize laureate for literature Naguib Mahfouz was stabbed in the neck by a Muslim extremist outside his Cairo home on Oct. 15, 1994.
He survived the injuries, but his right hand was paralyzed afterward, according to The New York Times.
Mahfouz had denounced the fatwa against Rushdie, saying that “the veritable terrorism of which he is a target is unjustifiable, indefensible.”
The controversy around “The Satanic Verses,” had revived criticisms against Mahfouz’s novel “Children of Our Alley.” The book, published in 1959, had been deemed blasphemous by some, including extremist cleric Abdel-Rahman, known as “the blind sheikh.” If Mahfouz had been killed 30 years ago, Rushdie would not have appeared, Abdel-Rahman said in an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Nabaa.
“Nobody can force any piece of literature on art on anyone; people choose whatever they want to read,” Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, an Egyptian writer, told ABC News. “Such fatwas should stay away from literature and arts.”
Denying any effects of such fatwas on the readership of literary books in the long term, Abdel-Meguid said that “the intended aim of such attacks is never achieved.”
“In the contrary,” he added, “they encourage people to read the books which these extremists regard as blasphemous.”
(NEW YORK) — As monkeypox continues to spread across the U.S., the number of children infected with the virus is growing as well.
At least six children have tested positive for monkeypox since July, including a child in Maine and two each in Indiana and California.
The other case was reported in an infant, a non-U.S. resident, who was tested while traveling through Washington, D.C., federal officials confirmed last month.
Children under the age of 8 are among those whom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers at “increased risk” for developing more severe illness if infected with monkeypox, along with pregnant people, people who are immunocompromised and those who have a history of atopic dermatitis or eczema.
Below, experts answer seven questions parents might have about monkeypox and how it may impact kids, as overall cases across the U.S. continue to climb.
1. As a parent, how concerned do I need to be about monkeypox?
At this time in the outbreak, parents “do not need to panic” about the virus, according to ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, who is also a board-certified OB-GYN.
“They should be aware of what’s going on with this, as they are with any medical headline,” Ashton added. “They should know what’s going on in their community and they should take the appropriate steps after discussing any concerns they have with their pediatrician.”
2. How is monkeypox spread?
Monkeypox, also known as MPX, is spread primarily through direct, skin-to-skin contact between someone who has the virus and someone who does not, according to Dr. Richard Malley, senior physician in pediatrics, division of infectious diseases, at Boston Children’s Hospital and a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
“That could be through intimate contact,” said Malley. “It could also be through just contact with somebody in the family who has an unsuspecting lesion and lesion unfortunately touches another individual.”
Shared items like towels, clothes or bed sheets could also possibly spread the virus if used by someone with a monkeypox lesion, according to Malley.
“If somebody is infected with MPX, they really need to be very careful with who they interact with and how they interact with those with other people to try to avoid spread as much as possible,” he said.
According to the CDC, monkeypox can also spread through contact with an infected person’s respiratory secretions and prolonged face-to-face contact.
“So far it does not seem to be the major mode of transmission for this virus in the current epidemic,” said Malley. “But that is of course one of the things that we need to monitor very closely.”
3. Does my family need to wipe down surfaces or avoid shared spaces like playgrounds?
Because monkeypox is spread primarily through skin-to-skin contact, parents at this point do not need to overly concerned with their child becoming infected by touching things like doorknobs in public spaces or shared toys, according to both Malley and Ashton.
“While that possibility remains, I think it does not mean that parents or anyone should be concerned about touching doorknobs or going to the grocery story or touching objects that are out on the street, for example,” said Malley. “That is not thought to be a very likely way for MPX to be spread, or for most viruses to be spread.”
Ashton said that people who live in high-transmission areas for monkeypox may want to wipe down surfaces as an extra precaution, noting, “It is possible that this virus can be left on gym equipment, just like it can be left on clothes.”
However, she added that hand washing is more important than wiping surfaces to prevent the spread of disease.
“Hand hygiene is the most important thing, not just for monkeypox but for any infectious disease,” Ashton said.
4. How can I tell if my child has monkeypox?
Unfortunately, the symptoms of monkeypox can look like other viruses — including flu and other rashes — so experts recommend seeking medical care as soon as symptoms show, especially if your child has been in contact with someone who has monkeypox.
