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AP PHOTOS: From NYC's skyline to Washington DC's monuments, wildfire haze envelopes familiar sites
By The Associated Press
49 minutes ago
https://apnews.com/article/wildfire-haze-canada-new-york-washington-0d24be8f977dc3e43fbbf17e363edfed
AP PHOTOS: From NYC's skyline to Washington DC's monuments, wildfire haze envelopes familiar sites
By The Associated Press
49 minutes ago
https://apnews.com/article/wildfire-haze-canada-new-york-washington-0d24be8f977dc3e43fbbf17e363edfed
‘I can taste the air’: Hazardous smoke from wildfires hangs over millions in Canada, US
By JENNIFER PELTZ and ROB GILLIES
26 minutes ago
Pedestrians pass the One World Trade Center, center, amidst a smokey haze from wildfires in Canada, Wednesday, June 7, 2023, in New York. Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
A man talks on his phone as he looks through the haze at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J., Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Intense Canadian wildfires are blanketing the northeastern U.S. in a dystopian haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The sun rises over a hazy New York City skyline as seen from Jersey City, N.J., Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Intense Canadian wildfires are blanketing the northeastern U.S. in a dystopian haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports, postponing Major League Baseball games and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.
While Canadian officials asked other countries for additional help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide that already have displaced 20,000 people, air quality with what the U.S. rates as hazardous levels of pollution extended into central New York, northeastern Pennsylvania and, later, the New York metropolitan area. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people.
“I can taste the air,” Dr. Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, which was enveloped in an amber pall. The smoke, he later said by phone, even made him a bit dizzy.
The air quality index, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency metric for air pollution, exceeded a staggering 400 at times in Syracuse, New York City and Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. A level of 50 or under is considered good; anything over 300 is considered “hazardous,” when even healthy people are advised to curtail outdoor physical activity.
In Baltimore, Debbie Funk sported a blue surgical mask as she and husband, Jack Hughes, took their daily walk around Fort McHenry, a national monument overlooking the Patapsco River. The air hung thick over the water, obscuring the horizon.
“I walked outside this morning, and it was like a waft of smoke,” said Funk. She said the couple planned to stay inside later Wednesday, as officials were urging.
Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the nation’s worst wildfire season ever. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated very quickly, exhausting firefighting resources across the country, fire and environmental officials said.
Smoke from the blazes in various parts of the country has been lapping into the U.S. since last month but intensified with recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered out of control Wednesday — which, unsettlingly, was national Clean Air Day in Canada.
The smoke was so thick in downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, that office towers just across the Ottawa River were barely visible. In Toronto, Yili Ma said her hiking plans were canceled and she was forgoing restaurant patios, a beloved Canadian summer tradition.
“I put my mask away for over a year, and now I’m putting on my mask since yesterday,” the 31-year-old lamented.
Quebec Premier François Legault said the province currently has the capacity to fight about 40 fires — and the usual reinforcements from other provinces have been strained by conflagrations in Nova Scotia and elsewhere.
Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre spokesperson Jennifer Kamau said more than 950 firefighters and other personnel have arrived from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and more are due soon.
In Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. His administration has contacted some U.S. governors and local officials about providing assistance, she said
The largest town in Northern Quebec — Chibougamau, population about 7,500 — was evacuated Tuesday, and Legault said the roughly 4,000 residents of the northern Cree town of Mistissini would likely have to leave Wednesday. But later in the day, Mistissini Chief Michael Petawabano said his community remains safe and asked residents to wait for instructions from Cree officials.
Eastern Quebec got some rain Wednesday, but Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said no significant rain is expected for days in the remote areas of central Quebec where the wildfires are more intense
U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Taylor said the current weather pattern in the central and eastern U.S. is essentially funneling in the smoke. Some rain should help clear the air somewhat in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this weekend or early next week, though more thorough relief will come from containing or extinguishing the fires, he said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said 1 million N95 masks would be available at state facilities. New York City Mayor Eric Adams told residents of the United States’ most populous city to limit outdoor activities and parks officials closed beaches as smoke smudged out the skyline.
The Federal Aviation Administration paused some flights bound for LaGuardia Airport and slowed planes to Newark Liberty and Philadelphia because the smoke was limiting visibility. It also contributed to delayed arrivals at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, where a heavy haze shrouded the Washington Monument and forced the cancellation of outdoor tours.
Major League Baseball put off games in New York and Philadelphia, and even an indoor WNBA game in Brooklyn was called off. On Broadway, “Killing Eve” star Jodie Comer had difficulty breathing and left the matinee after 10 minutes; the show restarted with an understudy, show publicists said.
Schools in multiple states canceled sports and other outdoor activities, shifting recess inside. Live horse racing was canceled Wednesday and Thursday at Delaware Park in Wilmington. Organizers of Global Running Day, a virtual 5K, advised participants to adjust their plans according to air quality.
New Jersey closed state offices early, and some political demonstrations in spots from Manhattan to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were moved indoors or postponed. Striking Hollywood writers were pulled off picket lines in the New York metropolitan area.
The smoke exacerbated health problems for people such as Vicki Burnett, 67, who has asthma and has had serious bouts with bronchitis.
After taking her dogs out Wednesday morning in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Burnett said, “I came in and started coughing and hopped back into bed.”
Still, she stressed that she’s concerned for Canadians, not just herself.
“It’s unfortunate, and I’m having some problems for it, but there should be help for them,” she said.
___
Gillies reported from Toronto. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; Michael Hill in Albany, New York; David Koenig in Dallas; Aamer Madhani in Washington; Brooke Schultz in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Lea Skene in Baltimore; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Ron Todt in Philadelphia; Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan; and Mark Kennedy, Jake Offenhartz, Karen Matthews and Julie Walker in New York.
___
This story has corrected the attribution of material about forecast for rain in Quebec to Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault, not Quebec Premier François Legault
https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-canada-quebec-3291016eaa4905177c90feae02a139c5
‘I can taste the air’: Hazardous smoke from wildfires hangs over millions in Canada, US
By JENNIFER PELTZ and ROB GILLIES
26 minutes ago
Pedestrians pass the One World Trade Center, center, amidst a smokey haze from wildfires in Canada, Wednesday, June 7, 2023, in New York. Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
A man talks on his phone as he looks through the haze at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J., Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Intense Canadian wildfires are blanketing the northeastern U.S. in a dystopian haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The sun rises over a hazy New York City skyline as seen from Jersey City, N.J., Wednesday, June 7, 2023. Intense Canadian wildfires are blanketing the northeastern U.S. in a dystopian haze, turning the air acrid, the sky yellowish gray and prompting warnings for vulnerable populations to stay inside. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports, postponing Major League Baseball games and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.
While Canadian officials asked other countries for additional help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide that already have displaced 20,000 people, air quality with what the U.S. rates as hazardous levels of pollution extended into central New York, northeastern Pennsylvania and, later, the New York metropolitan area. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people.
“I can taste the air,” Dr. Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, which was enveloped in an amber pall. The smoke, he later said by phone, even made him a bit dizzy.
The air quality index, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency metric for air pollution, exceeded a staggering 400 at times in Syracuse, New York City and Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. A level of 50 or under is considered good; anything over 300 is considered “hazardous,” when even healthy people are advised to curtail outdoor physical activity.
In Baltimore, Debbie Funk sported a blue surgical mask as she and husband, Jack Hughes, took their daily walk around Fort McHenry, a national monument overlooking the Patapsco River. The air hung thick over the water, obscuring the horizon.
“I walked outside this morning, and it was like a waft of smoke,” said Funk. She said the couple planned to stay inside later Wednesday, as officials were urging.
Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the nation’s worst wildfire season ever. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated very quickly, exhausting firefighting resources across the country, fire and environmental officials said.
Smoke from the blazes in various parts of the country has been lapping into the U.S. since last month but intensified with recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered out of control Wednesday — which, unsettlingly, was national Clean Air Day in Canada.
The smoke was so thick in downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, that office towers just across the Ottawa River were barely visible. In Toronto, Yili Ma said her hiking plans were canceled and she was forgoing restaurant patios, a beloved Canadian summer tradition.
“I put my mask away for over a year, and now I’m putting on my mask since yesterday,” the 31-year-old lamented.
Quebec Premier François Legault said the province currently has the capacity to fight about 40 fires — and the usual reinforcements from other provinces have been strained by conflagrations in Nova Scotia and elsewhere.
Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre spokesperson Jennifer Kamau said more than 950 firefighters and other personnel have arrived from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and more are due soon.
In Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. His administration has contacted some U.S. governors and local officials about providing assistance, she said
The largest town in Northern Quebec — Chibougamau, population about 7,500 — was evacuated Tuesday, and Legault said the roughly 4,000 residents of the northern Cree town of Mistissini would likely have to leave Wednesday. But later in the day, Mistissini Chief Michael Petawabano said his community remains safe and asked residents to wait for instructions from Cree officials.
Eastern Quebec got some rain Wednesday, but Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said no significant rain is expected for days in the remote areas of central Quebec where the wildfires are more intense
U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Taylor said the current weather pattern in the central and eastern U.S. is essentially funneling in the smoke. Some rain should help clear the air somewhat in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this weekend or early next week, though more thorough relief will come from containing or extinguishing the fires, he said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said 1 million N95 masks would be available at state facilities. New York City Mayor Eric Adams told residents of the United States’ most populous city to limit outdoor activities and parks officials closed beaches as smoke smudged out the skyline.
The Federal Aviation Administration paused some flights bound for LaGuardia Airport and slowed planes to Newark Liberty and Philadelphia because the smoke was limiting visibility. It also contributed to delayed arrivals at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, where a heavy haze shrouded the Washington Monument and forced the cancellation of outdoor tours.
Major League Baseball put off games in New York and Philadelphia, and even an indoor WNBA game in Brooklyn was called off. On Broadway, “Killing Eve” star Jodie Comer had difficulty breathing and left the matinee after 10 minutes; the show restarted with an understudy, show publicists said.
Schools in multiple states canceled sports and other outdoor activities, shifting recess inside. Live horse racing was canceled Wednesday and Thursday at Delaware Park in Wilmington. Organizers of Global Running Day, a virtual 5K, advised participants to adjust their plans according to air quality.
