House Republicans ramp up pressure over Afghanistan exit
WASHINGTON — One year after the United States’ chaotic exit from Afghanistan last August, Republican lawmakers are putting renewed pressure on the Biden administration to answer questions about the withdrawal.
In a new report from the House Foreign Affairs Committee minority, Republicans allege that President Joe Biden misled the American public about the consequences of a withdrawal, did not properly prepare for the withdrawal and failed to evacuate many Afghans who worked with the U.S. during the 20-year war there, including elite military personnel.
And if the Biden administration continues to drag its feet on providing requested information to the committee, it may consider issuing subpoenas, the report suggests.
The 113-page missive, released Monday, is the latest volley in what has become a partisan fight over who to blame for the tumultuous withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 U.S. servicemembers dead and hundreds of people wounded and culminated in a swift takeover of the country by the Taliban.
—CQ-Roll Call
Black mom sues LA Unified over cotton-picking project at elementary school, lawsuit says
LOS ANGELES — A Black parent filed a civil rights lawsuit last week against the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Board of Education, saying that a cotton field was set up at an elementary school in 2017 that was intended to teach students about the experiences of slaves.
Rashunda Pitts said her 14-year-old daughter, who is referred to as "S.W." in the lawsuit, experienced emotional distress as a result of the project at Laurel Cinematic Arts Creative Tech Magnet that her social justice teacher said was to help students "gain a real-life experience as to what the African American slaves had endured," according to the lawsuit, which also named the school's then-principal and social justice teacher as defendants.
Pitts said that in September 2017, she noticed her daughter had become "very quiet and reserved" when she used to "vibrantly share her day with her mother," the suit states.
One day, as Pitts was dropping off her daughter at Laurel Cinematic Arts Creative Tech Magnet, she saw a cotton field in front of the school and called the office to speak with the school's principal, Amy Diaz, who was unavailable, according to the lawsuit. Pitts spoke with Assistant Principal Brian Wisniewski, who explained that S.W.'s class was reading Frederick Douglass' autobiography and the cotton field was created so students could have a "real life experience" of slavery, the lawsuit says.
—Los Angeles Times
Once Indiana’s abortion ban goes into effect, most patients seeking abortions will have to travel beyond its borders
When Indiana’s near-total abortion ban goes into effect on Sept. 15, the Planned Parenthood clinic in Merrillville — and its 10 other facilities in Indiana — will remain open to provide “critical health care services outside of abortion,” but patients seeking abortion care will likely have to go out of state.
“We provide a whole range of critical health care services outside of abortion, including birth control, emergency contraception, gender affirming hormone care, wellness visits, and more. Our 11 health centers in Indiana will continue to provide those services, in addition to providing any care we can to those looking for an abortion,” said Nicole Erwin, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates.
Under the ban, abortions will only be allowed in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities, and to protect the life and health of the mother. Victims of rape and incest have up to 10 weeks to get an abortion. State Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, estimated that the bill would outlaw 98% of abortions in the state.
Abortion clinic licenses will terminate when the law goes into effect, so abortion care will only be allowed at hospitals and ambulatory outpatient surgical centers that are owned by hospitals. Currently, only about 1% of abortion care is provided outside of an abortion clinic, Erwin said. Last year, only six hospitals in the state performed abortions of any kind, according to the Indianapolis Star.
—Chicago Tribune
As risk of nuclear war grows, study warns that even a limited exchange would doom billions
As escalating tensions among the United States, Russia and China revive old fears of nuclear war, some researchers are warning that even a limited-scale exchange between such nations as India and Pakistan could have catastrophic consequences for global food supplies and trigger mass death worldwide.
A nuclear conflict involving less than 3% of the world’s stockpiles could kill a third of the world’s population within two years, according to a new international study led by scientists at Rutgers University. A larger nuclear conflict between Russia and the United States could kill three-fourths of the world’s population in the same timeframe, according to the research published Monday in Nature Food.
“It’s really a cautionary tale that any use of nuclear weapons could be a catastrophe for the world,” said climate scientist and study author Alan Robock, a distinguished professor in Rutgers’ Department of Environmental Sciences.
The findings come at a time when — 30 years after the end of the Cold War — the threat of a nuclear holocaust may be greater now than it ever was.
—Los Angeles Times