Typically, the disease begins with a fever, headache, fatigue, chills and muscle aches. Unlike smallpox, however, monkeypox also causes swollen lymph nodes.
Within one to three days of initial symptoms, those infected will typically develop a rash either on their face or other parts of the body, according to the CDC.
Per the World Health Organization, the lesions — or rash — start out as dark spots on the skin before progressing to bumps that fill with fluid.
Malley said parents should seek medical care for any type of rash on their child’s body that does not look like something they have had previously.
“The rash of MPX, as we are now learning, can look very different in different individuals for reasons that we don’t quite understand,” said Malley. “You really need to be cautious with anything that might look like a MPX rash.”
Monkeypox is diagnosed by testing the lesions to identify whether genetic material of the virus is present, according to Malley.
5. Why are children at increased risk with monkeypox?
Experts are not sure, Malley said.
It may be due to their immune systems and the fact that “younger children are sometimes more susceptible to some viral infections,” he explained.
In Africa, where monkeypox originated, the most severe but rare cases of the virus have typically involved inflammation of the brain, according to Malley.
Ashton said that while there have so far been no deaths associated with monkeypox in the U.S., it’s important to stay vigilant as the disease spreads.
“As the numbers grow, based on sheer math, it is not impossible that we will see a death here in the U.S.,” said Ashton, adding that monkeypox has a “spectrum of severity” when it comes to complications. “There have been deaths in Africa associated with monkeypox.”
6. Is there a monkeypox vaccine for kids?
The current vaccine for monkeypox is available to people ages 18 and older. However, the JYNNEOS vaccine can be offered to younger people on a case-by-case basis via a special permission process through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to those with known monkeypox exposure.
Antiviral medications such as Tecovirimat are currently being used for treatment of monkeypox, which is available for children.
More common treatments may also be used to help treat patients who are experiencing pain due to monkeypox lesions, according to Malley.
7. How should I best protect my child from monkeypox?
The best thing parents can do for both themselves and their child, according to Malley, is to pay attention to the virus — but try not to panic.
“I think it would be very unlikely that daycare or a camp or school would be a major focus of transmission of this virus as we understand it currently,” he said. “But of course, it’s important for all of us to be vigilant.”
Malley said the key for parents concerned about monkeypox is to be aware of their child’s surroundings and not interact with people they know have been infected with monkeypox.
“The importance for parents is that if they know anybody in their surrounding, in their environment, in their family who has a suspicion of being infected with MPX, then of course that individual needs needs to isolate themself,” he said. “In general, people who have been diagnosed with MPX have been told and are being very careful because they do not want to be responsible for transmission.”
The CDC has released safety guidelines for people with monkeypox, urging those infected with the virus to “remain isolated at home or at another location for the duration of illness.”
According to Malley, monkeypox lesions are considered to be infectious until they are fully crusted over.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
(PHOENIX, Ariz.) — Republican candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake, a former Phoenix news anchor who has seized the conservative spotlight in recent weeks, was careful not to forget former President Donald Trump when she joined Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a rally Sunday, even as DeSantis seeks to raise his national profile ahead of a potential presidential run against Trump.
“Someone said, ‘Kari, you’re going to be the DeSantis of the West,’ Lake said to an adoring crowd that organizers said numbered up to 4,000 supporters. “Honestly, other than being called ‘Trump in a dress,’ that is the greatest compliment you could pay me, and I appreciate that. And that means that you know what you will get with me — you’re gonna get somebody who fights for you every single day.”
Outside the rally in downtown Phoenix, notably located in Maricopa County — the state’s most populous– MAGA supporters dressed in “Trump-DeSantis” gear, with “Vote Lake & Blake” signs and chanting “Let’s Go Brandon!” lined up for several hours in more than 100-degree heat. The first man in line said he’d been there since 3 a.m. local time to see DeSantis headline the event with Lake and U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters, also endorsed by Trump.
The “Unite and Win” rally was hosted by Turning Point Action, a conservative youth group founded in Arizona by activist Charlie Kirk, who blasted the FBI for escalating what he called a “paperwork dispute” with Trump.
“They raided our president’s home. There is no going back from this everybody,” Kirk said. “The raid at Mar-a-Lago only makes me like Donald Trump even more,” prompting many in the crowd to a standing ovation in apparent agreement.
