Skip to main content

Dire warnings, then explosions

Laura L. Davis   | Paste BN
play
Show Caption

Threats and attacks will almost certainly continue, the Pentagon has warned, after suicide bombings at the Kabul airport left 13 U.S. service members dead. Capitol Police officers have sued Donald Trump and far-right extremists, alleging they conspired to use violence in Jan. 6 attack. And Hurricane Ida is expected to form soon, taking aim at the Gulf Coast.

👋 Hey! It's Laura, and there's a lot of news this Thursday, so let's get to it.

The Short List is a snappy Paste BN news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here or text messages here.

13 Americans dead in Kabul attack

Explosions and gunfire by a terrorist group killed a dozen American troops and left a scene of blood and mayhem Thursday at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, where U.S. and allied forces were scrambling to evacuate people from Afghanistan. U.S. officials initially said 11 Marines and one Navy medic were among those who died. Another service member died hours later. Eighteen service members were wounded and officials warned the toll could grow. More than 140 Afghans were wounded, an Afghan official said. Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., commander of U.S. Central Command, said that as evacuations continue, 1,000 American citizens still remain in Afghanistan, warning that danger still looms large. U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, had warned for days about threats from ISIS-K, an offshoot of the Islamic State terror group.

👉 News from Afghanistan: President Joe Biden: "We will not forgive. We will not forget," after 13 U.S. service members were killed in Kabul; U.S. expects attacks to continue. Catch up on the latest.

Capitol Police officers v. Trump

Seven officers from the U.S. Capitol Police are suing former President Donald Trump, his longtime adviser Roger Stone and members of far-right extremist groups, alleging they conspired to use violence to try and prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6. "We don't want something like this happening ever again," said Jason DeRoche, an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday morning, alleges that Trump and the other defendants conspired with one other through the use of force, threats and intimidation that culminated in the attack on the Capitol. DeRoche said he hopes the lawsuit reveals the true danger the defendants pose to the American public: "I don't want this to happen again anywhere else in the country."

What everyone's talking about

Will the Gulf Coast see a hurricane this week?

A tropical depression in the Caribbean is heading toward the Gulf of Mexico, days after Henri battered the Northeast as a tropical storm. The National Hurricane Center said Tropical Depression 9 is expected to strengthen and become a tropical storm Thursday night, and then a hurricane. The depression could bring dangerous impacts from storm surge, hurricane-force winds and heavy rainfall to portions of the Florida Panhandle, upper Texas and Louisiana late this weekend and early next week. Elsewhere, the National Hurricane Center is monitoring two other systems in the Atlantic basin. The next named storms of the 2021 hurricane season will be Ida, Julian and Kate.

An animal dewormer for COVID-19?

A warning from the Food and Drug Administration hasn't stopped people from taking a livestock deworming drug they believe will treat COVID-19. Poison control centers across the nation have received an uptick in calls about the drug ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medicine often used to treat cattle and pigs. Gaylord Lopez, executive director for the Georgia Poison Control Center, said they have already gotten 15 to 16 calls in August – compared with the typical one call a month – with callers reporting significant symptoms like extreme vomiting and blurred vision. In pill form, the drug can be used to treat parasites in humans, and the National Institutes of Health is funding a trial of drugs including ivermectin to potentially use to treat COVID-19. But the livestock version is highly concentrated and toxic to people. Concerns over improper usage of the livestock version also led the FDA to warn the public to not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19. "You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously y'all. Stop it," the federal agency's Twitter account shared on Saturday.

👉 COVID-19 news: Hospital beds drying up as cases rise in several states; California professor sues to avoid vaccine: Catch up on the latest.

Real quick

Heat your meats!

Seriously. A pair of salmonella outbreaks spread across 17 states is believed to be linked to Italian-style meats, triggering an investigation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. People involved in both outbreaks reported eating deli meats including salami, prosciutto, coppa, pepperoni, soppressata commonly found in antipasto or charcuterie assortments. The CDC said investigators are trying to determine whether both outbreaks are connected to the same food source. No deaths have been reported, but 36 illnesses and 12 hospitalizations were reported. If you face a higher risk for salmonella, the CDC advises heating all Italian-style meats to an internal temperature of 165°F or until steaming hot before eating.

A break from the news 

And last but not least, NO REGRETS. 🌭 A study released last week claimed that eating a single hot dog could take 36 minutes off of a human's life, and in contrast, that eating nuts could add 26 minutes to your lifespan. It's a lot of math, but if Joey Chestnut isn't worried, then I guess I'm not either.

This is a compilation of stories from across the Paste BN Network. Want this news roundup in your inbox every night? Sign up for The Short List newsletter here.

Facebook Twitter Email