Month: February 2024

The National Weather Service said that the powerful atmospheric river that arrived on Sunday in California will bring with it very heavy rain and potentially life-threatening flash flooding as well as mountain snow. The impact of the storm can threatened property and travel for days.

The new weather forecast comes shortly after a storm and a low-end atmospheric river affected the state from Wednesday to Thursday. Rain will continue through Tuesday with a high threat of excessive rainfall and flooding, with the National Weather Service saying that the heaviest rain has shifted to Los Angeles County and will last longest over the region as the system arrives. High rainfall totals are anticipated, including 4″-8″ for LA County, 8″-14″ for the mountains and foothills, with a 20-percent chance of thunderstorms and the threat of widespread flooding.

Mayor Karen Bass during a news briefing: “Angelenos, my pledge to you is to keep you informed and to make sure the city is operating in an all-hands-on-deck manner to keep Angelenos safe. Storms can change quickly, but let me be clear: this storm is a serious weather event. This has the potential to be a historic storm, severe winds, thunderstorms, and even brief tornadoes.”

The NWS has issued a winter storm warning for Ventura County and northward, as well as for the mountains of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, including Big Bear City, Big Bear Lake, Running Springs, and Wrightwood. Los Angeles County is under a gale warning, which means sustained surface winds, or frequent gusts, in the range of 34 knots (39 mph) to 47 knots (54 mph).

Evacuation warnings and orders have been issued for five counties, including for Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Monterey.

Editorial credit: Sam the Leigh / Shutterstock.com

After hitting Tehran-aligned factions in Iraq, Syria and Yemen over the last two days, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that the United States intends to launch further strikes at Iran-backed groups in the Middle East. The United States and Britain attacked 36 Houthi targets in Yemen, one day after the U.S. military hit Tehran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.

Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday: “We intend to take additional strikes, and additional action, to continue to send a clear message that the United States will respond when our forces are attacked, when our people are killed.”  Sullivan declined to say whether the United States might attack sites inside Iran, something the U.S. military has been very careful to avoid.  Speaking to CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’, he said Friday’s strikes were “the beginning, not the end, of our response, and there will be more steps – some seen, some perhaps unseen. I would not describe it as some open-ended military campaign.”

The strikes are the latest blows in a conflict that has spread into the Middle East since Oct. 7, when the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed Israel from the Gaza Strip. Iran has so far avoided any direct role in the conflict, and The Pentagon has said it does not want war with Iran, nor does it believe Tehran wants war either.

The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the strikes “will not pass without a response and consequences”, while another Houthi spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, indicated the group would not be deterred, saying Yemen’s decision to support Gaza would not be affected by any attack.

Editorial credit: photowalking / Shutterstock.com

Speaking on Thursday during his first press conference at the Pentagon since he was hospitalized at the beginning of January, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologized for not properly handling and communicating his cancer diagnosis and treatment to President Joe Biden, Pentagon staff and the general public. Austin was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in mid-January after more than two weeks of hospitalization due to complications following a minimally invasive procedure on Dec. 22 to cure his prostate cancer. The defense secretary said that he’s still recovering from the complications he experienced, such as leg pain, and is undergoing physical therapy to help improve it. He also acknowledged that he’s using a golf cart to move around the Pentagon.

Austin apologized for not being more transparent about his medical issues and provided more detail on his prostate cancer diagnosis. Said Austin: “I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right. And I did not handle this right. I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.”

The defense secretary made it clear that during his hospitalization there were “no gaps in authority, and no risk to the department’s command and control”. Summarizing what he went through since receiving his cancer diagnosis in December, Austin said that he was “offering all of this as an explanation and not an excuse … The news shook me, and I know that it shakes so many others, especially in the Black community. It was a gut punch.”  He said his first instinct was to keep the matter private, but added that “I’ve learned from this experience that taking this kind of job means losing some of the privacy that most of us expect. The American people have a right to know if their leaders are facing health challenges that might affect their ability to perform their duties, even temporarily. So a wider circle should have been notified, especially the president.” 

Austin said he was offering this information as an explanation, not as an excuse, adding: “I can tell you I’ve apologized directly to President Biden, and I’ve told him that I’m deeply sorry for not letting him know immediately that I received a heavy diagnosis and was getting treatment. And he has responded with a grace and warm heart that anyone who knows President Biden would expect. And I’m grateful for his full confidence in me.”

Austin said he fully supports the ongoing internal review in the Department of Defense, and an inspector general review, adding that the Pentagon has already instituted new procedures to ensure no future lapses in notification. In the future if the deputy secretary needs to assume the duties of his office, she and several White House offices will be immediately notified, including the White House Situation Room.

Editorial credit: photowalking / Shutterstock.com

On Thursday, President Joe Biden issued an executive order targeting extremist WestBank Israeli settlers in the West Bank for their actions against Palestinians in the occupied territory, imposing financial sanctions and visa bans in an initial round against four individuals.

In a White House statement, Biden said the violence has forced the displacement of people and villages and has destroyed property: “[the violence] has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel and the broader Middle East region. These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity and freedom.”  Biden added that the actions of extremist settlers undermine Israel’s security because of its potential to destabilize the region while threatening U.S. personnel and interests: “for these reasons, these actions constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

The order authorizes sanctions against those involved in acts of violence in the West Bank, as well as threats and attempts to destroy or seize Palestinian property. The penalties block them from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them. The State Department identified the four individuals hit with sanctions as Israeli settlers who have attacked Palestinians in the past..

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Biden’s executive order allows the Treasury to level financial sanctions against those participating in violence against peaceful civilians in the West Bank: “today’s actions seek to promote peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Editorial credit: Consolidated News Photos / Shutterstock.com