Notably, both Trump-backed Abe Hamadeh, candidate for Arizona attorney general, and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, who like Lake and Masters espouse without evidence Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen, were not on the schedule with DeSantis, though the four ran as a primary slate. But Finchem, who has previously identified as an Oath Keeper and was in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, was front row and center in the audience, and people cheered for him as he walked up to the venue.
DeSantis stopped earlier in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and delivered a similar stump-like speech in Phoenix Sunday, ticking through his anti-COVID, anti-transgender policies in Florida and criticizing the federal government, all without once mentioning Trump’s name.
“I think the difference between today and when [President Ronald] Reagan was here is these federal agencies have now been weaponized to be used against people the government doesn’t like. And you look at the raid at Mar-a-Lago, and I’m just trying to I’m trying to remember, maybe someone here can remind me, about when they did a search warrant at Hillary’s house in Chappaqua,” DeSantis said, going on to sow doubt in the federal government’s top law enforcement agency.
Republicans across the board were quick to defend the former president when the FBI conducted a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, with Arizona candidates, including Lake and Rep. Paul Gosar, leading calls to “defund the FBI” two years after the GOP lambasted Democrats for “defund the police” slogans in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. As the federal agency says it’s fielding threats to agents, dozens of individuals gathered outside the FBI field office in Phoenix to protest the raid one day before DeSantis dropped in.
“They’re enforcing the law based on who they like and who they don’t like. That is not a republic. Well maybe it’s a banana republic, when that happens,” DeSantis said.
For her part, Lake has blasted the raid on TV hits on conservative media outlets and on Twitter, all but suggesting Arizona should secede from the country, but only briefly mentioned the Trump search in her half-hour remarks, tacked onto an attack on Democrats for passing the Inflation Reduction Act and in support of arming school resource officers.
“They decided to hire 87,000 armed IRS agents to go after us in case we’re late on our taxes. Can you imagine if they hired 87,000 school resources and armed them? We’d have safe schools,” she said. “And then these people sent politically motivated, federal agents to President Donald Trump’s home and raided it. How dare they? Joe Biden, we have had enough,” she went on, shaking her finger.
Lake laced her stump speech with praise for DeSantis for being a “fighter” in his response to COVID-19 mandates and criticized California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who she called, “Witch-mer,” in Trump-like name-calling.
“Amidst all of the insanity, there was one governor who stood out in the crowd and he was talking about he’s right up there, right now. And his name is Governor Ron DeSantis,” she said to cheers.
But when she added that he had what she called “BDE” — “Big DeSantis Energy” — she made sure to say Trump has it, too, careful not to fall out of favor with her most famous supporter.
“[DeSantis] has a backbone made of steel. I’ll tell you what he’s got. I don’t know if you’ve heard of this, but he’s got the B-D-E,” Lake said. “Ask your kids about it later. I call it ‘Big DeSantis Energy.’ Right? He’s got the same kind of BDE that President Trump has.”
Returning her enthusiasm, DeSantis met Lake’s call on border security, a top campaign issue as she’s said she’ll declare an invasion on “Day One.” He said he told Lake, “Look, if you’re willing to put people on that border and keep them from coming in to begin with, I’ll send National Guard to help with that,” to roaring applause.
Before invoking the Bible in his closing, the Florida governor called on the crowd to “have the courage to stand in the way of the Brandon administration.”
DeSantis will make stops later this week in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which governor’s candidate Doug Mastriano said Saturday he would like to make “the Florida of the North,” to boost Republican candidates in battleground states ahead of the midterm elections including his own. But leaving his home state to do so further suggests he’s testing the waters for something bigger.
“There’s no doubt Ron DeSantis is the second biggest draw in the Republican Party. But Trump is still the biggest draw. And right now, they do have a common goal of electing people like Kari Lake,” said Barrett Marson, a longtime Republican strategist in Arizona.
“There’s room enough to have two national supporters in these races. It’s not like the battle between Pence and Trump, where they took opposite candidates. Here, they’re on the same team,” he told ABC News, referring to races like the governor’s primary in Arizona where former Vice President Mike Pence backed a candidate competing with Trump’s.
DeSantis’ rallies, announced last Monday morning, still risk being overshadowed by the Mar-a-Lago search that has dominated headlines since last Monday night. Trump, DeSantis’ primary opponent if both decide to run, continues to tease announcing his bid own before the November midterms — and while he’s fielding a barrage of legal issues.