New Jersey closed state offices early, and some political demonstrations in spots from Manhattan to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were moved indoors or postponed. Striking Hollywood writers were pulled off picket lines in the New York metropolitan area.
The smoke exacerbated health problems for people such as Vicki Burnett, 67, who has asthma and has had serious bouts with bronchitis.
After taking her dogs out Wednesday morning in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Burnett said, “I came in and started coughing and hopped back into bed.”
Still, she stressed that she’s concerned for Canadians, not just herself.
“It’s unfortunate, and I’m having some problems for it, but there should be help for them,” she said.
___
Gillies reported from Toronto. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; Michael Hill in Albany, New York; David Koenig in Dallas; Aamer Madhani in Washington; Brooke Schultz in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Lea Skene in Baltimore; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Ron Todt in Philadelphia; Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan; and Mark Kennedy, Jake Offenhartz, Karen Matthews and Julie Walker in New York.
___
This story has corrected the attribution of material about forecast for rain in Quebec to Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault, not Quebec Premier François Legault
https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-canada-quebec-3291016eaa4905177c90feae02a139c5
Christie goes after Trump in presidential campaign launch, calling him a ‘self-serving mirror hog’
By JILL COLVIN and HOLLY RAMERtoda
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasted no time going after Donald Trump while launching his presidential campaign on Tuesday, calling the former president and current Republican primary front-runner a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog” and arguing that he’s the only one who can stop him.
A onetime federal prosecutor, Christie was among the crowded field of 2016 Republican presidential candidates steamrolled by Trump. Now that Trump is running for the White House a third time, this year’s crop of rivals have no choice but to criticize him relentlessly, or risk political history repeating itself, Christie says.
Kicking off his campaign with a town hall at Saint Anselm College, Christie suggested that other top Republicans have been afraid to challenge Trump or even mention his name much while campaigning — but made it clear he had no such qualms.
“A lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog is not a leader,” Christie said, adding, “The person I am talking about, who is obsessed with the mirror, who never admits a mistake, who never admits a fault, who always finds someone else and something else to blame for whatever goes wrong — but finds every reason to take credit for anything that goes right — is Donald Trump.”
Christie enters a growing primary field that already includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Former Vice President Mike Pence will be formally launching his own campaign in Iowa on Wednesday.
Mere weeks after dropping out of the 2016 race, Christie became the first sitting governor and former rival to endorse Trump. He went on to become a close off-and-on adviser before finally breaking with Trump over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.
During his time as governor, Christie established a reputation as a fighter with a knack for creating viral moments of confrontation. But he faces an uphill battle to the nomination in a party that remains closely aligned with the former president, despite Trump’s reelection loss in 2020 and Republicans’ poorer-than-expected showing in the 2022 midterm elections.
Anti-Trump Republicans are particularly eager to see Christie spar with Trump on a debate stage. But that happen only if Trump agrees to participate in primary debates and Christie meets the stringent fundraising criteria set by the Republican National Committee for participation
JP Marzullo, a former state representative and former vice chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, previously backed Trump but is now supporting Christie.
“I think he’ll actually unite some of the voters, and he’ll get to independents,” Marzullo said of the former governor, adding, “I think it’s time for a change.”
Christie began criticizing Trump by name mere moments into his half-hour speech Tuesday, saying the former president had “made us smaller by dividing us even further and pitting us one against the other.”
He also said President Joe Biden “is doing the same thing, just on the other side.” Christie noted that he’d known Biden for decades and that he was a nice guy, but said that the president is “out of his depth” because “he’s not the guy he used to be,” referencing the 80-year-old Biden’s advanced age.
But Christie’s chief target was Trump.
“There’s a big argument in our country right now about whether character matters, and we have leaders who have shown us over and over again that not only are they devoid of character, they don’t care.” Christie said. “We can’t dismiss the question of character anymore, everybody. If we do, we get what we deserve, and we will have to own it.”
Christie advisers are planning a nontraditional, nationally focused campaign based on earned media attention, instead of focusing on specific states. Their candidate said staying aggressive against Trump was key and scoffed Tuesday at what he said were Trump’s failed promises, including a pledge to wall off the entire southern U.S. border and have Mexico pay for it.
“The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold,” Christie said. “One, he deserves it. And two, it’s the way to win.”
Christie will test the appetite among Republican voters for someone who has expressed support for many of Trump’s policies but has criticized the former president’s conduct. The former governor has urged the party to move on or risk future losses.
Other Republicans with similar views, including former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, have opted against their own campaigns, expressing concerns that having more candidates in the race will only benefit Trump.
Christie was at one point seen as one of the Republican Party’s brightest political stars as the popular Republican governor of a Democratic state. But despite persistent urging from top donors and party officials, he declined to run for president in 2012. By the time he announced in 2016, his reputation had been tarnished by the “Bridgegate” scandal in which aides were accused of wreaking traffic havoc in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in an apparent effort to punish the city’s mayor for failing to endorse his reelection bid.
The former governor has known Trump for nearly 20 years but their relationship has been complicated. Christie was on the shortlist to serve as Trump’s vice president, oversaw Trump’s early White House transition efforts, said he was offered — and turned down — multiple Cabinet positions, and helped Trump prepare for each of his general election debates in 2016 and 2020.
But Christie also clashed with Trump at times and has described the former president’s refusal to accept his 2020 election loss to Biden as a breaking point.
Christie opting to start his 2024 bid at a New Hampshire town hall recalled his first run at the White House, when he focused on the state, holding dozens of New Hampshire town hall events only to finish sixth in its primary. He dropped out of that race shortly afterward.
After his speech Tuesday, Christie took extended questions from the audience — a common occurrence in early voting states that DeSantis was hesitant to do when launching his campaign. Christie also talked openly about his underwhelming 2016 performance, despite concentrating so heavily on New Hampshire.
“I lost,” Christie laughed. “You people did that to me in 2016.”
https://apnews.com/article/christie-2024-president-b9949e97e604719c341d652cc62f9d50
World War II veterans return to Utah Beach to mark D-Day anniversary
By Sylvie Corbet and Jeffrey Schaeffer, The Associated Press
Jun 5, 03:13 PM
https://www.militarytimes.com/resizer/O8_aLxjznnffep7s1GY_14CgwE4=/1024x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/ECCDFJWMO5E3RPQ76JENHMXZCM.jpg
U.S war veterans salute during a ceremony outside the Pegasus Bridge memorial in Benouville, Normandy, Monday, June 5, 2023. (Thomas Padilla/AP)
ON UTAH BEACH, France — World War II veterans shared vivid memories of D-Day and the fighting as dozens returned to Normandy beaches and key battle sites to mark the 79th anniversary of the decisive assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control.
https://www.militarytimes.com/resizer/DhnU09eQUPX2_J87Zxp-jVrfR2s=/600x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/EGMJFUM55JHQ3MXH5IBSTSEW6M.jpg
Children greet war veterans arriving for ceremony at the Pegasus Bridge memorial in Benouville, Normandy, Monday June 5, 2023. (Thomas Padilla/AP)
He said there were “lots of casualties. We had almost run over bodies to get in the beach. Never forget we were only 18, 19 years old. ... I’m glad I made it.”
The first job of his battalion, he said, was “to guard an ammunition dump and the first night it got struck. You didn’t know where you were to go. Bullets were going all over the place. But we ducked it.”
On Monday, veterans have been greeted to the sound of bagpipes at the Pegasus Memorial, where they attended a ceremony commemorating a key operation in the first minutes of the D-Day operations, when troops had to take control of a strategic bridge.
World War II veterans Jake Larson, a 100-year-old American, and Bill Gladden, a 99-year-old British national, met at the memorial where they had a close discussion.
“I want to give you a hug, thank you. I got tears in my eyes. We were meant to meet,” Larson told Gladden, their hands clasped.
Larson, who has more than 600,000 followers on TikTok, explained with enthusiasm: “I’m just a country boy. Now I’m a star on TikTok. You can see me all over: ‘Papa Jake.’ I’m a legend! I didn’t plan this, it came about.”
Larson landed on Omaha Beach, where he ran under machine-gun fire and made it to the cliffs without being wounded.
“I’m 100 without an ache or a pain. You can’t fake that,” he said.
U.S. veteran Andrew Negra returned for the first time to Utah Beach this year. The last time he stood there was when he landed on July 18, 1944.
He was “amazed” by the warm welcome from local French people: “Every place we went, people are cheering, clapping, and they’ve been doing this for I don’t know how many years.”
At age 99, Negra is the only member of his battalion who is still alive. Braving the wind to walk on the beach for a few minutes, he said, “So many we lost. And here I am.”
Negra participated in combat operations until his division reached eastern Germany in April 1945.
On Sunday, more than 40 American veterans of World War II formed a parade, using wheelchairs, along the streets of the small town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where thousands of paratroopers jumped not long after midnight on June 6, 1944.
https://www.militarytimes.com/resizer/y_xnRWsfIzcngzUnrmvHhXYOMTw=/1024x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/PKEP5PWL7RF2DLQY2NYNR7FSN4.jpg
Cheerful crowds applauded, calling out “Merci” and “Thank you.” Children waved, and many families asked for a photo with the men.
Donnie Edwards, president of the Best Defense Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps World War II veterans visit former battlefields, said, “For us, every year is a big one.”
Given the ages of the soldiers who fought nearly eight decades ago, Edwards observed, “Nothing is guaranteed. So we want to make sure that we do everything we can to get them an incredible and enjoyable experience.”
The veterans then headed to Sainte-Marie-du-Mont for a brief ceremony at a monument honoring the U.S. Navy that overlooks Utah Beach.
“The fallen will never be forgotten. The veteran will ever be honored,” an inscription in the stone reads.
Some of the almost-centenarians asked volunteers to accompany them on the wide stretch of sand.
Matthew Yacovino, 98, became emotional as he remembered what happened there to his older brother, who almost died after his jeep blew up during the landings.
“The driver got killed and my brother fell on the beach unconscious,” Yacovino said with tears in the eyes.
His brother eventually recovered. Yacovino himself served as a U.S. combat air crewman during the war.
