Two babies survived after tornado carried them away in a bathtub – National & International News – MON 20Dec2021

Two babies survive after tornado carried them away in a bathtub. Manchin says “no” to Build Back Better. Myanmar: Mass torture and killings by junta. Philippines super typhoon death toll surges.

NATIONAL NEWS

Two babies survived after tornado carried them away in a bathtub

Carrie Lutz of Hopkins County, Kentucky, was keeping her two baby grandsons, Kaden, 15 months, and Dallas, 3 months, the night multiple tornados swept through the state. When Lutz learned a tornado was bearing down on her neighborhood, she did the only thing she could. She put her two grandbabies in her bathtub, along with blankets, pillows, and a Bible. She then hunkered down in the bathroom with them.

But then, “I felt the rumbling, I felt the shaking of the house. Next thing I knew, the tub had lifted and it was out of my hands. I couldn’t hold on, I just — Oh my God,” Lutz said.

A water tank from the bathtub struck Lutz in the head. Her house was stripped to the foundations. But Lutz survived and she went looking for the tub and her grandbabies.

“I was looking everywhere to see where the tub may be. I had no clue at all where these babies was. All I could say was ‘Lord, please bring my babies back to me safely. Please, I beg thee,’” said Lutz.

A miraculous find

When sheriff’s deputies arrived to help, they put Lutz in the sheriff’s vehicle and searched the property. Miraculously, they quickly found the ruined bathtub and the two babies underneath, not even wet from the rain.

“It wasn’t long after that that they opened up the door and brought me Kaden, my 15-month-old. And they brought me my three-month-old, baby Dallas” Lutz said. “[Dallas] had a goose egg on the back of his head. We didn’t know what was wrong”. 

15-month-old Kaden appeared unharmed. Dallas was taken to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville. Lutz says he had been bleeding from his brain, but that it had stopped before they reached the hospital.

The children’s parents live on the north side of town, and their house survived nearly unscathed.

News reports show baby Dallas in the hospital, but I haven’t been able to find an update on his condition. I’ll post here if I find one.

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White House furious after Manchin says “no” to Build Back Better

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has once again put the brakes on efforts to pass a $1.75 trillion social spending bill. After months of stalling, bargaining and grandstanding, Manchin told FoxNews on Sunday that he would not back the Build Back Better bill, which constitutes a huge part of Biden’s agenda.

The bill includes, among other things, a year’s extension of the expanded child tax credit. Since it’s implementation in the summer, the monthly payments have helped lift millions of children out of poverty. The last payment went out Dec. 15.

The White House and the Democratic progressive caucus have taken Manchin to task. Manchin apparently gave the White House little advance notice of his statement to FoxNews. Even Manchin’s fellow Democratic moderates seem to have turned on him.

Saying “no” all the way to the bank 

While Manchin blocks half of Biden’s ambitious agenda, he pushed aggressively for passage of the first half, a $1 trillion package for hard infrastructure. As chair of the Senate’s Energy Committee, Manchin was able to ensure that the $1 trillion package will directly benefit a waste coal company run by Manchin’s son. Manchin himself has an estimated $5 million worth of holdings in the company. The waste coal provisions will enrich Manchin and his family, possibly by $millions.

Moreover, both Manchin and fellow habitual holdout Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have received huge donations from private companies and conservative PACs for their obstruction.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Myanmar: Mass torture and killings by junta

Since a military junta deposed the democratic government and seized power in Myanmar in February, the Kani province has been a stronghold of opposition. What began as peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations became an armed resistance after brutal military crackdowns.

Over the summer, members of the military raided four Kani villages, taking what they could use and burning the rest. They separated men from women, and tortured the men to death before burying them in shallow mass graves. In one village, soldiers beat 14 men to death and dumped their bodies in a gully.

The United Nations is investigating these incidents and other acts of brutality by the military as crimes against humanity.

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Philippines super typhoon death toll surges

Late last week, Super Typhoon Rai struck tourist havens and residential villages in the Philippines. Before the typhoon struck, over 100,000 people were evacuated and another 200,000 fled on their own. But at least 10 million were in the typhoon’s path.

The typhoon brought storm surges and 120 mph winds. Initially, the confirmed death count was only in the low dozens. Now, authorities have confirmed that at least 208 people have died. At least 50 others remain missing.

The full scale of loss and destruction is difficult to establish as communications to a number of areas are down. More are feared to have perished in landslides in more remote mountainous areas.

Richard Gordon of the Philippines Red Cross says, “Many areas have no power, no communications, very little water”, days after the typhoon struck.  

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