Asked this week about Trump saying that he would not oppose the release of documents related to the search, Lake told ABC News the “overreach” would only encourage more MAGA supporters to get out and vote.
Her first public reaction was a lengthy statement on Twitter calling the Biden administration an “illegitimate, corrupt Regime” which “hates America and has weaponized the entirety of the Federal Government to take down President Donald Trump,” adding, “We must fire the Federal Government.”
Masters tweeted the search was “politically motivated” and “should terrify us all.” And DeSantis, for his part, tweeted: “The raid of [Mar-a-Lago] is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves.”
Their Democratic opponents in November, aside from Kelly who declined to comment, criticized both the reaction and the rallies.
“Ron DeSantis is traveling the country campaigning for 2020 election deniers,” tweeted Charlie Crist, a former Florida governor seeking the Democratic nomination to run against DeSantis. “He’s running for president by mobilizing the same people who tried to overthrow our democracy.”
Secretary of State and Democratic nominee for Governor Katie Hobbs, who Lake has called on to resign as she runs for governor, said in a statement, “Far from putting ‘America First,’ Kari’s repeated calls to defund law enforcement and her talk of secession are dangerous and belong nowhere near our state’s highest office.”
Lake and Masters joined Trump for a July rally in Prescott Valley, historically the most Republican county in Arizona, ahead of the state offering Trump his most successful primary night of the season.
ABC News’ Miles Cohen and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(SUN CITY HILTON HEAD, S.C.) — A woman was killed in an apparent alligator attack in South Carolina on Monday, officials said.
The large alligator was spotted “near the edge of a pond” in Sun City Hilton Head, an adult-only community, “guarding what was believed to be a person,” the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.
Responders found the gator and a dead person, the sheriff’s office said. The victim hasn’t been identified.
The gator is still being recovered from the pond, according to the sheriff’s office.
Alligators are active during spring and summer, because when temperatures rise, their metabolism increases and they look for food, Melody Kilborn, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, told ABC News last month.
Kilborn urged people to follow these safety tips: alligators are most active at night, so only swim in designated swimming areas during daylight hours; never feed an alligator; and keep your pets on a leash and away from the water’s edge.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — On the one-year anniversary Monday of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, House Republicans and the Biden administration quarreled over who is to blame for the series of events that led to the Taliban victory and the handling of the chaotic withdrawal of 120,000 Afghans.
A 121-page report by Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee that investigated the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan blames the Biden administration for failing to plan accordingly for what would happen once all U.S. troops left the country. The report, in which committee Democrats did not participate, was made available to ABC News and other news outlets ahead of its public release.
Ahead of that release, the White House issued a memo denouncing the Republican investigation as a “partisan report” that “is riddled with inaccurate characterizations, cherry-picked information, and false claims.”
“It advocates for endless war and for sending even more American troops to Afghanistan,” Adrienne Watson, the National Security Council’s top spokeswoman, said in the memo. “And it ignores the impacts of the flawed deal that former President Trump struck with the Taliban.”
Citing a lack of cooperation from the Biden administration, the report relied on open source reporting, independent interviews with former officials, and interviews with U.S. military commanders included in U.S. Central Command’s investigation of the Abbey Gate suicide bomb attack at Kabul’s airport that killed 13 American service members and more than 170 Afghan civilians.
“The choices made in the corridors of power in D.C. led to tragic yet avoidable outcomes: 13 dead service members, American lives still at great risk, increased threats to our homeland security, tarnished standing abroad for years to come, and emboldened enemies across the globe,” said the Republican report.
In its response, the NSC said Biden’s decision reflected the tough choice he had to make to either “ramp up the war and put even more American troops at risk, or finally end the United States’ longest war after two decades of American presidents sending U.S. troops to fight and die in Afghanistan.”
The Republican report claims President Biden was “likely aware” that his stated reasons for withdrawing from Afghanistan were “inaccurate” when he announced the withdrawal in April 2021 and that he ignored recommendations by U.S. military commanders that it would be prudent to keep a small U.S. military presence of at least 2,500 troops in Afghanistan.
“The decision to withdraw U.S. military forces was made by President Biden, despite advice from his military commanders that such a move could lead to Taliban battlefield gains,” said the report.