Like others who come to Normandy for historical reenactments of what transpired there, Valérie and Lionel Draucourt, visitors from the Paris region, dressed in khaki uniforms. They wanted to pay their respects to the veterans.
“Frankly, I don’t think we can quite fathom what they lived through. We can’t understand it, it’s so big, it’s crazy,” Lionel Draucourt said.
Veterans were due to take part in official ceremonies of the 79th anniversary on Tuesday, including at the Normandy American Cemetery.
On D-Day, Allied troops landed on the beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Juno, Sword and Gold, carried by 7,000 boats. On that single day, 4,414 Allied soldiers lost their lives, 2,501 of them Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded.
On the German side, several thousand were killed or wounded.
U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, stressed that the significance of the commemorations “for memorializing the efforts that they did and what they did.”
https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2023/06/05/world-war-ii-veterans-return-to-utah-beach-to-mark-d-day-anniversary/
U.S. veterans arrive for the commemoration organized by the Best Defense Foundation at Utah Beach near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Normandy, France, Sunday, June 4, 2023, ahead of the D-Day Anniversary. (Thomas Padilla/AP)
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France's last surviving D-Day commando joins beach landing anniversary
Reuters
June 6, 20236:19 AM CDT Updated 6 hours ago
[1/5] French WWII veteran Leon Gautier poses for a photo on the day of a ceremony in tribute to the 177 French members of the Commando Kieffer Fusiliers Marins commando unit, who took part in the Normandy landings, in Colleville-Montgomery, France, June 6, 2023. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS
COLLEVILLE-MONTGOMERY, France, June 6 (Reuters) - Leon Gautier, the last surviving member of the French commandos who stormed the Normandy beaches defended by Hitler's troops in 1944, on Tuesday joined President Emmanuel Macron at a seafront ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
Gautier, 100, presented a student marine commando with his green beret at a passing out parade at Colleville-Montgomery, near where a 17-year-old Gautier had landed on Sword Beach in a hail of enemy fire.
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Gautier was one of 177 French green berets under the command of Captain Philippe Kieffer who took part in the Normandy landings. More than 150,000 allied troops invaded France to drive out Nazi Germany forces.
At Tuesday's ceremony, the young marine knelt down on one knee to allow Gautier, sat in a wheelchair to Macron's side, to straighten his beret.
In 2019, Gautier recounted on the occasion of the 75th D-Day anniversary how French troops had been the first to wade chest-deep onto Sword Beach.
"Your honour," Gautier recalled British Colonel Robert Dawson telling the French green berets. "We went in only a few seconds ahead. It was a symbolic gesture."
"By the end of the day I didn’t have many bullets left."
Reporting by Noemie Olive; Writing by Richard Lough, editing by Ed Osmond
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-last-surviving-d-day-commando-joins-beach-landing-anniversary-2023-06-06/
Jan. 6 sentences are piling up. Here’s a look at some of the longest handed down.
More than 1,033 of the rioters have been arrested, with approximately 485 federal defendants receiving sentences.
After more than two years since the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, the sentences are piling up. Last week saw the longest prison sentence yet at 18 years. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images
By KIERRA FRAZIER
05/30/2023 12:32 PM EDT
After more than two years since the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, the sentences are piling up — and last week saw the longest prison sentence yet.
More than 1,033 of the rioters have been arrested, with approximately 485 federal defendants receiving sentences. .. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/28-months-jan-6-attack-capitol
About 277 defendants have been sentenced to time behind bars, and roughly 113 defendants have been sentenced to a period of home detention.
Here are the notable figures and some of the longest sentences handed down to Jan. 6 rioters:
Stewart Rhodes: 18 years
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, on June 25, 2017. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo
Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers, last week was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy — the longest sentence imposed on a Jan. 6 defendant to date.
Prosecutors say Rhodes planned a weekslong effort to derail the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, leading to the organization of dozens of allies to descend on Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Rhodes was convicted in November.
Rhodes, a Yale Law graduate and military veteran, is the first of 14 Jan. 6 defendants, including nine Oath Keepers, to face sentencing after being convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Kelly Meggs, Florida chapter leader of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced alongside Rhodes to 12 years behind bars.
Peter Schwartz: 14 years
Peter Schwartz of Pennsylvania was sentenced to just over 14 years in prison. Schwartz was found guilty in December on 10 charges, including four felony charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers while using a dangerous weapon.
A jury convicted Schwartz on assault and civil disorder charges for throwing a chair at officers and spraying them with pepper spray. Schwartz also has a prior criminal history of 38 felony convictions dating back to 1991.
Thomas Webster: 10 years
Retired NYPC officer Thomas Webster leaves the federal courthouse in Washington on Sept. 1, 2022. | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo
Thomas Webster, a retired New York City police officer who assaulted a D.C. officer on the front lines of the Capitol riot, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Webster was the first defendant to present a self-defense argument, though a jury rejected that claim because he tackled a D.C. officer and grabbed his gas mask. Webster has said he wishes he had never gone to Washington.
U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta described Webster’s assault on the officer as one of the most haunting and shocking images from that day.
Jessica Watkins: 8.5 years
Jessica Watkins, an army veteran and member of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison this month.
At the trial, Watkins was shown leading a small militia in Ohio to then mobilize in Washington on Jan 6. Watkins marched to the Capitol and encouraged rioters to push past police at the Capitol.
Watkins’ attorney said that the trauma and rejection from friends and family due to her being transgender was what pushed her to be dragged into conspiracy theories around the 2020 election and to eventually take part in the riot.
Patrick McCaughey: 7.5 years
Patrick McCaughey was sentenced to seven and half years in prison after images captured McCaughey pinning a D.C. police officer in a Capitol doorway as he howled in pain.
McCaughey pinned down Officer Daniel Hodges for more than two minutes while another rioter stole Hodges’ baton and struck him with it. McCaughey has described his actions as “monumentally stupid.”
A judge found McCaughey guilty in September after a bench trial on three charges of assaulting or impeding police officers, obstructing Congress’ proceedings and participating in a civil disorder, among other charges.
Kyle Young: More than 7 years
Kyle Young, who pleaded guilty to assaulting D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone, was sentenced in September to a little over seven years in prison.
A judge sentenced Young after describing his “enthusiastic” participation in the mob violence against Fanone.
Young pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer. He is one of the several rioters who assaulted Fanone, who was tased.
Albuquerque Cosper Head: 7.5 years
Albuquerque Cosper Head, who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in October, is a Jan. 6 rioter considered to have committed one of the day’s most brutal assaults against a police officer.
Head pleaded guilty to yanking Fanone away from police lines and shouting, “I got one!” before other rioters dragged the officer away, tased him and robbed him of his badge and radio.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson described Head’s attack on Fanone as one of the most chilling moments of violence on a dark day for the country.
Guy Reffitt: More than 7 years
Guy Reffitt, the first Jan. 6 defendant to go before a jury, was sentenced to seven and a quarter years in prison in August.
Reffitt was convicted on five felony charges, including interfering with police during civil disorder, obstructing the tallying of the electoral votes and threatening his children if they reported him to authorities.
Reffitt drove to Washington with an acquaintance the day before the riot and brought two AR-15 rifles and a pistol with him. Reffitt had the pistol on him as he engaged in a tense standoff with police during the riot, though he never entered the Capitol.
Thomas Robertson: More than 7 years
Thomas Robertson, an off-duty Virginia police officer, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison in August after being convicted of attacking the Capitol to obstruct Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.
Robertson had wielded a large stick and put on a gas mask during the riot while confronting police officers.
After Jan. 6, Robertson was found stockpiling guns and advocated for violence. Robertson told a friend that he was prepared to fight and die in a civil war as he hung onto the claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
Julian Khater: More than 6 years
Julian Khater was sentenced to over six years in prison after he pepper-sprayed three police officers in the face, including Brian Sicknick, who died of multiple strokes the next day.
A U.S. District Court judge found that Khater made a calculated decision to find his way to the front of the mob and use pepper spray that injured at least three officers.
Robert Palmer: More than 5 years
Robert Palmer was sentenced to more than five years for assaulting police and participating in some of the most violent episodes of Jan. 6.
Palmer threw wooden boards and a fire extinguisher at police officers who were guarding the Lower West Tunnel of the Capitol. Palmer pleaded guilty in October 2021 and was sentenced in December of that year.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett: 4.5 years
Richard 'Bigo' Barnett (right) arrives at federal district court with his attorney Joseph McBride (left) for jury selection in his trial Jan. 9 in Washington. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Richard Barnett, the man who was photographed on Jan. 6 with his feet on a desk in then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
The image of Barnett became a symbol of the brazenness of the Jan. 6 attack. In January of this year, Barnett was convicted on eight charges, including obstructing Congress’ Jan. 6 proceedings as well as disorderly conduct in the Capitol while carrying a dangerous weapon.
Barnett has insisted that he had expressed remorse for his actions and for putting his feet on the desk.
Jacob Chansley: Almost 3.5 years
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump, including Jacob Chansley (right), are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. | Manuel Balce Cenet/AP Photo
Jacob Chansley, who gained notoriety for images of him shirtless and wearing a horned headdress, was sentenced to almost three and a half years in November 2021 but was released from a halfway house in May 2023, ending his time in federal custody.
Chansley, a follower of the QAnon conspiracy movement, did not engage in physical violence on Jan. 6 but was a leader among those who went into the Senate chamber and disrupted the electoral vote.
Chansley pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct Congress’ effort to certify the results of the 2020 election and sought a pardon from then-President Donald Trump.
Riley Williams: 3 years
Riley Williams was sentenced to three years in prison in March after she surged with the mob into Pelosi’s office on Jan. 6.
Williams, a devotee of white nationalist Nick Fuentes, is seen on tape entering Pelosi’s conference room while other rioters took Pelosi’s laptop, and she encouraged them to steal it, but Williams’ lawyers contended that it was unclear whether the rioters heard her comment.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/30/january-6-arrest-sentencing-00099158
Jan. 6 sentences are piling up. Here’s a look at some of the longest handed down.
More than 1,033 of the rioters have been arrested, with approximately 485 federal defendants receiving sentences.
After more than two years since the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, the sentences are piling up. Last week saw the longest prison sentence yet at 18 years. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images
By KIERRA FRAZIER
05/30/2023 12:32 PM EDT
After more than two years since the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, the sentences are piling up — and last week saw the longest prison sentence yet.
More than 1,033 of the rioters have been arrested, with approximately 485 federal defendants receiving sentences.
About 277 defendants have been sentenced to time behind bars, and roughly 113 defendants have been sentenced to a period of home detention.
Here are the notable figures and some of the longest sentences handed down to Jan. 6 rioters:
Stewart Rhodes: 18 years
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, on June 25, 2017. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo
Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers, last week was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy — the longest sentence imposed on a Jan. 6 defendant to date.
Prosecutors say Rhodes planned a weekslong effort to derail the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, leading to the organization of dozens of allies to descend on Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Rhodes was convicted in November.
Rhodes, a Yale Law graduate and military veteran, is the first of 14 Jan. 6 defendants, including nine Oath Keepers, to face sentencing after being convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Kelly Meggs, Florida chapter leader of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced alongside Rhodes to 12 years behind bars.
Peter Schwartz: 14 years
Peter Schwartz of Pennsylvania was sentenced to just over 14 years in prison. Schwartz was found guilty in December on 10 charges, including four felony charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers while using a dangerous weapon.
A jury convicted Schwartz on assault and civil disorder charges for throwing a chair at officers and spraying them with pepper spray. Schwartz also has a prior criminal history of 38 felony convictions dating back to 1991.
Thomas Webster: 10 years
Retired NYPC officer Thomas Webster leaves the federal courthouse in Washington on Sept. 1, 2022. | Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo
Thomas Webster, a retired New York City police officer who assaulted a D.C. officer on the front lines of the Capitol riot, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Webster was the first defendant to present a self-defense argument, though a jury rejected that claim because he tackled a D.C. officer and grabbed his gas mask. Webster has said he wishes he had never gone to Washington.
U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta described Webster’s assault on the officer as one of the most haunting and shocking images from that day.
Jessica Watkins: 8.5 years
Jessica Watkins, an army veteran and member of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison this month.
At the trial, Watkins was shown leading a small militia in Ohio to then mobilize in Washington on Jan 6. Watkins marched to the Capitol and encouraged rioters to push past police at the Capitol.
Watkins’ attorney said that the trauma and rejection from friends and family due to her being transgender was what pushed her to be dragged into conspiracy theories around the 2020 election and to eventually take part in the riot.
Patrick McCaughey: 7.5 years
Patrick McCaughey was sentenced to seven and half years in prison after images captured McCaughey pinning a D.C. police officer in a Capitol doorway as he howled in pain.
McCaughey pinned down Officer Daniel Hodges for more than two minutes while another rioter stole Hodges’ baton and struck him with it. McCaughey has described his actions as “monumentally stupid.”
A judge found McCaughey guilty in September after a bench trial on three charges of assaulting or impeding police officers, obstructing Congress’ proceedings and participating in a civil disorder, among other charges.
Kyle Young: More than 7 years
Kyle Young, who pleaded guilty to assaulting D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone, was sentenced in September to a little over seven years in prison.
A judge sentenced Young after describing his “enthusiastic” participation in the mob violence against Fanone.
Young pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer. He is one of the several rioters who assaulted Fanone, who was tased.
Albuquerque Cosper Head: 7.5 years
Albuquerque Cosper Head, who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in October, is a Jan. 6 rioter considered to have committed one of the day’s most brutal assaults against a police officer.
Head pleaded guilty to yanking Fanone away from police lines and shouting, “I got one!” before other rioters dragged the officer away, tased him and robbed him of his badge and radio.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson described Head’s attack on Fanone as one of the most chilling moments of violence on a dark day for the country.
Guy Reffitt: More than 7 years
Guy Reffitt, the first Jan. 6 defendant to go before a jury, was sentenced to seven and a quarter years in prison in August.
Reffitt was convicted on five felony charges, including interfering with police during civil disorder, obstructing the tallying of the electoral votes and threatening his children if they reported him to authorities.
Reffitt drove to Washington with an acquaintance the day before the riot and brought two AR-15 rifles and a pistol with him. Reffitt had the pistol on him as he engaged in a tense standoff with police during the riot, though he never entered the Capitol.
Thomas Robertson: More than 7 years
Thomas Robertson, an off-duty Virginia police officer, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison in August after being convicted of attacking the Capitol to obstruct Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.
Robertson had wielded a large stick and put on a gas mask during the riot while confronting police officers.
After Jan. 6, Robertson was found stockpiling guns and advocated for violence. Robertson told a friend that he was prepared to fight and die in a civil war as he hung onto the claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
Julian Khater: More than 6 years
Julian Khater was sentenced to over six years in prison after he pepper-sprayed three police officers in the face, including Brian Sicknick, who died of multiple strokes the next day.
A U.S. District Court judge found that Khater made a calculated decision to find his way to the front of the mob and use pepper spray that injured at least three officers.
Robert Palmer: More than 5 years
Robert Palmer was sentenced to more than five years for assaulting police and participating in some of the most violent episodes of Jan. 6.
Palmer threw wooden boards and a fire extinguisher at police officers who were guarding the Lower West Tunnel of the Capitol. Palmer pleaded guilty in October 2021 and was sentenced in December of that year.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett: 4.5 years
Richard 'Bigo' Barnett (right) arrives at federal district court with his attorney Joseph McBride (left) for jury selection in his trial Jan. 9 in Washington. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Richard Barnett, the man who was photographed on Jan. 6 with his feet on a desk in then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
The image of Barnett became a symbol of the brazenness of the Jan. 6 attack. In January of this year, Barnett was convicted on eight charges, including obstructing Congress’ Jan. 6 proceedings as well as disorderly conduct in the Capitol while carrying a dangerous weapon.
Barnett has insisted that he had expressed remorse for his actions and for putting his feet on the desk.
Jacob Chansley: Almost 3.5 years
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump, including Jacob Chansley (right), are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. | Manuel Balce Cenet/AP Photo
Jacob Chansley, who gained notoriety for images of him shirtless and wearing a horned headdress, was sentenced to almost three and a half years in November 2021 but was released from a halfway house in May 2023, ending his time in federal custody.
Chansley, a follower of the QAnon conspiracy movement, did not engage in physical violence on Jan. 6 but was a leader among those who went into the Senate chamber and disrupted the electoral vote.
Chansley pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct Congress’ effort to certify the results of the 2020 election and sought a pardon from then-President Donald Trump.
Riley Williams: 3 years
Riley Williams was sentenced to three years in prison in March after she surged with the mob into Pelosi’s office on Jan. 6.
Williams, a devotee of white nationalist Nick Fuentes, is seen on tape entering Pelosi’s conference room while other rioters took Pelosi’s laptop, and she encouraged them to steal it, but Williams’ lawyers contended that it was unclear whether the rioters heard her comment.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/30/january-6-arrest-sentencing-00099158
Russia issues arrest warrant for Lindsey Graham after Ukraine comments
The warrant was issued after a video released by Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office highlighted comments Graham made at a meeting Friday with the Ukrainian president.
May 29, 2023, 9:20 AM CDT / Source: Associated Press
By The Associated Press
MOSCOW — Russia’s Interior Ministry on Monday issued an arrest warrant for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., following his comments related to the fighting in Ukraine.
In an edited video of his meeting Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that was released by Zelenskyy’s office, Graham said “the Russians are dying” and described the U.S. military assistance to the country as “the best money we’ve ever spent.”
While Graham appeared to have made the remarks in different parts of the conversation, the short video by Ukraine’s presidential office put them next to each other, causing outrage in Russia.
[...]
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-issues-arrest-warrant-lindsey-graham-ukraine-comments-rcna86655
Photos Show Memorial Day Tributes at Arlington National Cemetery
BY KAITLIN LEWIS ON 5/29/23 AT 5:51 PM EDT
02:58
Watch: President Biden Lays Wreath At Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier
https://www.newsweek.com/photos-show-memorial-day-tributes-arlington-national-cemetery-1803208
President Joe Biden advised thousands of visitors at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) to "never forget" the price that democracy costs while delivering his Memorial Day remarks.
Monday's federal holiday marked Biden's third Memorial Day since taking office and began with a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.
The president was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff for the observance proceedings.
"Every year, as a nation, we undertake this rite of remembrance, for we must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy," Biden said while delivering remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater following the wreath-laying ceremony. "We must never forget the lives these flags, flowers and marble markers represent: a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a sister, a spouse, a friend. An American."
President Joe Biden participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 29 in observance of Memorial Day.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY
According to ANC, nearly 5,000 visitors dawn on the national gravesite every year for Memorial Day. CNN reported that around 3,000 people were in attendance this year during Biden's speech, citing the White House.
Visitors also flocked to the national cemetery Monday to pay their own respects to the over 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents who are buried in Arlington. Service members from every one of the United States' major wars are entombed within the 639 acres, ANC states, dating back to the Revolutionary War.
Brad Fromm talks to his son, Tyler, at the final resting place of a fallen loved one in Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 29, in Arlington, Virginia.
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
Like in past years, the president spent time during his speech to reflect on his late son, Beau, who served with honors in Iraq and died in 2015 of brain cancer. Tuesday will mark the eighth anniversary of Beau's death, and Biden spoke about the pride he felt for his son's time in the armed forces.
Biden also acknowledged that his loss was "not the same" as those who have lost loved ones on the battlefield, but he added, "as it is for so many of you, the pain of his loss is with us every day, but particularly sharp on Memorial Day."
"But so is the pride Jill and I feel in his service, as if I can still hear him saying, 'Dad—it's my duty, Dad,'" Biden continued. "That was the code my son lived by and all those you lost lived by. It's the creed that millions of service members have followed....Throughout history, these women and men laid down their lives, not for a place or a person or a president, but for an idea unlike any other idea in all of human history. The idea, the idea of the United States of America."
From left to right, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrive to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 29.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY
Biden also used his speech to highlight ways his administration has increased support for veterans and their families, including signing the PACT Act into law in 2022 that expands federal health care services for veterans who were exposed to burn pits during their service.