Watson also pushed back on that claim, citing congressional testimony last fall by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley that leaving a force of 2,500 would have likely led to a troop increase if the Taliban targeted U.S. forces.
The Republican report criticizes the Biden administration for not having prepared for the quick Taliban takeover of Kabul saying President Biden “was warned repeatedly that the return of the Taliban was a question of when, not if.” Meanwhile, the White House response shifted blame to the Doha agreement negotiated by the Trump administration said “empowered the Taliban and weakened our partners in the Afghan government.”
In the two weeks after the fall of Kabul, 120,000 Afghan civilians were evacuated as part of a hastily-planned U.S. military airlift, but those that left were the lucky ones who were able to clear Taliban checkpoints and U.S. military entrances to Kabul’s airport.
The chaotic images of thousands of Afghan civilians attempting to be allowed into the airport became the signature image of that withdrawal.
The Republican report blamed the State Department for not planning accordingly earlier in the year and noted that at the peak of the withdrawal there were only 36 U.S. consular officers at the airport to process the claims of the tens of thousands ultimately evacuated.
Only a small number of those who were evacuated had received for applied for the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV’s) offered to Afghans who served as interpreters or contractors working for the United States. More than 77,000 Afghans who applied for those visas remain inside Afghanistan and the report criticizes the Biden administration for not developing a plan for how to get them out of Afghanistan.
The report also disclosed the previously undisclosed figure that more than 800 Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan since last year, a much larger number than the 100 to 200 Americans that the administration had claimed were still in the country at the end of the chaotic withdrawal.
Republicans also disclosed that a “significant” number of highly trained Afghan commandos crossed into Iran seeking refuge after the Taliban takeover and expresses concerns that they “could be recruited or coerced into working for one of America’s adversaries that maintains a presence in Afghanistan, including Russia, China, or Iran.”
The report described last week’s CIA drone strike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri as proof that Afghanistan has once again become a safe haven for terrorists.
But the White House responded that the Zawahiri strike showed that the U.S. did not need a troop presence to go after the top terrorist leader and cited a U.S. intelligence assessments that al Qaeda has not reconstituted itself in Afghanistan. According to that assessment, there are only 12 al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan and only Zawahiri has attempted to restart operations in Afghanistan.
Tina Turner and Cher in 1985; Robin Platzer/Getty Images
It seems that music icons attract other music icons as friends. On Sunday, Cher revealed in a Twitter message that she’d spent the day hanging out with Tina Turner.
“WE LAUGHED FOR 3 1/2 [hours] STRAIGHT,” she wrote. “My sides Ache.”
Cher added, “There Will Never Be Another TINA TURNER. We Love each other Dearly, I’m [lucky] To Have Her in my life…[We] Carried On Till The Sun went Down.”
In a follow-up tweet, Cher reported that she brought Tina “a little antique Buddha” statue as a gift, adding, “Wish I’d taken a picture…I’ll Call Her & Ask for one [tomorrow].”
Turner has been a practicing Buddhist since the 1970s.
(NEW YORK) — More than 2 million infant rockers and swings have been recalled due to entanglement and strangulation hazards, leading to at least one death.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the voluntary recall Monday of certain 4moms MamaRoo Baby Swings and RockaRoo Baby Rockers, which were sold at Target and Best Buy.
When the swing or rocker is not in use their restraint straps can dangle below the seat and non-occupant crawling infants can become entangled in the straps, posing a strangulation hazard, according to the CPSC.
4moms has received two reports of entanglement incidents involving infants who became caught in the strap under the unoccupied MamaRoo infant swing after they crawled under the seat. This includes a 10-month-old infant who died from asphyxiation, and a 10-month-old infant who suffered bruising to his neck before being rescued by a caregiver, according to a press release from the CPSC.
No incidents involving the RockaRoo have been reported, the CPSC said.
Gary Waters, the CEO of 4moms, said his company was “deeply saddened” by the two incidents, adding, “Families put their trust in our company when they choose to bring our products into their homes. That’s why we take every precaution and make the extra effort to ensure that our baby gear products not only meet but exceed all applicable safety standards.
Consumers with infants who can crawl are advised to “immediately” stop using the recalled products and place them in an area where the infants cannot access them.
The CPSC said consumers should contact 4moms immediately to register for a free strap fastener that will prevent the straps from extending under the swing when not in use.