"As a nation, and people have all heard me say this for a long time, as a nation, we have many obligations, but I believe with every fiber of my being we have only one truly sacred obligation: to prepare those we send into harm's way and care for them and their families when they come home, and when they don't," the president said. "It's a sacred obligation, not based on party or politics, but on a promise, a promise to unite all of us. There is nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American."
Krista Meinert sits with her late son, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jacob Meinert, who was killed in Afghanistan, at Arlington National Cemetery on May 29 in Arlington, Virginia.
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
According to the Associated Press, Biden hosted members of veterans organizations, military service and military family organizations, surviving families of fallen soldiers and other administration officials for a breakfast at the White House prior to Monday's observance proceedings.
Both the president and the first lady are scheduled to spend the remaining time of their holiday at their home near Wilmington, Delaware, the AP reported.
https://www.newsweek.com/photos-show-memorial-day-tributes-arlington-national-cemetery-1803208
Photos Show Memorial Day Tributes at Arlington National Cemetery
BY KAITLIN LEWIS ON 5/29/23 AT 5:51 PM EDT
02:58
Watch: President Biden Lays Wreath At Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier
https://www.newsweek.com/photos-show-memorial-day-tributes-arlington-national-cemetery-1803208
President Joe Biden advised thousands of visitors at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) to "never forget" the price that democracy costs while delivering his Memorial Day remarks.
Monday's federal holiday marked Biden's third Memorial Day since taking office and began with a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.
The president was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff for the observance proceedings.
"Every year, as a nation, we undertake this rite of remembrance, for we must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy," Biden said while delivering remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater following the wreath-laying ceremony. "We must never forget the lives these flags, flowers and marble markers represent: a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a sister, a spouse, a friend. An American."
President Joe Biden participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 29 in observance of Memorial Day.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY
According to ANC, nearly 5,000 visitors dawn on the national gravesite every year for Memorial Day. CNN reported that around 3,000 people were in attendance this year during Biden's speech, citing the White House.
Visitors also flocked to the national cemetery Monday to pay their own respects to the over 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents who are buried in Arlington. Service members from every one of the United States' major wars are entombed within the 639 acres, ANC states, dating back to the Revolutionary War.
Brad Fromm talks to his son, Tyler, at the final resting place of a fallen loved one in Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 29, in Arlington, Virginia.
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
Like in past years, the president spent time during his speech to reflect on his late son, Beau, who served with honors in Iraq and died in 2015 of brain cancer. Tuesday will mark the eighth anniversary of Beau's death, and Biden spoke about the pride he felt for his son's time in the armed forces.
Biden also acknowledged that his loss was "not the same" as those who have lost loved ones on the battlefield, but he added, "as it is for so many of you, the pain of his loss is with us every day, but particularly sharp on Memorial Day."
"But so is the pride Jill and I feel in his service, as if I can still hear him saying, 'Dad—it's my duty, Dad,'" Biden continued. "That was the code my son lived by and all those you lost lived by. It's the creed that millions of service members have followed....Throughout history, these women and men laid down their lives, not for a place or a person or a president, but for an idea unlike any other idea in all of human history. The idea, the idea of the United States of America."
From left to right, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrive to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 29.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY
Biden also used his speech to highlight ways his administration has increased support for veterans and their families, including signing the PACT Act into law in 2022 that expands federal health care services for veterans who were exposed to burn pits during their service.
"As a nation, and people have all heard me say this for a long time, as a nation, we have many obligations, but I believe with every fiber of my being we have only one truly sacred obligation: to prepare those we send into harm's way and care for them and their families when they come home, and when they don't," the president said. "It's a sacred obligation, not based on party or politics, but on a promise, a promise to unite all of us. There is nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American."
Krista Meinert sits with her late son, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jacob Meinert, who was killed in Afghanistan, at Arlington National Cemetery on May 29 in Arlington, Virginia.
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
According to the Associated Press, Biden hosted members of veterans organizations, military service and military family organizations, surviving families of fallen soldiers and other administration officials for a breakfast at the White House prior to Monday's observance proceedings.
Both the president and the first lady are scheduled to spend the remaining time of their holiday at their home near Wilmington, Delaware, the AP reported.
https://www.newsweek.com/photos-show-memorial-day-tributes-arlington-national-cemetery-1803208
This Memorial Day, VA Adds More than 300,000 Veterans to its Legacy Memorial Project Site
Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment also known as The Old Guard place flags in front of each headstone for "Flags-In" at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Thursday, May 25, 2023, to honor the nation's fallen military heroes ahead of Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
29 May 2023
Military.com | By Patricia Kime
The Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded its Veterans Legacy Memorial project to include former service members interred at 27 cemeteries managed by the Air Force, Navy and Army, including Arlington National Cemetery.
Ahead of Memorial Day, VA officials said the expansion adds more than 300,000 veterans to the online memorial, which now contains landing pages for roughly 4.8 million veterans.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/05/29/memorial-day-va-adds-more-300000-veterans-its-legacy-memorial-project-site.html
Biden marks Memorial Day nearly 2 years after ending America’s longest war, lauds troops’ sacrifice
By AAMER MADHANI and REBECCA SANTANA
4 minutes ago
People walk among the headstones as they visit Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden lauded the sacrifice of generations of U.S. troops who died fighting for their country as he marked Memorial Day with the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Biden was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, for the 155th National Memorial Day Observance.
He had a moment of contemplation in front of the wreath, which was adorned with flowers and a red, white and blue bow, and then bowed his head in prayer.
“We must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy,” Biden said later in an address at Memorial Amphitheater. “We must never forget the lives these flags, flowers and marble markers represent.”
”Every year we remember,” he said. “And every year it never gets easier.”
Monday’s federal holiday honoring America’s fallen service members came a day after Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached final agreement on a deal that would raise America’s debt limit and that now awaits approval by Congress.
As it stands, the agreement would keep nondefense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year. The measure would allow for 3% defense growth in fiscal 2024, to $886 billion, and then another 1% in fiscal 2025, to $895 billion.
Biden has taken pride that his Democratic administration has overseen a time of relative peace for the U.S. military after two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It’s been nearly 21 months since Biden ended the United States’ longest war in Afghanistan, making good on a campaign promise to end a 20-year-old “forever war” that cost the lives of more than 2400 U.S. service members.
The war in Afghanistan, however, ended in deadly and chaotic fashion on Biden’s watch in August 2021 with critics blasting the administration’s handling of the evacuation of some 120,000 American citizens, Afghans and others as poorly planned and badly executed.
The Biden administration last month released a review of the last days of the war, largely blaming his Republican predecessor, President Donald Trump, and asserting that Biden was “severely constrained” by Trump’s decisions.
The U.S. now finds itself leading a coalition of allies pouring tens of billions of dollars in military and economic aid into Ukraine as it tries to repel the Russian invasion, which appears to have no end in sight.
While making clear that he has no desire for U.S. troops to enter the conflict, Biden has maintained that he sees the Russian effort to grab territory as an affront to international norms and has vowed to help Kyiv win, sending artillery, tanks and drones and recently agreeing to allow allies to train Ukrainian military on American F-16 jets.
Before Monday’s ceremony at the Arlington, Virginia, cemetery, the Bidens hosted a breakfast at the White House for members of veterans organizations, military service and military family organizations, surviving families of fallen U.S. troops, senior Department of Defense officials and other administration officials.
The president and the first lady were scheduled to return their home near Wilmington, Delaware, later Monday to spend the rest of the federal holiday.
https://apnews.com/article/biden-memorial-day-arlington-national-cemetery-e5ad1865901b7264c5029c68e25086ec
Biden marks Memorial Day nearly 2 years after ending America’s longest war, lauds troops’ sacrifice
By AAMER MADHANI and REBECCA SANTANA
4 minutes ago
People walk among the headstones as they visit Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, Monday, May 29, 2023, in Arlington, Va.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden lauded the sacrifice of generations of U.S. troops who died fighting for their country as he marked Memorial Day with the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Biden was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, for the 155th National Memorial Day Observance.
He had a moment of contemplation in front of the wreath, which was adorned with flowers and a red, white and blue bow, and then bowed his head in prayer.
“We must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy,” Biden said later in an address at Memorial Amphitheater. “We must never forget the lives these flags, flowers and marble markers represent.”
”Every year we remember,” he said. “And every year it never gets easier.”
Monday’s federal holiday honoring America’s fallen service members came a day after Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached final agreement on a deal that would raise America’s debt limit and that now awaits approval by Congress.
As it stands, the agreement would keep nondefense spending roughly flat in the 2024 fiscal year and increase it by 1% the following year. The measure would allow for 3% defense growth in fiscal 2024, to $886 billion, and then another 1% in fiscal 2025, to $895 billion.
Biden has taken pride that his Democratic administration has overseen a time of relative peace for the U.S. military after two decades of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It’s been nearly 21 months since Biden ended the United States’ longest war in Afghanistan, making good on a campaign promise to end a 20-year-old “forever war” that cost the lives of more than 2400 U.S. service members.
The war in Afghanistan, however, ended in deadly and chaotic fashion on Biden’s watch in August 2021 with critics blasting the administration’s handling of the evacuation of some 120,000 American citizens, Afghans and others as poorly planned and badly executed.
The Biden administration last month released a review of the last days of the war, largely blaming his Republican predecessor, President Donald Trump, and asserting that Biden was “severely constrained” by Trump’s decisions.
The U.S. now finds itself leading a coalition of allies pouring tens of billions of dollars in military and economic aid into Ukraine as it tries to repel the Russian invasion, which appears to have no end in sight.
While making clear that he has no desire for U.S. troops to enter the conflict, Biden has maintained that he sees the Russian effort to grab territory as an affront to international norms and has vowed to help Kyiv win, sending artillery, tanks and drones and recently agreeing to allow allies to train Ukrainian military on American F-16 jets.
Before Monday’s ceremony at the Arlington, Virginia, cemetery, the Bidens hosted a breakfast at the White House for members of veterans organizations, military service and military family organizations, surviving families of fallen U.S. troops, senior Department of Defense officials and other administration officials.
The president and the first lady were scheduled to return their home near Wilmington, Delaware, later Monday to spend the rest of the federal holiday.
https://apnews.com/article/biden-memorial-day-arlington-national-cemetery-e5ad1865901b7264c5029c68e25086ec
2 more Oath Keepers sentenced to prison terms for Jan. 6 Capitol attack
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
May 26, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Army veterans who stormed the U.S. Capitol in a military-style formation with fellow members of the Oath Keepers were sentenced Friday to prison terms, a day after the far-right extremist group’s founder received a record-setting 18-years behind bars in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Jessica Watkins, of Woodstock, Ohio, to eight years and six months behind bars
and sentenced Kenneth Harrelson, of Titusville, Florida, to four years in prison.
A federal jury acquitted Watkins and Harrelson of the seditious conspiracy charge that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was found guilty of in November. But jurors convicted Watkins and Harrelson of other Jan. 6 charges, including obstructing Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
Rhodes’ 18-year term is the longest prison sentence that has been handed down so far in the hundreds of Capitol riot cases. The charges against leaders of the Oath Keepers and another extremist group, the Proud Boys, are among the most serious brought in the Justice Department’s massive investigation of the riot.
Mehta agreed with the Justice Department that Rhodes and the other Oath Keepers’ actions could be punished as “terrorism,” increasing the recommended sentence under federal guidelines.
But the judge ultimately gave Watkins and Harrelson far less time than prosecutors were seeking. The Justice Department had requested 18 years for Watkins and 15 for Harrelson.
Watkins and Harrelson marched toward the Capitol with other Oath Keepers members in “stack” formations as a mob of Trump supporters clashed with outnumbered police officers. Harrelson was the group’s “ground team lead” on Jan. 6. Watkins, who formed a separate Ohio-based militia group, recruited others to join the Oath Keepers in Washington that day.
Mehta said that while Watkins was not a top leader, like Rhodes, she was more than just a “foot soldier,” noting that at least three others charged in the riot wouldn’t have been there if she hadn’t recruited them to join.
“Your role that day was more aggressive, more assaultive, more purposeful than perhaps others,” he told her.
Watkins tearfully apologized for her actions before the judge handed down her sentence. She condemned the violence by rioters who assaulted police, but conceded that her presence at the Capitol “probably inspired those people to a degree.” She described herself as “just another idiot running around the Capitol” on Jan. 6.
“And today you’re going to hold this idiot responsible,” she told the judge.
The judge said Watkins’ personal story of struggling for years to come to terms with her identity as a transgender woman made it especially difficult for him to understand why she has shown “a lack of empathy for those who suffered” on Jan. 6. Watkins testified at trial about hiding her identity from her parents during a strict Christian upbringing and going AWOL in the Army after a fellow soldier found evidence of her contact with a support group for transgender people.
Harrelson told the judge he went to Washington after another Oath Keeper offered him a “security job,” but said he has never voted for a president in his life and doesn’t care about politics. Some of the Oath Keepers provided security for Trump ally Roger Stone and other right-wing figures at events before the riot.
“I have totally demolished my life,” he said as he broke down in tears. “I am responsible, and my foolish actions have caused immense pain to my wife and our children.”
Mehta said he doesn’t agree with the government’s portrayal of Harrelson as a “mid-level organizer” for the Oath Keepers. Unlike many other group members charged in the attack, Harrelson didn’t send any messages “that anyone would consider extremist,” the judge said.
But the judge said he was struck by an image of Harrelson patting down a police officer on his way out of the Capitol.
“You weren’t just there that day because you got swept in,” the judge told him.
During a nearly two-month trial in Washington’s federal court, lawyers for Watkins and the other Oath Keepers argued there was no plan to attack the Capitol. On the witness stand, Watkins told jurors she never intended to interfere with the certification and never heard any commands for her and other Oath Keepers to enter the building.
Evidence shown to jurors showed Watkins after the 2020 election messaging with people who expressed interest in joining her Ohio militia group about “military-style basic” training. She told one recruit, “I need you fighting fit” by the inauguration, which was Jan. 20, 2021.
On Jan. 6, Watkins and other Oath Keepers wearing helmets and other paramilitary gear were seen shouldering their way through the crowd and up the Capitol stairs in military-style stack formation. She communicated with others during the riot over a channel called “Stop the Steal J6” on the walkie-talkie app Zello, declaring, “We are in the main dome right now.”
Harrelson screamed “Treason!” — an epithet directed at members of Congress — as he entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, a prosecutor said.
One of their other co-defendants, Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years behind bars for seditious conspiracy and other charges.
Rhodes, 58, of Granbury, Texas, was the first Jan. 6 defendant convicted of seditious conspiracy to receive his punishment for what prosecutors said was a weekslong plot to forcibly block the transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to Biden. Four other Oath Keepers convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial in January will be sentenced next week.
During his sentencing Thursday, Rhodes defiantly claimed to be a “political prisoner,” criticized prosecutors and the Biden administration and tried to play down his actions on Jan. 6. The judge described Rhodes as a continued threat to the United States who clearly “wants democracy in this country to devolve into violence.”
The Oath Keepers’ sentences this week could serve as a guide for prosecutors in a separate Jan. 6 case against leaders of the Proud Boys. Earlier this month, a different jury convicted former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and three other group leaders of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors said was another plot to keep Trump in the White House.
Capitol rioters face legal fates
Before Thursday, the longest sentence in the more than 1,000 Capitol riot cases was 14 years and two months for a man with a long criminal record who attacked police officers with pepper spray and a chair as he stormed the Capitol.
Just over 500 of the defendants have been sentenced, with more than half receiving prison time. https://interactives.ap.org/jan-6-prosecutions/
Track the legal paths of the people arrested in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack
GRAPHIC -- at end of article:
https://apnews.com/article/oath-keepers-seditious-conspiracy-sentencing-watkins-harrelson-73dcb93b0bcb6c33c88a812e6d7d811f
Air Force fighter pilot tapped by Biden to be next Joint Chiefs chairman has history of firsts
By TARA COPP May 25, 2023
02:39
https://apnews.com/article/joint-chiefs-chairman-general-brown-milley-04a674e1d7aca1fa9f3c63797a9fc230
President Joe Biden shakes hands with U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr.,
after nominating Brown as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, May 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force fighter pilot tapped to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff got his call sign by ejecting from a burning F-16 fighter jet high above the Florida Everglades and falling into the watery sludge below.
It was January 1991, and then-Capt. CQ Brown Jr. had just enough time in his parachute above alligator-full wetlands for a thought to pop into his head. “Hope there’s nothing down there,” Brown said in an interview at the Aspen Security Forum last year.
He landed in the muck, which coated his body and got “in his boots and everything.” Which is how the nominee to be the country’s next top military officer got his call sign: “Swamp Thing.”
President Joe Biden announced he was nominating Brown during a Rose Garden event on Thursday, praising him as an “unflappable and highly effective leader.”
If confirmed, Brown, now a four-star general and the Air Force chief, would replace Army Gen. Mark Milley, whose term ends in October.
Milley described Brown as “absolutely superb.” Speaking earlier in the day at a Pentagon news conference, he said he was “looking forward to a speedy confirmation.”
The call sign reveal was a rare inner look into Brown, who keeps his cards close to his chest. He’s spent much of his career being one of the Air Force’s top aviators, one of its few Black pilots and often one of the only African Americans in his squadron.
To this day, his core tenets are to “execute at a high standard, personally and professionally,” Brown said this month at an Air Force Association conference in Colorado. “I do not play for second place. If I’m in, I’m in to win — I do not play to lose.”
Biden referenced Brown’s comments in his praise.
“Gen. Brown doesn’t play for second place,” the president said, with Brown by his side. “He plays to win and that’s obvious. That mindset is going to be an enormous asset to me as commander in chief of the United States of America as we navigate challenges in the coming years.”
He’s been many firsts, including the Air Force’s first Black commander of the Pacific Air Forces, and most recently its first Black chief of staff, making him the first African American to lead any of the military branches.
If confirmed, he would be part of another first — the first time the Pentagon’s top two posts were held by African Americans, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin the top civilian leader. Brown would not be the first African American to be chairman, the Pentagon’s top military post; that distinction went to the late Army Gen. Colin Powell.
Brown, 60, has commanded the nation’s air power at all levels. Born in San Antonio, he is from a family of Army soldiers. His grandfather led a segregated Army unit in World War II and his father was an artillery officer and Vietnam War veteran. Brown grew up on several military bases, which helped instill in him a sense of mission.
His nomination caps a four-decade military career that began with his commission as a distinguished ROTC graduate from Texas Tech University in 1984. He was widely viewed within military circles as the frontrunner for the chairmanship, with the right commands and a track record of driving institutional change, attributes seen as needed to push the Pentagon onto a more modern footing to meet China’s rise.
For the past two years Brown has pressed “Accelerate, Change or Lose” within the Air Force. The campaign very much has China in mind, pushing the service to shed legacy warplanes and speed its efforts to counter hypersonics, drones and space weapons, where the military’s lingering Cold War-era inventory does not match up.
In person, Brown is private, thoughtful and deliberate. He is seen as a contrast to Milley, who has remained outspoken throughout his tenure, often to the ire of former President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers.
“He’s not prone to blurt out something without some serious thought in his own mind, some serious kind of balancing of the opportunities or options,” said retired Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley, who knows Brown from when Brown worked for him as a member of the Air Staff.
Brown has more than 3,000 flying hours and repeat assignments to the Air Force Weapons School — an elite aerial fighting school similar to the Navy’s TOPGUN. Only about 1% of Air Force fighter pilots are accepted, Moseley said.
When Brown had to eject from the burning F-16 in 1991, after the fuel tank broke off mid-flight, he said the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“I was a bit frustrated because it happened just before the selection for weapons school,” he said at the Aspen forum. He said he had to apply three times before he got in, noting that it’s “pretty competitive.”
But he rose to the top there, too, earning a spot as an instructor, “which is like 1% of the 1%,” Moseley said.
Brown returned to the weapons school as its commandant. By then it had expanded from fighter-only exclusivity to teaching combined airpower operations, with tankers, bombers and cargo planes.
Brown saw that the school “required a different approach and attitude,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Bill Rew. Earlier commandants had tried to institute a new mantra, “Humble, Approachable, Credible,” but it had not taken root.
Under Brown the cultural shift took hold and remains in place today, said Rew, who was one of Brown’s instructors at the weapons school and wing commander during Brown’s time as commandant.
“It takes a certain kind of leadership, that doesn’t force cultural change on people but explains it and motivates them on why that change is important,” Rew said.
In June 2020, Brown was just a week from being confirmed by the Senate to serve as chief of staff of the Air Force when he felt the need to speak out on George Floyd’s murder.
It was risky and inopportune time for the general to draw public attention and pull back the curtain on his private thoughts. But he did so anyway, after discussions with his wife and sons about the murder, which convinced him he needed to say something.
In a June 2020 video message to the service titled “Here’s What I’m Thinking About,” Brown described how he’d pressured himself “to perform error-free” as a pilot and officer his whole life, but still faced bias. He said he’d been questioned about his credentials, even when he wore the same flight suit and wings as every other pilot.
It’s been 30 years since Powell became the first Black chairman, serving from 1989 to 1993. But while African Americans make up 17.2% of the 1.3 million active-duty service members, only 9% of officers are Black, according to a 2021 Defense Department report.
“I’m thinking about my mentors and how I rarely had a mentor that looked like me,” Brown said in the video.
But like the brief moment in Aspen, the personal video message was a rarity. After confirmation, he lowered his public profile again, and got to work.
“I’m thinking about how my nomination provides some hope, but also comes with a heavy burden — I can’t fix centuries of racism in our country, nor can I fix decades of discrimination that may have impacted members of our Air Force.
“I’m thinking about how I can make improvements, personally, professionally and institutionally,” so all airmen could excel.
His decision to speak out did not cost him. His Senate confirmation vote was 98-0.
https://apnews.com/article/joint-chiefs-chairman-general-brown-milley-04a674e1d7aca1fa9f3c63797a9fc230
================================================
ALSO:
Biden picks Brown to be Joint Chiefs chairman
ArmyTimes - DefenseNews
By Stephen Losey and Bryant Harris
May 25, 01:57 PM
https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2023/05/25/biden-picks-brown-to-be-joint-chiefs-chairman/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=army-dnr
Air Force fighter pilot tapped by Biden to be next Joint Chiefs chairman has history of firsts
By TARA COPP May 25, 2023
02:39
https://apnews.com/article/joint-chiefs-chairman-general-brown-milley-04a674e1d7aca1fa9f3c63797a9fc230
President Joe Biden shakes hands with U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr.,
after nominating Brown as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, May 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force fighter pilot tapped to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff got his call sign by ejecting from a burning F-16 fighter jet high above the Florida Everglades and falling into the watery sludge below.
It was January 1991, and then-Capt. CQ Brown Jr. had just enough time in his parachute above alligator-full wetlands for a thought to pop into his head. “Hope there’s nothing down there,” Brown said in an interview at the Aspen Security Forum last year.
He landed in the muck, which coated his body and got “in his boots and everything.” Which is how the nominee to be the country’s next top military officer got his call sign: “Swamp Thing.”
President Joe Biden announced he was nominating Brown during a Rose Garden event on Thursday, praising him as an “unflappable and highly effective leader.”
If confirmed, Brown, now a four-star general and the Air Force chief, would replace Army Gen. Mark Milley, whose term ends in October.
Milley described Brown as “absolutely superb.” Speaking earlier in the day at a Pentagon news conference, he said he was “looking forward to a speedy confirmation.”
The call sign reveal was a rare inner look into Brown, who keeps his cards close to his chest. He’s spent much of his career being one of the Air Force’s top aviators, one of its few Black pilots and often one of the only African Americans in his squadron.
To this day, his core tenets are to “execute at a high standard, personally and professionally,” Brown said this month at an Air Force Association conference in Colorado. “I do not play for second place. If I’m in, I’m in to win — I do not play to lose.”
Biden referenced Brown’s comments in his praise.
“Gen. Brown doesn’t play for second place,” the president said, with Brown by his side. “He plays to win and that’s obvious. That mindset is going to be an enormous asset to me as commander in chief of the United States of America as we navigate challenges in the coming years.”
He’s been many firsts, including the Air Force’s first Black commander of the Pacific Air Forces, and most recently its first Black chief of staff, making him the first African American to lead any of the military branches.
If confirmed, he would be part of another first — the first time the Pentagon’s top two posts were held by African Americans, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin the top civilian leader. Brown would not be the first African American to be chairman, the Pentagon’s top military post; that distinction went to the late Army Gen. Colin Powell.
Brown, 60, has commanded the nation’s air power at all levels. Born in San Antonio, he is from a family of Army soldiers. His grandfather led a segregated Army unit in World War II and his father was an artillery officer and Vietnam War veteran. Brown grew up on several military bases, which helped instill in him a sense of mission.
His nomination caps a four-decade military career that began with his commission as a distinguished ROTC graduate from Texas Tech University in 1984. He was widely viewed within military circles as the frontrunner for the chairmanship, with the right commands and a track record of driving institutional change, attributes seen as needed to push the Pentagon onto a more modern footing to meet China’s rise.
For the past two years Brown has pressed “Accelerate, Change or Lose” within the Air Force. The campaign very much has China in mind, pushing the service to shed legacy warplanes and speed its efforts to counter hypersonics, drones and space weapons, where the military’s lingering Cold War-era inventory does not match up.
In person, Brown is private, thoughtful and deliberate. He is seen as a contrast to Milley, who has remained outspoken throughout his tenure, often to the ire of former President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers.
“He’s not prone to blurt out something without some serious thought in his own mind, some serious kind of balancing of the opportunities or options,” said retired Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley, who knows Brown from when Brown worked for him as a member of the Air Staff.
Brown has more than 3,000 flying hours and repeat assignments to the Air Force Weapons School — an elite aerial fighting school similar to the Navy’s TOPGUN. Only about 1% of Air Force fighter pilots are accepted, Moseley said.
When Brown had to eject from the burning F-16 in 1991, after the fuel tank broke off mid-flight, he said the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“I was a bit frustrated because it happened just before the selection for weapons school,” he said at the Aspen forum. He said he had to apply three times before he got in, noting that it’s “pretty competitive.”
But he rose to the top there, too, earning a spot as an instructor, “which is like 1% of the 1%,” Moseley said.
Brown returned to the weapons school as its commandant. By then it had expanded from fighter-only exclusivity to teaching combined airpower operations, with tankers, bombers and cargo planes.
Brown saw that the school “required a different approach and attitude,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Bill Rew. Earlier commandants had tried to institute a new mantra, “Humble, Approachable, Credible,” but it had not taken root.
Under Brown the cultural shift took hold and remains in place today, said Rew, who was one of Brown’s instructors at the weapons school and wing commander during Brown’s time as commandant.
“It takes a certain kind of leadership, that doesn’t force cultural change on people but explains it and motivates them on why that change is important,” Rew said.
In June 2020, Brown was just a week from being confirmed by the Senate to serve as chief of staff of the Air Force when he felt the need to speak out on George Floyd’s murder.
It was risky and inopportune time for the general to draw public attention and pull back the curtain on his private thoughts. But he did so anyway, after discussions with his wife and sons about the murder, which convinced him he needed to say something.
In a June 2020 video message to the service titled “Here’s What I’m Thinking About,” Brown described how he’d pressured himself “to perform error-free” as a pilot and officer his whole life, but still faced bias. He said he’d been questioned about his credentials, even when he wore the same flight suit and wings as every other pilot.
It’s been 30 years since Powell became the first Black chairman, serving from 1989 to 1993. But while African Americans make up 17.2% of the 1.3 million active-duty service members, only 9% of officers are Black, according to a 2021 Defense Department report.
“I’m thinking about my mentors and how I rarely had a mentor that looked like me,” Brown said in the video.
But like the brief moment in Aspen, the personal video message was a rarity. After confirmation, he lowered his public profile again, and got to work.
“I’m thinking about how my nomination provides some hope, but also comes with a heavy burden — I can’t fix centuries of racism in our country, nor can I fix decades of discrimination that may have impacted members of our Air Force.
“I’m thinking about how I can make improvements, personally, professionally and institutionally,” so all airmen could excel.
His decision to speak out did not cost him. His Senate confirmation vote was 98-0.
https://apnews.com/article/joint-chiefs-chairman-general-brown-milley-04a674e1d7aca1fa9f3c63797a9fc230
================================================
ALSO:
Biden picks Brown to be Joint Chiefs chairman
By Stephen Losey and Bryant Harris
May 25, 01:57 PM
https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2023/05/25/biden-picks-brown-to-be-joint-chiefs-chairman/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=army-dnr
Yes, the various sites reporting the Stewart Rhodes news have been updating all day.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 attack
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 attack
By Michael Kunzelman and Lindsay Whitehurst and Alanna Durkin Richer
17 minutes ago
FILE - This photo provided by the Collin County Sheriff's Office shows Stewart Rhodes. Rhodes has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He was sentenced Thursday after a landmark verdict convicting him of spearheading a weekslong plot to keep former President Donald Trump in power. (Collin County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Oath Keepers extremist group founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced on Thursday to 18 years in prison for orchestrating a weekslong plot that culminated in his followers attacking the U.S. Capitol in a bid to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House after winning the 2020 election.
Rhodes, 58, is the first person charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack to be sentenced for seditious conspiracy, and his sentence is the longest handed down so far in the hundreds of Capitol riot cases.
It’s another milestone for the Justice Department’s sprawling Jan. 6 investigation, which has led to seditious conspiracy convictions against the top leaders of two far-right extremist groups authorities say came to Washington prepared to fight to keep President Donald Trump in power at all costs.
In a first for an insurrection case, the judge agreed to apply enhancement penalties for “terrorism.” That decision could foreshadow lengthy sentences down the road for other far-right extremists, including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who have also been convicted of the rarely used charge.
Before announcing Rhodes’ sentence, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta described a defiant Rhodes as a continued threat the United States who clearly “wants democracy in this country to devolve into violence.” Mehta expressed fear that what happened on Jan. 6 could be repeated, saying Americans will “now hold our collective breaths every time an election is approaching.”
“The moment you are released, whenever that may be, you will be ready to take up arms against your government,” Mehta told Rhodes.
Rhodes did not use the chance to express remorse or appeal for leniency, but instead claimed to be a “political prisoner,” criticized prosecutors and the Biden administration and tried to play down his actions on Jan. 6.
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/stewart-rhodes-oath-keepers-seditious-conspiracy-sentencing-b3ed4556a3dec577539c4181639f666c
Trump’s tax cuts helped billionaires pay less than the working class for first time
Donald Trump’s tax package the top 0.1% of US households were granted a 2.5% tax cut that pushed their rate below that of the lower 50% of US earners.
Trump’s tax cuts helped billionaires pay less than the working class for first time
They were billed as a “middle-class miracle” but according to a new book Donald Trump’s $1.5tn tax cuts have helped billionaires pay a lower rate than the working class for the first time in history.
. . .
Taxes on the rich have been falling for decades. In 1960 the 400 richest families paid as much as 56% in taxes, by 1980 the rate had fallen to 40%.
But Trump’s tax cuts – his most significant legislative victory – proved a tipping point.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/09/trump-tax-cuts-helped-billionaires-pay-less
Your link:
World summits' 'family photos' show Putin's isolation
By The Associated Press
today
They’re known as “family photos,” the images of world leaders posed in faux relaxation during global summits.
And like portraits of a family that has isolated a dysfunctional member, recent “family photos” from the G7 and G8 — the world’s most industrialized nations — show how Russian President Vladimir Putin has been outcast.
The Russian president has faced unprecedented international isolation since his nation invaded Ukraine in February 2022. An International Criminal Court arrest warrant hangs over his head and clouds his prospects of traveling to many destinations, including those viewed as Moscow’s allies.
President Joe Biden, fourth from left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, fifth from right,
and other G7 leaders pose for a photo before a working session on Ukraine during the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023.
Other leaders from right to left, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Zelenskyy, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and European Council President Charles Michel and Gianluigi Benedetti, Italian ambassador to Japan. (Kyodo News via AP, Pool)
G8 leaders from left, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron, US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy pose during a group photo opportunity during the G-8 summit at the Lough Erne golf resort in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, on June 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
It was only 10 years ago when Putin stood proudly among his peers at the time -– former U.S. President Barack Obama, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe— at a Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland.
But Russia has since been kicked out of the group, which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, for illegally annexing Crimea in 2014.
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/g7-g8-putin-family-photo-6385453cf4bd5a185aea496682b67c74?utm_source=ForYou&utm_medium=HomePage&utm_id=Taboola
speaking of your Hero, LYIN' TRUMP....
In four years, President Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims
The Fact Checker’s database of the false or misleading claims made by President Trump while in office.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11
Schauffele, Fleetwood, Hovland, Koepka, Niemann 274
BRILLIANT
You have never stated your opinion better.on any issue
'I need help': MyPillow CEO 'offers stock' to recover over $40 million he lost 'trying to overturn the election'
Maya Boddie, Alternet
May 13, 2023, 6:29 PM ET
MyPillow Chief Executive Officer and election denier Mike Lindell is asking the public to buy stock in his business, Lindell TV, to gain back the millions he spent in an effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Former GOP prosecutor Ro Filipkowski shared a clip of Lindell's recent Right Side Broadcasting (RSB) Network interview via Twitter, writing, "Mike Lindell announces that he has spent over $40 million trying to overturn the election and he needs help. So, he says he is going to allow people to 'buy stock' in Lindell TV: 'I want every person out there to have a little piece of the pie.'"
Lindell said, "For the next couple weeks — could be for two to four weeks — we're offering stock to the public," adding "This is gonna be amazing!"
READ MORE:
'They did nothing wrong': Mike Lindell loses it over Fox News’ 'strange' Dominion settlement
https://www.alternet.org/Bank/lindell-fox-news-dominion-settlement/
The RSB host interrupted the conspiracy theorist, saying to viewers, "Hang on a second, he spent over 40 million dollars," before the Lindell continued, "I spent over $40 million, and I need help. We need help making our voice bigger. I can't tell the details. The lawyer says, 'I will only let you tell this much.'"
The CEO's offer comes after CNN reported last month he was ordered to pay $5 million to software developer Robert Zeidman, who sued the voter fraud conspiracy theorist over his 2020 election false claim.
According to The Washington Post, "Zeidman had examined Lindell's data and concluded that not only did it not prove voter fraud, it also had no connection to the 2020 election," adding, "He was the only expert who submitted a claim, arbitration records show."
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-lindell-mypillow-2660131892/
WWI Soldier Finally Finds Resting Place in Flanders Fields
A bearer party carries the coffin of World War I soldier, Private Robert Kenneth Malcolm, during a burial ceremony
at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Bedford House Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium, Wednesday, May 10, 2023 (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
10 May 2023
Associated Press | By Virginia Mayo and Mark Carlson
YPRES, Belgium — A World War I soldier finally found his resting place on Wednesday after he went missing at the height of the carnage in 1917 and his remains were found four years ago.
The brutality during the 1914-1918 war was such that hundreds of thousands of soldiers were killed in Belgium's sector on the Western Front but some were never accounted for. They often went missing in muddy fields that were churned over by relentless bombing and fighting
Pvt. Robert Kenneth Malcolm, a stretcher bearer with the U.K. Royal Army Medical Corps, was buried at the Bedford House Cemetery in Ypres, which is at the heart of Flanders Fields. The battle zone was the scene of some of the worst fighting between allied forces that were largely made up of French and British Commonwealth troops against a force built around German soldiers.
Of all the tens of thousands of soldiers that went missing, it left families with uncertainties for years. Even generations later, there could still be an emptiness.
“It is overwhelming for us. I’m glad he’s had the dignity of a funeral now with all the marvelous support,” said Jane Foster, whose great-great-uncle was Malcolm
She said that such a burial was much more than about just herself.
“We do feel it’s for everybody who has lost somebody and hasn’t got a final resting place for them," Foster said.
Malcolm’s remains were uncovered in 2019 by Belgian authorities, and his boots were stamped with 1917.
His case was solved by the U.K. defense ministry's Defense War Detectives, which seeks to identify remains when they are found and name fallen soldiers from so-called unknown graves when decisive evidence emerges about their identity.
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the DNA investigation and contributed to the long wait between the discovery and Wednesday's funeral.
Since Malcolm is no longer missing, his name will also be removed from the city's Menin Gate, the memorial in Ypres with the names of more than 54,000 soldiers, whose remains haven't been found, etched into it.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/05/10/wwi-soldier-finally-finds-resting-place-flanders-fields.html?ESRC=eb_230511.nl
LYIN' TRUMP has never told the truth about anything..
The last time Britain had a coronation was 70 years ago.
Here's what it looked like
May 5, 2023 12:53 PM ET
By Nicole Werbeck, Alex Leff
At Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, the royal family pose at Westminster Abbey in London on June 2, 1953.
Universal History Archive/Getty Images
As Britons prepare for the coronation of King Charles III, we take a look at the United Kingdom's last coronation — for Queen Elizabeth II.
https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2023/05/05/1174267714/queen-elizabeth-ii-coronation-photos
TRUMP WAS WORST PRESIDENT EVER ---- VERIFIED
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=164406121
Yes, Great Britain's ceremony was a great way to avoid the daily news of violence and killings
and some more of the King....
Photos: The coronation of King Charles III
https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2023/05/06/1174464290/photos-the-coronation-of-king-charles-iii
Closing arguments start for E. Jean Carroll's claims against Trump
May 8, 2023 12:49 PM ET
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK — A lawyer told a jury Monday that Donald Trump should be held accountable for sexually attacking an advice columnist in 1996 because even a former president is not above the law.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan delivered the first closing argument in the federal civil trial, showing jurors video clips of Trump from his October deposition and replaying the "Access Hollywood" video from 2005 in which Trump said into a hot mic that celebrities can grab women's genitals without asking.
Closing arguments were expected to last all day in the case as the jurors in Manhattan hear final remarks from attorneys about the claims writer E. Jean Carroll brought against Trump.
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As E. Jean Carroll testifies for a second day, the judge has a warning for Trump
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172580217/donald-trump-lawyer-jean-carroll-rape-trial
April 27, 20234:12 PM ET
By The Associated Press
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Kaplan recalled Trump's comment that "stars like him can get away with sexually assaulting women."
"That's who Donald Trump is. That is how he thinks. And that's what he does," Kaplan said.
"He thinks he can get away with it here."
She told jurors that it wasn't a "he said, she said" case but rather one in which jurors should weigh what 11 witnesses, including Carroll, said versus what they heard from Trump in his video deposition.
"He didn't even bother to show up here in person," Kaplan said. She told jurors that much of what he said in his deposition and in public statements "actually supports our side of the case."
"In a very real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself," she said. "He knows what he did. He knows that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll."
Trump, who has not attended the trial, has insisted in public statements and in the deposition that Carroll made up the claims to boost sales of a 2019 memoir.
Carroll, 79, who is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, testified for more than two days during the trial, which is entering its third week.
She said she was leaving a Bergdorf Goodman store through a revolving door in spring 1996 when Trump was entering the store and stopped her to help him shop for a gift for a woman.
Carroll said they eventually took escalators to the store's desolate sixth floor, where they teased each other about trying on a piece of see-through lingerie.
She said she entered a dressing room with Trump before the flirtatious outing turned violent, with Trump slamming her against a wall, pulling down her tights and raping her. She said she kneed him after an encounter that lasted several minutes and fled the store.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is unrelated to Roberta Kaplan, told jurors that they would begin deliberations Tuesday after he spends about an hour reading them the law that will pertain to battery and defamation, the two allegations they must decide.
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/08/1174777726/e-jean-carroll-closing-arguments-donald-trump
YES. Definitely.. it's the guns
Gun violence deaths: How the U.S. compares with the rest of the world
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/24/980838151/gun-violence-deaths-how-the-u-s-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world